Against All odds

After the dire atrocity at Falkirk Stadium in which a soaked and windswept Rangers side struggled to string two passes together and were ultimately undone by an energetic and Latapy-inspired home side, the Ibrox side faced a tough home visit from Hibernian.

If recent history was anything to go by, the Easter Road club were one of the many bogie sides Rangers have been traumatised by. Dundee Utd and ICT are two of the others.

Trepidation going into this game was high that the Easter Road outfit would produce another sterling display to roll over the Ibrox side again, most likely Sproule producing another speedy masterclass to torment the home defence again.

In the absence of Scottish striker Boyd, manager Paul Le Guen had to make an enforced change up front. Posited were the notions of bringing in Sebo as a direct replacement, or Buffel as a left winger with Prso occupying the striker role. Both of these scenarios were unfounded, however, as the Frenchman opted for something else entirely by bringing in the Czech winger Sionko and shifting Novo out to the left. This was unforeseen by all and sundry, and lent credence to the notion that the former Lyon boss has zero faith in Slovakian Sebo and does not trust him as a starter. This ultimately suggests Sebo is viewed as a waste of money, and has no future at Ibrox. This was his major chance, and his boss had no faith to try him.

Moving onto the game, however, and it was pretty clear from the opening five minutes that this was not going to be another Hibs defeat of the Govan team. After a mildly scrappy opening period, the home side took this game by the horns and absolutely controlled it. There was no room for the away side to breathe as Rangers completely dominated possession. The backline looked completely solid, the midfield ran smoothly, and the forward line clicked. A major reason for this was the sublime effort from Ferguson. The midfielder categorically ran the show, pulling the strings throughout the park, and releasing team mates all the time. His passing was perfection, his vision superb, and he utterly grabbed this game and demonstrated just how good a player he is. On this kind of form, which, to be fair, he has been enjoying for over a month (Falkirk apart), it is a very strong argument to claim he is the best player plying their trade on these shores. This is not to take away from those around him, many of whom also boasted marvellous performances;

Svensson, for one, produced an infinitely reliable display at the back, playing with the courage he had been quoted as wanting the team to be endowed with. His positional sense was excellent, he produced many timely interceptions, plus slid in perfectly without a second’s hesitation in the penalty box to divert a dangerous attack. Add to that some effective headed clearances plus an overall air of confidence and it seemed to suggest we are finally seeing the real Karl Svensson.

Furthermore Prso belied his aching knees to torment the Hibs defence, and constantly looked dangerous, thoroughly deserving his goal.

Indeed, Novo had put Rangers ahead fairly early on and the side never looked back; a very nice moment being when Sionko added the second; every team mate looked delighted for him, and his captain made a special effort to congratulate him. The third goal came from the head of Ferguson, a delightful looping effort snaking over Malkovski before half time. It was no more than he deserved for such an instrumental performance.

The second half saw Hibs try to force themselves into the game, and while they certainly gleaned more possession thanks to Rangers’ soles elevating off the pedal, they made no inroads to that sturdy defence who rebuked anything the visitors could throw at them. The pattern of easing off lasted half the second period, before an easy-street Rangers stepped up a notch and went for a fourth – regrettably no goal came.

Nevertheless, it was an excellent and composed performance – excelling in the first half to a level no fan was expecting, before a calm and professional second half.

It is also worth mentioning the nullification of Sproule, or should that be ‘Srpoule’ as his jersey boasted, by Smith. While not sorely tested by the winger, Smith had the containment of him at a canter, and showed why the side had missed him. Indeed, the only two contributions of the Northern Irishman were to receive a yellow card for ‘punching’ Ferguson in the back (Who likewise received one too, presumably to even things up), and to then petulantly slam the ball off the turf and gain a second – and an early bath.

A last word must go to Thompson and Brown – the hype surrounding these two has been reaching epic proportions, speculation mounting over whether they will leave their club and join one of the OF. Their efforts today were minimalist at best, and would have done them no favours if either believed they were in the shop window being perused by the Ibrox club. Perhaps distracted by the stories in the press, and certainly affected by Brown handing in a transfer request, the two midfielders were conspicuous by their respective absences.

However, all in all a marvellous day at the office for Rangers and Le Guen. Perhaps a corner has been turned. Sure we’ve heard that one before…

Easter (Road) surprise?

The return of the tormenters is the event of the week for Rangers fans to look forward to.

Having enjoyed tremendous recent success against the Ibrox giants, the Edinburgh side Hibs will be hoping, and perhaps expecting that they can crush the hosts once again on their own patch.

The previous encounter between the two was so one-sided as to be embarrassing. Out fought, out paced, and practically outnumbered, Rangers were given a severe footballing lesson which only the goal from Sebo late on managed to temper a mite.

Le Guen got just about everything wrong that day, and will be praying for a much better performance from his men and that he manages to implement the correct strategy. Crucially, he must not underestimate what this Hibernian side are capable of. Firing three goals past Rangers at Ibrox is not a wholly easy task to fulfil, yet their last two visits to Govan have reaped this number of goals at an almost effortless canter.

It seems that Smith will return at left back to replace the hopeless Papac, which is a relief on paper, but actually slightly troubling given Smith holds his hands up to a dreadful performance at Easter Road when he was outwitted in every way by Sproule. It was his worst display for the blues, and it is hoped his return from injury will be a much happier occasion and that he manages to grasp the fundamentals of nullifying the threat of the Northern Irishman.

