2019’20 game 18: rangers (H) Sun. Dec 15th

[Pepper]

Gillespie should just have held on to the ball in the passage of play that led to the corner for the first goal.  We were under the cosh for the first time in the match at that point and he just had to take the sting out of the game. Poor game management. Despite that he was still our best player IMO.

Mugabi losing Katic at the corner was really poor, very basic stuff.

Midfield were all poor today IMO.

Tavernier and Arfield played Hylton well, he completely fell  out the game after the first 20 minutes when Carroll to Hylton looked like a good option for us but we could never make anything from it. He has been our creative spark of late and we otherwise offered very little.

In saying all of that it took an outstanding save from McGregor to keep them in front.

The Morelos sending off was moronic on his part, it's not like he was even getting it tight from our fans. Totally unnecessary from him and Gerrard will be furious. 

 

 

 

[GazzyB]

Totally agree with those saying that Gillespie's distribution is very poor. His shot stopping is excellent, but in the modern game you need more than that. Carson is a better keeper overall and as harsh as it is he should be back in the team.

[steelman1991]

Alan Campbell's worst game for a long time - Rangers targeted him - pressed onto him and the wee man conceded possession.  Happened all game. We never put any pressure on them (all across the park) and paid the penalty. Poor performance and the longest running unbeaten stretch in top-flight football continues - think it's now 46 and counting. Crocker even mentioned it in commentary - next best/worst is Everton against Liverpool - 18 I think he said 

[middleeastdave]

Mugabe unfortunately totally at fault for the first goal, let’s hope it is a lesson learnt, but I would suspect Hartley will play against Killie, although the plastic pitch might not suit him?

[Spiderpig]

55 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

Totally agree with those saying that Gillespie's distribution is very poor. His shot stopping is excellent, but in the modern game you need more than that. Carson is a better keeper overall and as harsh as it is he should be back in the team.

So on the back of 3 consecutive clean sheets and numerous others all season so far, suddenly  Gillespie needs dropped....aye ok, leave the team selection  to those best qualified, I am sure if SR and Lasley thought Carson could do a better job he would be playing.

[GazzyB]

37 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

So on the back of 3 consecutive clean sheets and numerous others all season so far, suddenly  Gillespie needs dropped....aye ok, leave the team selection  to those best qualified, I am sure if SR and Lasley thought Carson could do a better job he would be playing.

So nobody is allowed to voice an opinion on team selection because they're not Motherwell manager? Wise up.

[underboyleheating]

Everybody needs to be at the top of their game to beat this mob, sadly most of them were on reduced power. 

[Kmcalpin]

4 hours ago, Lobey_Dosser said:

Today was an opportunity to test Rangers on the back of a tiring week but we never got near them. Our creative players, Polworth and Hylton, offered little.....

A disappointing day but to be honest I didn't expect anything else. We're still 4th and very much in with a shout of top 6 finish, so we must put the poor result and performance in that context. Most of the team seemed off form and we paid the penalty for not getting the basics right and perhaps  not having the right attitude. This was exactly the game that I was hoping Polworth would turn it on; exactly the type of game to showcase his creative skills and provide a spark but he failed to live up to his reputation.  It  further convinces me that he's a decent bottom six player but no better.  Now just to underline my comments, I'm not singling him out for the defeat; not blaming him.   He was only one of many poor performers today. 

We now move on to face Killie and hopefully take at least a point from Ayrshire.

[Shaka]

1 hour ago, Spiderpig said:

So on the back of 3 consecutive clean sheets and numerous others all season so far, suddenly  Gillespie needs dropped....aye ok, leave the team selection  to those best qualified, I am sure if SR and Lasley thought Carson could do a better job he would be playing.

Gaz is allowed an opinion surely?

As it happens I agree that Carson is a better keeper and deserves a chance. Gillespie has been great, but lets not kid on he hasnt chucked a few in this season as well, and as discussed, his distribution is woeful.

