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Went down to Bristol tonight which is the first time I've managed to see Rangers this season, after hearing the reports it was good to get a chance to see it for myself.
I was excited to see Faurlin making his debut but extremely worried to see Agyemang anywhere near the starting line-up!
The first half we started off well the first ten minutes or so lots of posession nice passing and moving but without really creating a lot. It didn't take long to become clear, people have been saying from the previous two games that we play some nice looking football but rarely look like scoring. Then Bristol started to get on top and to be honest should have had a couple before half time Maynard at least should have buried one. Cerny made one very good save getting down quick after seeing the ball late through a load of bodies.
The second half we played better but still couldn't score Taarabt managed to miss a sitter from about 6 yards hitting it against the post. We had a lot more posession but so very rarely look like scoring goals. Routledge was outstanding and if we don't pick up soon he will be the first one out the door because he can clearly do a lot better than us on our current showing!
You knew what was coming though and sure enough they scored, Maynard with a good effort. Both Maynard and Haynes were very good for Bristol tonight and really emphasised the difference between the two teams. Bristol are an average team with two very useful strikers, we have a solid defence a pretty midfield and absolutely no-one up front.
After the goal Vine and Pellicori and eventually Helguson were brought on to try and get us a goal but to no avail we huffed, we puffed, we had a lot of posession, we played some nice passes but not a lot happened really and I never got the feeling we would score. Legs had one glorious chance towards then end where he strolled through about four players was one on one with the keeper about 5 yards out and hit a lame chip straight at the keeper. No excuses there he should have buried it having done the hard work. Pellicori at least changed the shape of the team and gave us a target man to work with he won a few balls but didn't look spectacular in anything. Vine looked off the pace still and needs to get back to at least creating goals otherwise he is not much use to the side. Helguson didn't get long but he should have started after scoring on Sat.
Support was a pretty good turnout but overall pretty subdued atmosphere amongst them. It seems we have all seen it all before and most people are now fed up with it....
Overall Bristol are a team we could quite easily beat and when we were passing well we were clearly a better quality team but we have no cutting edge. We need IMO two new strikers because the ones we have just aren't up to the job it's another 3 points lost thats 7 points lost already. This squad as it stands will not get promoted in a million years without a striker.
I thought of Magilton as a solid appointment and hope that will be true but his tactis were poor tonight Agyemang is useless and to start the game with him playing wide left and a left winger playing up front on his own is ridiculous. How Agyemang stayed on past half time is anybodies guess.
Helguson scored on saturday but is dropped to the bench what is that going to do for his confidence, if a striker is scoring goals he has to play simple as that and to replace him with someone as inept as Agyemang just makes it even worse.
Player ratings...
Cerny 7 - thought he played well had one dodgy moment in the first half where he punched when he could easily have caught it and it nearly cost us. One excellent save in the first half, to be honest not a massive amount to do and not much of a chance with the goal.
Ramage 6 - Is now fairly solid defending but still looks so nervous on the ball, his crossing is still pretty poor and I don't think he will ever offer much going forward
Borrowdale 5 - Again looks nervous on the ball did overlap with Routledge a few times but got beaten a few times out wide as well, not a bad player by any means but not a great one either
Hall 8 - Played very well tonight I thought I'm not a Hall fan and wouldn't pick him normally but didn't realy put a foot wrong
Stewart 7 - Also played well, no real calamties both him and Hall looked comfortable in posession and dealt reasonably well with the impressive Maynard and Haynes.
Legs 5 - Gets about everywhere but didn't have his best game missed a few tackles and centre midfield is an area especially first half where we missed bite we were second to every ball, great run at the end should have buried it
Faurlin 5 - Got booked for a bad challenge, he seems pretty tenacious a few passes he tried didnt come off hard to tell think he could be fairly good when he gets used to league but can't see him replacing Rowlands which then begs the question if we did spend 3.5 mil on him why the hell did we do it?
Buzsaky 5 - a few nice little touches but was pretty quiet, two free kicks tha he failed to clear the wall with, one of his quieter games and with us so poor at scoring goals at the moment you were praying for a moment of magic.
Routledge 9 - Excellent beat his man time after time, got crosses in the (empty) box played neat passes, best player for us and tbh for both teams by a country mile if only he had some one up front to pass it to.
Taarabt 5 - poor tonight always tried to run with it but it never came off a couple of times he went sprinting off and seemingly forgot the ball. Bradley Orr did a job on him. He isn't a striker and needs to be less greedy and have more end product.
Agyemang 1 - why? seriously?.... why was he in the team! Barely touched the ball everytime he did he made a mess of it, not once did he get into space or make an intelligent run he has no movement, no skill, no physical presence up front, no aerial ability. Our striking options are poor but he is the worst of a bad bunch.
Another game lost where if we had a striker or two we should have got a point minimum. IMO we will struggle very badly until we get at least one striker ideally two in. People will say but we already have 5 yes we do but we should get shot of most of them because they are just not up to the job. Maynard and Haynes showed tonight what it is to have proper strikers, I fear we have been watching such dross up front for so long that we have come to accept that can surely be the only explanation for people like Pete claiming we don;t need a striker.
We need Balanta, Rowlands and even Cook back as soon as possible to try and sort things out as much as possible! And if they don't sign at least one striker before the transfer window ends we WILL NOT go up, and we will have a season of struggling to score any goals which will be extremely frustrating to watch.