Adding further spice to this fixture are the strong links suggesting a move from Edinburgh to Glasgow for the midfielders Thompson and Brown. Speculation has been rife about the chances of one or both of these joining the Ibrox ranks in January, rumours bolstered by the revelation that minutes after his side’s victory over Dundee Utd, Brown handed in a transfer request. His agent Willie McKay has been conspicuous by his recent presence in the press, working for his client tirelessly although his motives are suspicious at best, and Hibs’ manager John Collins reportedly tore the request up on receipt and dismissed it in its entirety.

However, surely the £3M asking price each is a gargantuan stumbling block for Rangers, a club unwilling to invest serious cash in any player these days.

On the flip side, a player recently linked with a move away from Ibrox is the flame-haired winger Burke. After pouring cold water on an apparent £12,000 deal, then vacating the negotiating table, Burke failed spectacularly to ingratiate himself to the supporters, before hastily getting a quote in the Rangers News committing his desire to stay at Rangers. The cynic would suggest this is plan B, should he fail to get the move away and the substantial wage increase, to keep the supporter onside rather than giving him grief in the event he stays.

Curiously enough, Rangers’ best run of the season, four matches unbeaten in all competitions, was in Burke’s absence.

However, tracking back to the impending fixture, and of course the one key player missing for Rangers is Boyd. Injured by a foul against Falkirk, a scan revealed the worst, that he is out for a month. His goals will be sorely missed for sure, and it is up to Le Guen to juggle the side to compensate. Conceivably either Sebo or Buffel will replace him, and with Sebo being a straight swap, it is more likely to be him. Or perhaps Prso will play as the lone striker with Buffel on the left wing and freedom to cut inside.

Either way, a tough game is in prospect.

Back to the Drawing Board

After a recent run of success, confidence was tentatively allowing itself to infiltrate the mindsets of both the players and fans, and hope that the run of straight victories and clean sheets could continue was warily creeping alongside it.

In order to sustain the current form, a tricky encounter at capable Falkirk had to be tackled, and although the small-town side had fallen away slightly in domestic standings, their quality had been evident throughout the season, particularly when their instrumental playmaker Latapy was in the lineup. At 38, the Trinidad & Tobagan was keen on aiding his side to victory over Rangers for the first time in around four decades, and improving Falkirk’s disappointing tally of only four victories in 27 at home.

Le Guen once again went with the same selection who had recently enjoyed such a good spurt of results, bar the continued choice of Papac at left back in place for the injured Smith, who, after recovery, was deemed unfit to start and made do with a seat on the bench, alongside the likes of Sebo and Buffel.

Atrocious weather conditions barely fit for playing in greeted the personnel of both sides and it was pretty clear that gale-force winds accompanied by torrential rain were not going to be conducive to fast, flowing football. Finesse would be conspicuous by its absence in this one, that was for sure.

Over the 90 minutes, a reasonably even game of football was presented; Falkirk made a real match of it, so much so they were the side to take a pretty early lead, Twaddle connecting with a corner and McGregor unable to stop it squirming past his despairing hands, and Clement likewise failing to clear the ball as it struck his shoulder area. Nestling in the back of the net, Twaddle’s effort put Falkirk’s tails’ up and while Rangers had a fairly substantial chunk of possession from there on in, until Buffel’s belated appearance 25 minutes from the end, there was very little bite or creativity up front. Novo pulled the only reasonably convincing save from Lambers with a carefully struck volley, but the Falkirk stopper was criminally under tested throughout this game. Even when the Belgian arrived for Papac deep in the second half, there seemed to be very little ability to exploit his good work – repeatedly getting in behind the Bairns’ defence with ease and throwing in decent crosses, yet no strikers were able to bury anything he did.

A major reason for this was Boyd’s injury in the first half – felled in a crude challenge, the former Killie forward fought gamely on until the pain overcame him and he limped off despondently to be replaced by Sebo. Had he been present, it stands to reason he would have been able to get into the best positions for any supplies coming his way.

This is not to take away from what Falkirk achieved – a victory. They fought hard, they fought pretty fair, and even managed some surprisingly impressive football along the way.

This was a day Rangers needed their big players to stand up and be counted, and only Prso really managed this. Ferguson’s distribution was poor, although he was hardly helped by appalling weather – he tried too many long balls which the wind ruined almost every time. Novo was full of running but not effective enough, the defence was fragile, and Clement was fairly uninspired, truly beaten on the day by the wily old fox Latapy.

So a major blip – and a quite embarrassing state of 16 points behind city rivals Celtic before Christmas, but incredibly still second in the league – what does that say about the rest of the SPL?

Moving onto the other major issue clouding the club at the moment, Chris Burke. Reported in the press as cancelling contract talks, then resuming them, before refusing an offer apparently in the region of £12,000 a week, the flame-haired winger has failed to endear himself to the vast majority of supporters with his apathetic and disloyal attitude. The club has supported the Scot during all his chronic injury woes, and owe him nothing. Yet the youngster is now trying to glean more money from them or move elsewhere. This appears to be motivated by a number of factors;
A Celtic supporting father who acts as his agent, a lack of passion on his own part for his employers, and most importantly; greed. In all his interviews he conveys huge desire for his club, even committing to wanting to win everything with them and to finish his career with them, yet first chance he has gained, he is clearly showing his words to be empty.

So, a poor result in Falkirk, and a prized-asset wanting away. All is suddenly a lot less rosy at Ibrox.