Well i'm back for the first time in a week or so! After Man U I just felt very negative and downbeat and felt a short time away from the mesageboard's may help a bit. I just couldn't be bothered with it all really, although I did read a bit on here from time to time! But thankfully I went on saturday, the first away win I have seen since Wolves in Sept 2011! THE GAME Before the game I wasnt entirely confident to be honest, and with the report in the mirror as well it made for pretty grim reading. We started a little bit slow and they seemed to be the more confident and the better of the two sides. That was until Hoilett played a great ball through the Saints high line defence for Remy to run onto. And at the time I thought he had waited too long to get his shot away but fortunately he finished it well! Cue madness in the 3,200 away fans! From then on the game was even with both sides struggling to create too much of any note and it got scrappy, although we were holding out and looked like they had run out of ideas. 3 minutes added time went up on the board for HT. Then Bothroyd had a great chance to make it 2-0 but was tackled. And as often happens they then scored from nothing after a Cesar error. 1-1. Second half began with them on top once again, and we kept on giving the ball away. Frustration was the feeling in the rangers away end as it looked like we were going to throw it away. Granero was taken off as he was one of the main culprits of giving the ball away. Again, it looked like both sides would hold out for a draw, until lo and behold Ji Sung Park won a tackle (yes, it happened!) and Bothroyd scored (yes, again it happened!). The away end erupted with a wall of noise and never stopped until the final whistle! Rob Green came on and made a great save to keep it 2-1 and despite 6 mins of injury time we held out! Finally! THE RATINGS CESAR - 6 - let us down at a terrible time just before HT but made several good punches to clear danger throughout. TRAORE - 6.5 - cant say i remember too much about his performance, so cant have done much wrong, but not a huge amount to affect us going forwards. HILL - 8 - stood up and was counted. was desperate to win every ball and one time motored across the field to clear the danger down the wing. committed and kept southampton at bay for the large part. SAMBA - 8 - much the same as hill. several last ditch clearances and marshalled the team well. gave us a secure platform to build from. BOSINGWA - 7 - had a decent game i thought. was good both defensively and attacking wise and put the ball through that led to park setting bothroyd up. Put in a big effort and linked well with remy in the first half. MBIA - 5.5 - poor imo. gave the ball away alot and was clumsy. made a few needless tackles and generally a bit erratic. GRANERO - 5.5 - same. gave possession away cheaply which allowed them most of the possession. often looked for the difficult pass rather than a simple one. HOILETT - 8 - close to mom for me as he put a real shift in. was always a threat and made several chances. stunning ball for the 1st goal. always around to receive the ball and whilst he didnt have a shot himself it was a team performance from him. PARK - 6.5 - despite the cross for bothroyd he wasnt great for the large part really. was weak in the tackle and often gave the ball away, but showed flashes of good play. but did very well to win the tackle for the cross and put in a great cross. that seemed to give him a bit of confidence for the remaining minutes. REMY - 8 - played RW in the first half and moved up top with JB later on. Used the ball very well and finished for the goal superbly. Often a threat going forwards and linked well with everyone. BOTHROYD - 8.5 - MOM - I have been critical of him in the past but he put a bloody hard shift in on Saturday. Worked his socks off and did the simple things well. Brought others into play and won a fair few headers as well. A proper gritty performance if you like. And made a great run for his goal. THE FINAL WORD I think Shearer on MOTD summed things up well - we were much more incisive and attack minded at the weekend compared to previous games. Not necessarily in terms of numbers going forwards but much more direct with our passing and looking for the forward ball rather than sideways. Shearer also made a good point re Adel - not making the runs into space - something which we did in this game very well. We certainly fought well and had more than enough of the game to warrant a win, but if truth be told a draw would have been fair. But thats exactly what we dont need right now - so a win is fantastic. We have done the 'hard' part now (winning away) so we have a great chance to put 2 wins together now at home. Whilst I am still on a high from the weekend though, it means nothing without follow up results. Nothing. Still plenty of work to do. But in a funny sort of way that mirror story may have been what we needed. Gave the players a great motivation to do well and prove a point. Also delighted for HR to get one over on them - they abused him throughout! His reaction at full time showed it all. And also, what a performance by the fans. The noise created was brilliant, so much so I have a sore throat right now. Totally worth it though! As a side note, went to Yates before the game which was full of rangers and the singing didn't really stop from there to be honest! 3,200 is an amazing total considering our league position.
thankfully i have just read the other thread and i know who you mean by bambi! he was better in the second half of the second half and tried hard, but yep overall wasnt great!
Cheers Judo Park was MOM for me he never stopped pressing from kick off and after being booed off against MK dons it was a fantastic performance.
Nice Judo, I would have given Betty 7.5 but understand your point, I think your scores reflect pretty much how I saw the game. We've seen the Defence step up, the strikers step (when given a chance), now time for the CM's to stand up and be counted.
Must say Im surprised there are quite a few in favour of Park but thats football eh! Thats the beauty of it! But I think from what I have read most agree that the CM is an issue. We just didn't control play enough and haven't done all season.
Amazing isn't? They're the positions that we thought we had an abundance of quality in before the season started. Good report though. Cheers Judo.
Very good report Judo, many thanks! Your ratings are about right for me, though I'd have given both Traore and Bosingway another half point each, and I think you are bit kind to Park (think some on here must be feeling sorry for him). All 4 (Park, Granero, M'bia and Jenas) who played CM were poor. I think Green deserves a mention - his was a perfect substitute performance, he didn't make even a tiny mistake, didn't look at all nervous as he did in abundance at the start of the season - he seemed to be joking with the officials as he came on, one world class save from the header, and another good save. I thought he was our worst ever buy, with the possible exception of Park last summer, now he's really showing what he can do, and must be a serious alternative to Cesar now.
Cheers Judo, always a good read. Agree with most of that. Funny how its split over Park isnt it? Read a few posts saying he wasnt even in the game...Opinions eh? Most important thing was 3 points. couldn't give a monkeys how we get them now.....just get them!
