Saints v Rangers - 1/12/24


pezza70

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A poor rangers team allowed total control in the second half. For all his plaudits, I have no idea why Simo thought it was a good idea to bring on Neilson at right-back. Hagi was having very little success up to that point. From that point on he seemed to have more space and was allowed to play the ball into the box for the goal, with zero pressing.

The moment we brought on James McPake and Max and hoped to get an equaliser, was the moment I accepted defeat.

New centre-back looks a decent find.

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Not outclassed, as a football spectacle, but never tested their keeper.

M-o-M  close run thing between Sanders and Raymond.

Bozo coped with everything thrown his way.

Give my M-o-M to Raymond for his nutmeg on Cerny, who appeared less willing to take on Raymond as the game progressed.

 

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Hmmm, 

No  crosses into the box that I can remember, as such our whole attack seemed to be trying to force their way through Ranjurs, through the middle - a battle we never looked like winning. 

Harsh booking (not even a free kick) for Raymond, which shackled him for the rest of the game. 

I think we missed Smith for his distribution in this game - he can pick a pass, but would that have meant a very narrow midfield with Holt, Sprangler and Clark all playing centrally too? 

The late subs demonstrate our lack of squad depth - Max and McPake? Really? We need more depth in the squad during January and some of the not good enough fringe players moved out if possible. 

Weren't disgraced, but rarely threatened to string 3 passes together to make a decent chance. However, much better performance and nicer to watch than 3 months ago. 

Edited by Graeme S
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1 hour ago, SlickDT said:

I have no idea why Simo thought it was a good idea to bring on Neilson at right-back. Hagi was having very little success up to that point. From that point on he seemed to have more space and was allowed to play the ball into the box for the goal, with zero pressing.

Rangers made a half time sub to, effectively, play 2 left backs on that side. Both sat wide, and with our shape it meant Wright was always 2v1 against them when they done a big switch.

Neilson on at RB, Wright to RM, helped resolve that.

That change of shape put Essel to CAM where he got lost, so Sprangler/Holt were 2v3 v Rangers midfield and Hagis movement was too good to properly track.

It was made worse when Sprangler came off as Essel isn't great at following runners so Holt was overwhelmed. Then made even worse by bringing Max on as neither him or Essel can defend well in the middle.

It might have been fine but Hagi is quality, and sometimes you just have to accept that you can't always stop that.

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19 minutes ago, Gekko said:

First half okay, second half, meh.

I was hoping we would have caused them more problems.

This is a bang average Rangers team and we could've gotten something from them.

Max and McPake. I wish them both well, but it's so blatantly obvious that they're not for this level.

Felt a bit dirry for Mac and McPake , they haven't had a minutes football this season and are expected to come on to safe or win the the game, both of them weren't sharp enough.

Same with Essel , every time there was a sub he had to change position.

Something wrong when those 3 get on before Smith though.

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1 hour ago, RandomGuy said:

Rangers made a half time sub to, effectively, play 2 left backs on that side. Both sat wide, and with our shape it meant Wright was always 2v1 against them when they done a big switch.

Neilson on at RB, Wright to RM, helped resolve that.

That change of shape put Essel to CAM where he got lost, so Sprangler/Holt were 2v3 v Rangers midfield and Hagis movement was too good to properly track.

It was made worse when Sprangler came off as Essel isn't great at following runners so Holt was overwhelmed. Then made even worse by bringing Max on as neither him or Essel can defend well in the middle.

It might have been fine but Hagi is quality, and sometimes you just have to accept that you can't always stop that.

I would much rather have seen Wright stay where he was, Essel on the right of the three and be told to come across to help him and someone with legs take over Clarks role and fill any gaps deeper when defending.

When that ball is played across the Hagi for the goal, Wright is still getting back and Neilson is flat footed centrally and makes zero attempt to cover the space or even attempt to do something that may put Hagi off his cross.

