Livingston vs. Rangers 03/03/21

 

OK folks bear with me on this one. It isn't so much a match report as my thoughts while watching the match if that makes sense? If this is your first time reading the page I'd recommend starting with one of my other 2 blogs first though.

Pre-Match:

Starting 11:  McGregor, Patterson, Goldson (c), Helander, Barisic, Kamara, Davis, Arfield, Aribo, Kent, Morelos

Subs:  McLaughlin, Bassey, Simpson, Hagi, Defoe, Itten, Zungu, Wright, Stewart

When the line-up is announce I'm not too surprised by it. My initial thoughts were this is a huge opportunity for Patterson tonight and I hope he grabs it. If I was to pick one surprise it would be that Hagi isn't in the starting line-up but I think that's probably because the Livingston "pitch" doesn't lend itself to his style of play. I'm also glad to see Arfield back in the line-up. Stewart is just a waste of a bench spot at this point, I can't see any scenario where he comes on to play.

My predicted subs are Wright to come on for Kent and Hagi to come on for Aribo. I also have a sneaky feeling we'll see Defoe come on at some point and grab a late goal. I'm going for 3-0 to the famous.

John Beaton is the ref. That doesn't fill me with much confidence as he's just not very good. 

The pitch looks awful. If I was a professional footballer I'd see it as an insult to have to ply my trade on that monstrosity. 

First Half:

The game starts off fairly ordinary. Patterson has a nice calm pass back to the centre backs in the opening minutes that shows a maturity for me that you wouldn't normally expect from a player his age. I wouldn't have been too critical if he decided to go on a meandering run eager to show his ability but he takes the smart option.  

Two minutes in Goldson makes a sloppy clearance that Livingston pounce on but Goldson recovers well and makes the challenge. A sign that this Livingston team can't be underestimated. 

There was nice link up play between Morelos and Arfield in the 5th minute that lead to a foul by Guthrie and our first yellow card of the night but the free-kick came to nothing. Livi then had a bit of attacking position which was quickly moped up. From the opening 10mins I was really impressed by Helander's positioning but felt Goldson was struggling a bit, likely due to the poor playing surface.

Patterson again stood out for me with a smart pass in the 9th minute and then some good defensive work in the 12th. It was also obvious by this point that Livingston's plan was going to be the long diagonal ball from Stryjek to Serrano down their left hand side to try and exploit Patterson's inexperience. Goldson had started to come into the game at this point too.

Patterson again went on a nice run in the 13th minute, creating himself a bit of space on the right wing but unfortunately his pass was poor and dealt with by Livi easily. This was followed by a lovely pass from Aribo to set Morelos free but unfortunately he was just fractionally offside.

20mins into the half and Livingston were forced into their first substitution of the night when Robinson came on for the injure Reilly. Livi then started to put a little bit of attacking pressure on and Goldson was forced to make a couple of clearing headers in the 22nd minute, he was really starting to show his defensive capabilities now. 

Rangers were struggling to really show their ability because the pitch was just slowing every single pass down, most evident when they tried to make an attack and a pass between Arfield and Davis just seemed to slow as if it was being passed through treacle. Livingston are a decent enough side anyway but when the pitch doesn't lend itself to playing football it makes it increasingly difficult to do anything against them.

Helander was then guilty of an awful pass that went straight to the Livi player on 27mins, but like Goldson earlier he was able to recover well and block the shot.

Perhaps the best chance of the night so far came on the 32nd minute when a Barisic corner was met by the head of Helander but unfortunately he couldn't direct it low enough and it went just over the Livingston goal.

This was then followed by what will become the main talking point of the night no doubt as Alfie is brought down by Stryjek in the box in the 35th minute and somehow, despite a clear sight of it, Beaton proceeds to show Morelos a yellow card for simulation. I can't quite believe that's the outcome, even Andy Walker on commentary has said it was a penalty. 

2mins later Arfield has a lovely shot from inside the box that just misses the target, one he normally scores,. It looked like he might have been wiped out just after he got his shot off too, on another day that could have been a penalty and it's going to be missed in the uproar of the events from the Morelos yellow card.

There's some lovely triangles being played by Patterson, Arfield and Aribo on the right hand side of the pitch and Alfie gets a chance on the 44th minute but misses. He needs to do better with chances like that. 

Beaton shortly blows for HT and all hell breaks loose. Gerrard goes over to speak to Beaton who refuses to even look at Gerrard, telling him "I can't at the moment" when Gerrard asks why he won't speak to him. The cameras pick up Gerrard swearing at Beaton as he is visibly angry at the decision to yellow card Morelos for a clear penalty and this leads to Beaton showing him a yellow card, followed quickly by a 2nd yellow and a red. Despite there not being much going on in the match Beaton has somehow managed to lose control of it. Unbelievable levels of incompetence.

