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I'll start by saying that I am absolutely tamping after today's performance.
I haven't had the time to read through various comments, but I think it's all too easy to point the finger at Magilton.
I'm sure people have seen us suddenly now jump out of the playoffs, and I guess Magilton will be the scapegoat. Personally, I haven't been frightened to criticize Magilton when he has got it wrong - we were a shambles up in Doncaster a couple of weeks ago and that was mainly down to Jim's bizarre decisions IMO.
But had we got the 3 points that our performance richly deserved against Coventry last week, we would still be sat handsomely in the playoffs. That game we were absolutely robbed, and it was a travesty that Coventry didn't come away from that game on the end of another thumping. I genuinely couldn't ask for a thing more from the players that game - they were awesome.
Either way, today was a different game - and the simple fact of the matter is that our players just didn't show up. Again the missed chances came back to haunt us... the first 20 minutes or so it was like men against boys such was our dominance.
Once we pulled the goal back, I really did think that we would go on to win (or atleast draw) the game. Leigertwoods mistake for the third goal really was the final nail in the coffin, and the game was effectively over since then.
In my opinion the reasons we lost are:
Cerny - I have been calling for him to be dropped for a few weeks now. Fills me with absolutely no confidence at the moment, and I'm sure the defenders infront of him feel the same. Continues to overplay with the ball at the back, and oh didn't Borough exploit it... All they had to do was stick tight to our defence, as Cerny refuses to release it anywhere else! Everytime we had a goal kick we were instantly under pressure. I'm not pointing the sole responsibility of shipping 5 goals at him, it stems much further than that. But as I have said before he is in a horrible run of form - DROP HIM!!!!
Leigertwood - Thought he was absolutely shocking today. I never feel it is due to lack of effort with him - thats one thing I just cannot critisize him for. But he was certainly sloppy in possession, and generally his control/ball play was abysmal.
Buzsaky - Again another one that I feel has been under-performing for a fair few games now. Him scoring last week overshadowed what was again a very quiet game from him... today he was at about the same level. I sympathize with him in as much as he is being asked to do a job that he just cannot do. The fans know it, Buzsaky must know it - he just is not a winger. Play him in the middle behind Simpson, it should be his natural position. When struggling for openings, this is the man to do it. But he is so isolated out on the wing... he will either change position or be dropped soon, not good enough from him at all. He can do an awful lot better.
Watson - Thought his performance was better than it has been in recent weeks, but gave away a very cheap penalty... and was also very sloppy at times. He certainly isn't the dominant midfielder he was when he first joined on loan, and I think a fair few eyebrows will be raised if we fork out £2 million on him based on what we have seen over the last few weeks.
There were plenty more culprits, but those were the 4 that particularly stood out to me... possibly because they are now playing well below average on a consistent basis.
On a slightly (ever so slightly) positive note I did scrape something to take encouragement from.
Firstly... Gary Borrowdale. I have been extremely disappointed with the majority of games he has played this season, but I thought on the whole he didn't actually play that bad today. Ok, we did let in 5 goals. But I thought he looked fairly solid at left back. In possession he was very good (as he generally is) and his distribution was spot on. I do however question why we bothered signing Williams if Borrowdale will start every game anyway, but fair play to him here. I have slated him on numorous occassions this season, and I'm more than happy to eat humble pie on this occasion. Well done.
Rowan Vine - where did that come from! The majority of games that I have came back from this season, the best I have had to say about him is that there were little glimpses of the old Rowan Vine out there - but I thought today he well and truly returned. Every single time he got on the ball, you just felt something would happen. He was running at his marker, beating his marker... and releasing the ball at the perfect time - Taarabt could learn alot from him. Maybe exceptional would be a little too complimentary, but it was certainly very encouraging. Let's hope this latest operation has sorted his problems, because if he can keep performing like this he will chip in with a fair few goals - and create even more!
Finally I thought the fans today were worthy of a mention. We can all sing and dance when we smash the opposition for six - but despite the scoreline I felt so proud of us today. At times the atmosphere was electric, and I just felt that maybe it could carry is through the game. Even when at 5-1 down in the 90th minute, the songs just kept ringing out. I felt an awful lot of pride when we sang "Rangers and we're proud of it!" and "We're the finest football team..." literally seconds before the full time whistle. People seem to complain about certain things about the Q,P & R blocks but what a great sign of unity they displayed today... well done to each and every one of you!
One thing that that still gripes me is the attitude of the players. With the exception of Gorkss, not one player bothered to come over and clap the fans that had stayed - and backed them until we were finally put out of our misery at FT. I don't buy the whole idea that the reason they stay away is because the will only get booed... I didn't hear even one aimed in the direction of Gorkss earlier.
In my personal situation, we missed our ferry by 7 minutes today... that resulted in us actually arriving home 2 and a half hours later than we would have done had we managed to catch it. Ultimately, us staying until the very end and clapping the players off meant that we sacrificed what little of an evening we would have got... SOME form of recognition from the players would have been nice. They certainly didn't make our journey worth it with what they did on the pitch.
I'm just glad that we only have to wait little over 2 days for our next game - because we need to get this out of our system badly. Nothing less than 3 points will be good enough on Monday.
Here's hoping...........