[Yorkyred]

There is Celtic and Rangers and then the rest. We were outclassed for much of that game by a team full of technically better players than us. We had our chances but no complaints with the result, we move on.

[BAZ]

I certainly did not expect anything from this game, but the way of the defeat was sad. So many players in the team did not show up and that was very disappointing. I said at last week's game that I thought we would be bumped today as the passing is downright schoolboy stuff. That should be easily rectified but I cannot say that I have noticed them improving. Gillespie makes some great saves but his distribution is dire. This again should be rectified by the goalkeeping coach. I have given up going to see them against this mob as we seem  incapable of doing anything against them, cramping it at every turn. Steve Robinson says there will be changes as we need to freshen up. Hope this happens!

[2/6 tae get in]

4 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

The thing is Rangers weren't that special today. 

I was expecting a lot more from them but all they really did was do the basics better than us in the first half.  They went in at half time 1-0 purely because WE kept giving the ball away.  The number of corners and set pieces we conceded in the first half was ridiculous and of course when Rangers got their opening goal it was from a corner, when only a minute or so before our goalkeeper had the ball in his hands.  I like Gillespie, he's a good goalkeeper and he pulled off some good saves today but his distribution stunk  and played a part in our downfall.  

Second half, despite not improving much, Rangers fell away slightly and looked like we might actually get something out the match.  The introduction of Scott improved us a lot.  When Rangers killed the game a 2-0 it was probably against the run of the match at that point.   I was surprised Morelos wasn't taken off by Gerrard earlier in the match because that red card was coming all day.  He should have been booked long before he actually was.

After that the match was over and kind of petered out.

I keep drawing attention to our current midfield, it's not as bad as it was when we were playing McHugh, Grimshaw (terrible today at right back) and Rose in there but it's a big step down from last season with Turnbull and Gorrin.  The recent matches showed you can get away with poor distribution against even poorer teams but against half decent opposition it's a different story.

In our last 5 matches against the city clubs we've lost all 5, and are 12-1 down on aggregate.  When we come up against the very little quality there is in this league we struggle.  We seem to be the best of a poor bunch of provincial clubs.  That's not me throwing thunderbolts, just a realistic appraisal of what we are.

Grimmy is an old fashioned halfback. Right back now sitting on the bench because Robinson was playing at left back which is not his position and now appears to be out of favour.

[grizzlyg]

Yet again  we fail to turn up in league game v rangers. Team needs freshened up as too many seem to think they are guaranteed a game. Cole and Seedorf a waste of a Jersey. And well done do the eejits throwing objects after 2nd goal. It just drags club down and risks a fine 

 If you cant go to a game without throwing objects then stay home and watch it on the telly

[couttsy]

Some of chat on here is mental.....drop Gillespie, really?! I thought he was our man of match and has had a great season....

We won three on the spin without losing a goal before today and sit in 4th place, 1 point off Aberdeen and 8 ahead of Killie in 5th. Did we play well today, no, were we playing a team with a vastly bigger budget and as a result better players, yes.

Cut them a bit of slack lads....

[Welldaft Mk1]

15 minutes ago, couttsy said:

Some of chat on here is mental.....drop Gillespie, really?! I thought he was our man of match and has had a great season....

We won three on the spin without losing a goal before today and sit in 4th place, 1 point off Aberdeen and 8 ahead of Killie in 5th. Did we play well today, no, were we playing a team with a vastly bigger budget and as a result better players, yes.

Cut them a bit of slack lads....

Normally I am one of the happy clappy squad and I agree that we should cut them some slack. No one on here myself included thought we would be sitting 4th around Xmas time even though that has been our placing points wise since Jan 2019. 

The frustration is that our weaknesses were exposed today and I always new that would be the case against superior opposition. Ya Bezzer says we are the best of the rest and the best of a bad bunch and I agree. Our performances against St J and to an extent Hearts were not all that good the difference being they could not take their chances and we could. 