Second Half:

More lovely play from Patterson to start the second half. Rangers then have a counter attack on the 49th minute which Sibbald stops via a foul and receives a yellow card for his troubles. A great delivery from Barisic sees Goldson put the ball in the back of the net on his 150th appearance for Rangers, however the linesman's flag denies him a goal to celebrate being the fastest ever play to make that landmark for Rangers. It was tight but it was the right call.

In the 50th minute Kent has a great attacking opportunity but the ball just won't flow on this pitch and this gives the Livi defenders time to catch up and stop the attack.

There's then a break in play as someone outside the stadium sets off fireworks in the 55th minute and some debris nearly hits the players. Ian Crocker makes a remark of how that's fireworks in the 55th minute and Rangers are on their way to their 55th title so I imagine Sky will be fielding some calls in the morning to request he's either taken off air or to cancel their subscriptions. Morelos then has another good opportunity but Stryjek makes the diving save to deny him. He's going to have to start taking these chances soon.

Holt is booked in the 66th minute for a foul on Aribo taking it to 7 yellow cards being shown by Beaton so far including the two shown to Gerrard at HT.

The 69th minute sees some lovely footwork by Aribo and great play from Patterson who just can't find Kent with his pass. Patterson is having a very impressive game at this point, looks creative going forward and solid defensively. The standout so far for me in a game that hasn't really produced much. Serrano is shown a yellow card in the 71st minute to take the total to 8 now.

Alfie has another opportunity in the 72nd minute that he sends just wide. For all his hard work and good play it just doesn't seem to be happening for Morelos at this point.

Sensing the urgency for a goal Rangers make their first change in the 72nd minute when Itten comes on for Arfield. I imagine Aribo will drop back to CM and Itten will play on the right of the front 3. Shortly after Livi make their next change and bizarrely it's Robinson coming off, having only come on in the 20th minute himself. He's clearly not happy and heads straight to the changing room.

A great ball from Kamara sees Morelos put another opportunity wide, you can sense his frustration at this point but to his credit he's getting himself into these positions. His work rate has been fantastic. Always pressing from the front.

The 78th minute sees a scramble in the Rangers box following a corner as Livi are looking for the goal that may be enough to give Rangers their first defeat in the league in a year... That's right it's been a year since Rangers lost a league game. Unbelievable. However the ball is cleared for another corner.

In the 80th minute Rangers have their own corner that Goldson heads on to Alfie who just misses the goal as his header goes wide. It really isn't his night so far tonight. Stryjek is then booked for time wasting. He quickly has another chance as Patterson starts an attack that sees Davis lay it off to Morelos but his shot is saved.

All Alfie's hard work is soon to be rewarded though as a great bit of play from Rangers which sees multiple passes between Davis, Aribo, Itten, Patterson, Morelos & Kent end with a Davis shot that the keeper palms out but Alfie is there to provide the finish. He deserved that for his effort tonight.

Livi then start to push forward trying to grab an equaliser but we see some more lovely triangles from Morelos, Kamara and Kent before Itten is taken down in the box for what looked like a penalty but Beaton inexplicably waives play on.

Rangers final sub of the night is to bring Zungu on, who seems to have carved out a niche role of being brought on to waste some time and see out the win in tight games. I doubt it will be enough to convince the coaching staff to splash out on him in the summer but it has been effective. Somehow McGregor is booked during this substitution for time wasting. I can't explain how you can time waste when that's happening but we are talking about Beaton here.

It was good to see Alfie taking the ball to the corner flag to try and see out the 4 minutes added time. Not managing tight games like this has cost us in the past and it was good to see us learn from that. The final whistle goes and Rangers take all the points and remain undefeated in the league. Four more points sees that title secured.

Final impressions:

A good 3 points even if it wasn't the best of games. The important thing at this moment is getting the wins over the line and securing that title so from that standpoint job done. It was good to see Alfie get his goal for all his hard work. Steven Davis had a comfortable game. Goldson really put on a solid performance after a shaky opening few minutes and Kent was everywhere without really doing much to stand out. For me Patterson was man of the match, creative going forward, calm in defence and and showed maturity when needed. I said pre-match he needed to seize this opportunity and I think he did. It will be interesting to see the punishment handed out to him, Zungu and Bassey over the coming days, especially after the inaction of the SFA following Dubai-gate and their own faux pas with the match officials returning from Greece last week. Beaton had an awful game. Even for his standards he was terrible. Gerrard obviously angry in his post match interview and who can blame him. His passion is refreshing though. I can't wait to see him lift that league trophy.

If you've read my thoughts on the match to this point thank you, not as good as my blog I'm sure but like that I will work on it and hopefully improve it to a level you will enjoy. 

The Rambling Ger

As always all constructive criticism and advice welcome.