After watching the 2nd half of last night's Plate game, I was left with an overwhelming sense of 'what if'? Here we have UEFA telling us that more officials is the answer to try and limit the amount of contensious decisions, yet we are denied 2 stonewallers and a defo red card to the PSV player. But my biggest gripe is the way that Walter set us up in the 1st half. Here we are, at home against a decent, but not brilliant, PSV side and we string 5 at the back?! Why? To cover Davie Weirs chronic lack of pace and mobility. Big Davie has been immense the last couple of seasons, but this season has been a step too far for the big fella'. Why does Walter change the way we play to cover Davie's frailities? So 1st half down, we're heading out of Europe, we need to change it. We take off Weir, revert to a back 4 and and guess what? We start putting them under pressure. We create more chance in 40 mins than we did in the previous 4 European ties! Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Walter needs to recognise that perservering with SDoW will only force us to drop deep and allow teams to attack us. If you look at Barca, they defend from the front, we on the otherhand tell teams to attack us. If we had pressed higher up the park, you could argue that the 1st goal would never have happened because their left back would never have had the time to pick out thier winger. Anyway, it's the Diddy Cup final on Sunday, no doubt the Timothy will be confident, and to be honest, I'd rather lose this game than the final league game at Ibrox. Regards
I realise that I'm replying to part of your OP that is not your main gripe, but last night was another example, if one were needed, that more assistants don't work. Regularly in the SPL we see linesmen waiting for the referee to decide who gets a throw-in before raising their flags. According to a retired referee I spoke to this is because some referees instruct their assistants to be ACTIVE in decisions and others just want them to flag for offside or when the ball is out. A further example of this is when a foul occurs near a linesman and he doesn't flag. It could be that he hasn't seen it, but more likely his referee has instructed him not to be active. Nonsense! I hear you cry. That was my first reaction, but the ex-ref was insistent that this happens. Given the recent example of the egos of some referees, I am inclined to believe. Therefore filling the pitch and surrounds with assistants will NEVER help as long as certain referees are allowed to continue in their dictatorial manner.
I understand what you're saying about putting PSV under more pressure in the 2d half but I think that had as much to do with the fact that they were protecting their one goal lead. Once they went in front they knew Rangers would have to score two and they did what all European teams do: sat back and tried to hit you on the break. In truth they created as many chances as Rangers did in the 2nd half. However, Rangers couldn't have been any worse in the 2nd half than they were in the first. That was absolutely awful. If PSV had a decent striker instead of that Berg (who makes Daryl Murphy look world class!) then the game would have been over by half-time. Mo Edu? What's happened to him? His confidence is totally shot. As for Walter. Well, you reap what you so sow. Playing at home needing to score and he starts with five at the back and Lafferty up front on his own. Shocking. Needing two goals he waits until the 85th minute to throw on Healy and that was only because Lafferty went off injured. What is it? One win in the last 21 European games I think I read somewhere.
I don't understand why we waited till half-time before changing formation. PSV scored after 14 mins and it was obvious we were never going to get the 2 goals we needed playing with that set up. It'll be interesting to see if Walt learns a lesson from this game and drops Weir, but frankly I doubt it.
If, and it looks likely, Bartley is injured for Sunday, then Weir will play. Which makes his decision to get rid of Webster even more bizarre. Edu needs to be dropped, he reminds me of a certain Alan Hutton now. Confidence shot to peices, decision making is irrational. Infact, I would play Edu up front, where he looks dangerous in the opposition box.
Edu needs to be dropped ASAP. In the last few games, he seems to lose the ball every time he gets it. He either passes straight to an opposition player, plays a poorly weighted pass that is intercepted, or spends so much time dithering that he gets dispossessed.
all Im saying is perhaps walter needs to consider shoving his hand up maurices arse and working him like a glove puppet ; thats the true meaning of "five at the back"
Another thinly veiled racist remark RL? With leaning towards the African Slave trade?! I truly dispair. Seriously though, what has happened to Edu? Before he got injured in November, he looked a player, now he is ****ed. Can't make simple passes and just runs about aimlessly! If Bartley is out on Sunday, we're ****ed.
Looks like Bartley is a serious doubt for Sunday. Weiss is still struggling with an ankle injury. Lafferty is unlikely to be fit and Forster is ineligible as he played for Aberdeen in an earlier round.