I was excited to see Faurlin making his debut but extremely worried to see Agyemang anywhere near the starting line-up!
The first half we started off well the first ten minutes or so lots of posession nice passing and moving but without really creating a lot. It didn't take long to become clear, people have been saying from the previous two games that we play some nice looking football but rarely look like scoring. Then Bristol started to get on top and to be honest should have had a couple before half time Maynard at least should have buried one. Cerny made one very good save getting down quick after seeing the ball late through a load of bodies.
The second half we played better but still couldn't score Taarabt managed to miss a sitter from about 6 yards hitting it against the post. We had a lot more posession but so very rarely look like scoring goals. Routledge was outstanding and if we don't pick up soon he will be the first one out the door because he can clearly do a lot better than us on our current showing!
You knew what was coming though and sure enough they scored, Maynard with a good effort. Both Maynard and Haynes were very good for Bristol tonight and really emphasised the difference between the two teams. Bristol are an average team with two very useful strikers, we have a solid defence a pretty midfield and absolutely no-one up front.
After the goal Vine and Pellicori and eventually Helguson were brought on to try and get us a goal but to no avail we huffed, we puffed, we had a lot of posession, we played some nice passes but not a lot happened really and I never got the feeling we would score. Legs had one glorious chance towards then end where he strolled through about four players was one on one with the keeper about 5 yards out and hit a lame chip straight at the keeper. No excuses there he should have buried it having done the hard work. Pellicori at least changed the shape of the team and gave us a target man to work with he won a few balls but didn't look spectacular in anything. Vine looked off the pace still and needs to get back to at least creating goals otherwise he is not much use to the side. Helguson didn't get long but he should have started after scoring on Sat.
Support was a pretty good turnout but overall pretty subdued atmosphere amongst them. It seems we have all seen it all before and most people are now fed up with it....
Overall Bristol are a team we could quite easily beat and when we were passing well we were clearly a better quality team but we have no cutting edge. We need IMO two new strikers because the ones we have just aren't up to the job it's another 3 points lost thats 7 points lost already. This squad as it stands will not get promoted in a million years without a striker.
I thought of Magilton as a solid appointment and hope that will be true but his tactis were poor tonight Agyemang is useless and to start the game with him playing wide left and a left winger playing up front on his own is ridiculous. How Agyemang stayed on past half time is anybodies guess.
Helguson scored on saturday but is dropped to the bench what is that going to do for his confidence, if a striker is scoring goals he has to play simple as that and to replace him with someone as inept as Agyemang just makes it even worse.
Player ratings...
Cerny 7 - thought he played well had one dodgy moment in the first half where he punched when he could easily have caught it and it nearly cost us. One excellent save in the first half, to be honest not a massive amount to do and not much of a chance with the goal.
Ramage 6 - Is now fairly solid defending but still looks so nervous on the ball, his crossing is still pretty poor and I don't think he will ever offer much going forward
Borrowdale 5 - Again looks nervous on the ball did overlap with Routledge a few times but got beaten a few times out wide as well, not a bad player by any means but not a great one either
Hall 8 - Played very well tonight I thought I'm not a Hall fan and wouldn't pick him normally but didn't realy put a foot wrong
Stewart 7 - Also played well, no real calamties both him and Hall looked comfortable in posession and dealt reasonably well with the impressive Maynard and Haynes.
Legs 5 - Gets about everywhere but didn't have his best game missed a few tackles and centre midfield is an area especially first half where we missed bite we were second to every ball, great run at the end should have buried it
Faurlin 5 - Got booked for a bad challenge, he seems pretty tenacious a few passes he tried didnt come off hard to tell think he could be fairly good when he gets used to league but can't see him replacing Rowlands which then begs the question if we did spend 3.5 mil on him why the hell did we do it?
Buzsaky 5 - a few nice little touches but was pretty quiet, two free kicks tha he failed to clear the wall with, one of his quieter games and with us so poor at scoring goals at the moment you were praying for a moment of magic.
Routledge 9 - Excellent beat his man time after time, got crosses in the (empty) box played neat passes, best player for us and tbh for both teams by a country mile if only he had some one up front to pass it to.
Taarabt 5 - poor tonight always tried to run with it but it never came off a couple of times he went sprinting off and seemingly forgot the ball. Bradley Orr did a job on him. He isn't a striker and needs to be less greedy and have more end product.
Agyemang 1 - why? seriously?.... why was he in the team! Barely touched the ball everytime he did he made a mess of it, not once did he get into space or make an intelligent run he has no movement, no skill, no physical presence up front, no aerial ability. Our striking options are poor but he is the worst of a bad bunch.
Another game lost where if we had a striker or two we should have got a point minimum. IMO we will struggle very badly until we get at least one striker ideally two in. People will say but we already have 5 yes we do but we should get shot of most of them because they are just not up to the job. Maynard and Haynes showed tonight what it is to have proper strikers, I fear we have been watching such dross up front for so long that we have come to accept that can surely be the only explanation for people like Pete claiming we don;t need a striker.
We need Balanta, Rowlands and even Cook back as soon as possible to try and sort things out as much as possible! And if they don't sign at least one striker before the transfer window ends we WILL NOT go up, and we will have a season of struggling to score any goals which will be extremely frustrating to watch.
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