I was quite annoyed today. Apart from Gillespie, Gallacher, Long and Scott (when he came on) every other player turned in a poor performance. I note comments about Campbell. Every time he got the ball he went backwards. I like him but I thought we were poor in midfield today. Bevis has a cult following but today showed that he is a distance away from being as good as Kipre and no better than Hartley and probably less of a goal threat. Carroll was quite poor and again when he got the ball seemed to take an age to decide what to do with it. Polworth had his poorest game probably this season. 

As for bringing on Seedorf. I would have brought on O’Hara at that point. Only 1-0 down try and keep it tight until the end. Apart from one decent run he did SFA. Apart from shirking out of any challenge even ones where he was favourite to win. 

All in all a poor day. I get Rangers have a budget that dwarfs ours and the fact we have not beaten them in the league since black and white TV means it should be no shock but it just felt as the players were playing with fear today. 

Big game next week and a win v Killie and I think top 6 at least and if we could take 6 or 7 points from next 3 games we are still in pole position for 4th into the winter break. That said I think we need to be better than recent performances or more defeats will come our way. 

[Yorkyred]

16 minutes ago, Welldaft Mk1 said:

Normally I am one of the happy clappy squad and I agree that we should cut them some slack. No one on here myself included thought we would be sitting 4th around Xmas time even though that has been our placing points wise since Jan 2019. 

The frustration is that our weaknesses were exposed today and I always new that would be the case against superior opposition. Ya Bezzer says we are the best of the rest and the best of a bad bunch and I agree. Our performances against St J and to an extent Hearts were not all that good the difference being they could not take their chances and we could. 

I was quite annoyed today. Apart from Gillespie, Gallacher, Long and Scott (when he came on) every other player turned in a poor performance. I note comments about Campbell. Every time he got the ball he went backwards. I like him but I thought we were poor in midfield today. Bevis has a cult following but today showed that he is a distance away from being as good as Kipre and no better than Hartley and probably less of a goal threat. Carroll was quite poor and again when he got the ball seemed to take an age to decide what to do with it. Polworth had his poorest game probably this season. 

As for bringing on Seedorf. I would have brought on O’Hara at that point. Only 1-0 down try and keep it tight until the end. Apart from one decent run he did SFA. Apart from shirking out of any challenge even ones where he was favourite to win. 

All in all a poor day. I get Rangers have a budget that dwarfs ours and the fact we have not beaten them in the league since black and white TV means it should be no shock but it just felt as the players were playing with fear today. 

Big game next week and a win v Killie and I think top 6 at least and if we could take 6 or 7 points from next 3 games we are still in pole position for 4th into the winter break. That said I think we need to be better than recent performances or more defeats will come our way. 

Many of our players were indeed poor today but that’s down to the level of the opposition.  Given our budget and level of player we are able to bring in the squad has over performed but there is always a point that it becomes a step too far, today that was very obvious. 

[gaz7]

The main difference today was our players did not get as much time on ball as against weaker teams  they were always snapping into tackles quickly and their 2 widemen came into midfield to create a 4 against our 3. we got totally overan in midfield. like any game goals change them and after longs great run and cutback in 1st half i felt we dropped out it. 2nd half nit much in it till their 2nd then their experience closed game out. When turnbull is back i think we will play a diamond with a winger sacrificed and this will improve us against top teams.

[joewarkfanclub]

4 minutes ago, gaz7 said:

The main difference today was our players did not get as much time on ball as against weaker teams  they were always snapping into tackles quickly and their 2 widemen came into midfield to create a 4 against our 3. we got totally overan in midfield. like any game goals change them and after longs great run and cutback in 1st half i felt we dropped out it. 2nd half nit much in it till their 2nd then their experience closed game out. When turnbull is back i think we will play a diamond with a winger sacrificed and this will improve us against top teams.

Excellent summary.

[Andy_P]

The whole shebang was a bit frustrating. 

I've no complaints about the outcome today.  We had that wee half chance in the first half when Long (surprisingly?) cut the ball back, only for it to be whipped off someone's toes and the quick-fire efforts in the second half but that was about it. On another day the goals against column might have taken a bigger dunt than it did.