I think we disagree on Hagi and his ability. I think he is the complete anthesis of why this current Rangers team are so poor. An inconsistent player that flatters to deceive the majority of the time.

I wonder if the introduction of McPake and Max was a little nod to the board... "I need a few in the window!"?

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I thought positives from today, could see what the plan was which hadn’t been apparent last couple of years.

For an hour it worked, we matched Rangers all over the park.

Substitutions were the difference, Max and McPake nowhere near good enough.

Thought Rae did fine, hopefully boost his confidence, Sanders put in another good performance, starting to really like him. Mikulic looks a really good find.

Thought Kirk up front did well and was my mom.

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1 hour ago, RandomGuy said:

Not sure i agree with Rae being fine, tbh. He spilled two fairly simple shots back into the box and was lucky our defenders reacted quickest, and then almost got embarrassed when a shot straight at him squirmed between his legs.

Agree but he made a few good saves and looked a bit more secure and hopefully got a bit more confidence.

Also Simo made subs last week that changed the team for the better , this week the opposite.

I thought we played well in the first half but were poor in second. Don't know if it was down to Rangers changes or did we sit back and hope for a 0-0. First half Raymond was awesome but never got over halfway in the second.

Carey is is poor, too many blind passes and tricks and I thought he was on the right to cut in on his left foot but twice he tried to go to the by-line.

Not sure why Spangler was taken off.

Defence looks a bit more secure with Bozo there and think he has helped Sanders.

Keeping possession and playing along the back til you get an opening is fine but with 5 mins left the ball should never be going back to the goalie. We have to be more direct at times.

 

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1 hour ago, dunblanemike said:

I thought VAR should have got involved at their goal given the high boot in the build up. I can only think this incident was too long a time before the goal. Am I the only person to spot this?

No it looked a clear high foot and a push, but you're never getting them v Celtic or Rangers so there's no point talking about it.

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I think Carey’s performance was a big problem for us, Raymond looked pretty tired just before half time whilst Caret offered us nothing on the other side.

Drey is wasted in his current position at present.

Rangers were there to be beaten unfortunately we just didn’t have the ability to do so.

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After losing the lead up at Ross County we saw how Nicky Clark was affected by that and rightfully he gained the captaincy. But I think we need a Captain who can play the full 90. 3 different boys wore the armband yesterday and each time the change happened things got worse.

 

Overall though I was happy with the result, even though I thought before the game we could have won. But if Benji continues to hold onto the ball and not make effective passes then goals will be hard to come by. I get it, strikers want to be the scorers, but they need to be team-players first.

 

Pleased with Sanders, he's coming on great, and Raymond is keen to get up the pitch too. We're going in the right direction. I just think we're depending on Carey and Clark too much. Strong central midfielders are what we need.

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1 hour ago, pezza70 said:

I think Carey’s performance was a big problem for us, Raymond looked pretty tired just before half time whilst Caret offered us nothing on the other side.

Drey is wasted in his current position at present.

Rangers were there to be beaten unfortunately we just didn’t have the ability to do so.

Happy with first half but the second half was a puzzle. I don't know what the tactics were. Surely if has some have said they tired but if that's the case it's a big worry.

Why we didn't go gung ho for the last 20 mins is strange. Tommy Wright would have thrown a centre back up front and peppered them with crosses. Getting beat 2-0 is no worse than 1-0 and yet we were still passing across the field and back to goalie.

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22 hours ago, Cagey said:

Felt a bit dirry for Mac and McPake , they haven't had a minutes football this season and are expected to come on to safe or win the the game, both of them weren't sharp enough.

Same with Essel , every time there was a sub he had to change position.

Something wrong when those 3 get on before Smith though.

I think the difference with Essel is that he can play multiple positions. He's good to have on the bench because he's at least capable and CB, RB, DM or CM. You can't really say the same for Max and McPake. Their only positive is that they are cheap bodies on the bench

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