Rangers and we're proud of it!
I haven't had the time to read through various comments, but I think it's all too easy to point the finger at Magilton.
I'm sure people have seen us suddenly now jump out of the playoffs, and I guess Magilton will be the scapegoat. Personally, I haven't been frightened to criticize Magilton when he has got it wrong - we were a shambles up in Doncaster a couple of weeks ago and that was mainly down to Jim's bizarre decisions IMO.
But had we got the 3 points that our performance richly deserved against Coventry last week, we would still be sat handsomely in the playoffs. That game we were absolutely robbed, and it was a travesty that Coventry didn't come away from that game on the end of another thumping. I genuinely couldn't ask for a thing more from the players that game - they were awesome.
Either way, today was a different game - and the simple fact of the matter is that our players just didn't show up. Again the missed chances came back to haunt us... the first 20 minutes or so it was like men against boys such was our dominance.
Once we pulled the goal back, I really did think that we would go on to win (or atleast draw) the game. Leigertwoods mistake for the third goal really was the final nail in the coffin, and the game was effectively over since then.
In my opinion the reasons we lost are:
Cerny - I have been calling for him to be dropped for a few weeks now. Fills me with absolutely no confidence at the moment, and I'm sure the defenders infront of him feel the same. Continues to overplay with the ball at the back, and oh didn't Borough exploit it... All they had to do was stick tight to our defence, as Cerny refuses to release it anywhere else! Everytime we had a goal kick we were instantly under pressure. I'm not pointing the sole responsibility of shipping 5 goals at him, it stems much further than that. But as I have said before he is in a horrible run of form - DROP HIM!!!!
Leigertwood - Thought he was absolutely shocking today. I never feel it is due to lack of effort with him - thats one thing I just cannot critisize him for. But he was certainly sloppy in possession, and generally his control/ball play was abysmal.
Buzsaky - Again another one that I feel has been under-performing for a fair few games now. Him scoring last week overshadowed what was again a very quiet game from him... today he was at about the same level. I sympathize with him in as much as he is being asked to do a job that he just cannot do. The fans know it, Buzsaky must know it - he just is not a winger. Play him in the middle behind Simpson, it should be his natural position. When struggling for openings, this is the man to do it. But he is so isolated out on the wing... he will either change position or be dropped soon, not good enough from him at all. He can do an awful lot better.
Watson - Thought his performance was better than it has been in recent weeks, but gave away a very cheap penalty... and was also very sloppy at times. He certainly isn't the dominant midfielder he was when he first joined on loan, and I think a fair few eyebrows will be raised if we fork out £2 million on him based on what we have seen over the last few weeks.
There were plenty more culprits, but those were the 4 that particularly stood out to me... possibly because they are now playing well below average on a consistent basis.
On a slightly (ever so slightly) positive note I did scrape something to take encouragement from.
Firstly... Gary Borrowdale. I have been extremely disappointed with the majority of games he has played this season, but I thought on the whole he didn't actually play that bad today. Ok, we did let in 5 goals. But I thought he looked fairly solid at left back. In possession he was very good (as he generally is) and his distribution was spot on. I do however question why we bothered signing Williams if Borrowdale will start every game anyway, but fair play to him here. I have slated him on numorous occassions this season, and I'm more than happy to eat humble pie on this occasion. Well done.
Rowan Vine - where did that come from! The majority of games that I have came back from this season, the best I have had to say about him is that there were little glimpses of the old Rowan Vine out there - but I thought today he well and truly returned. Every single time he got on the ball, you just felt something would happen. He was running at his marker, beating his marker... and releasing the ball at the perfect time - Taarabt could learn alot from him. Maybe exceptional would be a little too complimentary, but it was certainly very encouraging. Let's hope this latest operation has sorted his problems, because if he can keep performing like this he will chip in with a fair few goals - and create even more!
Finally I thought the fans today were worthy of a mention. We can all sing and dance when we smash the opposition for six - but despite the scoreline I felt so proud of us today. At times the atmosphere was electric, and I just felt that maybe it could carry is through the game. Even when at 5-1 down in the 90th minute, the songs just kept ringing out. I felt an awful lot of pride when we sang "Rangers and we're proud of it!" and "We're the finest football team..." literally seconds before the full time whistle. People seem to complain about certain things about the Q,P & R blocks but what a great sign of unity they displayed today... well done to each and every one of you!
One thing that that still gripes me is the attitude of the players. With the exception of Gorkss, not one player bothered to come over and clap the fans that had stayed - and backed them until we were finally put out of our misery at FT. I don't buy the whole idea that the reason they stay away is because the will only get booed... I didn't hear even one aimed in the direction of Gorkss earlier.
In my personal situation, we missed our ferry by 7 minutes today... that resulted in us actually arriving home 2 and a half hours later than we would have done had we managed to catch it. Ultimately, us staying until the very end and clapping the players off meant that we sacrificed what little of an evening we would have got... SOME form of recognition from the players would have been nice. They certainly didn't make our journey worth it with what they did on the pitch.
I'm just glad that we only have to wait little over 2 days for our next game - because we need to get this out of our system badly. Nothing less than 3 points will be good enough on Monday.
Here's hoping...........
Rangers and we're proud of it!
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