We didn't really do anything at all to take advantage of the extra man in the last twenty minutes. They simply retreated into a well organised setup whereas we appeared to have more a chuck shite at the wall and see if anything sticks approach and none of it did. 

Before the game you had what seemed like the unnecessary prohibition of flags and banners (on the back last Saturday?) which simply goaded Rangers fans to take the piss out of the club, the stewards and the police by hanging the flags they did sneak in across the scoreboard without anyone of authority having the balls to do anything about it.

Whilst the Morelos sending off itself was probably about the most satisfying outcome of the game the missile throwing gives the media the opportunity to feast on the outrage from the angels in the away end and demand action against us from the authorities.  And if they do how can we really argue?  He deserved the red card. He's a generally loathsome irritant but he doesn't deserve stuff lobbed at him from our stands.  Some times you just have to be the bigger man and take some of the stick back that many of us dish out.

One to very quickly put behind us and focus on Saturday.

 

 

[GrahamH]

1 hour ago, Yorkyred said:

Many of our players were indeed poor today but that’s down to the level of the opposition.  Given our budget and level of player we are able to bring in the squad has over performed but there is always a point that it becomes a step too far, today that was very obvious. 

You seem determined to talk up how good Rangers are. They’re not that great away from home and have carried a fair bit of luck to accumulate the number of points they have. IMO we should have had a penalty and a potential red card for Tavernier early in the game which would have changed everything. We lost today because we didn’t get a big decision and ultimately because we didn’t turn up, not because we were outclassed. We also missed a golden opportunity at 1-0  that Long would score 9 times out of 10.

[claretband]

Did they really put flags across the scoreboard? If so that’s incredible no action was taken.

I watched the game in a pub with couple of Irish guys who didn’t know our team. At half time their comment was “Is your keeper always this good?”

Yes his distribution isn’t as good as Carson but it is ok. Maybe we should play them game about


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[texanwellfan]

I think he must be told to hit the ball long and wide because I’m sure if Robinson didn’t want that he could tell Gillespie and it would stop.  That’s probably not the aspect of our game I would prioritize working on. I’m more concerned about the outfield players giving the ball away time after time especially when not under any pressure. 

[Yorkyred]

7 hours ago, GrahamH said:

You seem determined to talk up how good Rangers are. They’re not that great away from home and have carried a fair bit of luck to accumulate the number of points they have. IMO we should have had a penalty and a potential red card for Tavernier early in the game which would have changed everything. We lost today because we didn’t get a big decision and ultimately because we didn’t turn up, not because we were outclassed. We also missed a golden opportunity at 1-0  that Long would score 9 times out of 10.

They have not lost away all season, that’s not down to luck in my view. They closed us down very quickly and were extremely well organised even when down to 10 men. Not seen another team we have played at home be that effective against us. I don’t buy the big decision line costing us.

[wellwell91]

13 hours ago, gaz7 said:

The main difference today was our players did not get as much time on ball as against weaker teams  they were always snapping into tackles quickly and their 2 widemen came into midfield to create a 4 against our 3. we got totally overan in midfield. like any game goals change them and after longs great run and cutback in 1st half i felt we dropped out it. 2nd half nit much in it till their 2nd then their experience closed game out. When turnbull is back i think we will play a diamond with a winger sacrificed and this will improve us against top teams.

Correct

Against Rangers Celtic Aberdeen Hibs we cannot get away with 3 in midfield 

Robinson seems to have this stubborn when it comes to team selection where he thinks that his favoured formation is a fit for all occasions 

Im afraid it’s horses for courses and if that means 1 or 2 up front so be it 

As has already been said on numerous posts our midfield is not good enough when teams do there homework on Alan Campbell and crowd him out and put pressure on him as Rangers and Aberdeen have done recently ( I’m sure others have been watching and we really need to change it for 2nd half of the season) 

Having said that I’m sure a fit David Turnbull will help

[steelboy]

Our passing has been terrible recently. The midfield needs freshened up and we need more quality on the ball than Grimshaw offers at RB.