Show Me The Way To...

 

It's been an interesting couple of weeks for the Gers. Our return to competitive football didn't quite go as we would have hoped, being held to a draw at Pittodrie, but that seems to have been righted somewhat with the last two games against Stirling Albion and Livingston. I won't cover the Aberdeen and Stirling games here, if you want to know my thoughts on those games I was recently a guest on a podcast for The 4th Official (@Official_T4O) for Chris Bett's new weekly show (@Chr1sBett)

Livingston

I will admit that when the line-up was published for the game against Livingston I, along with probably 99% of the Rangers support, was surprised. Two holding midfielders against Livingston was a strange choice, and our only attacking midfielder was a youth player, who albeit had a brilliant outing against Stirling Albion a few days prior, but was still very raw. 

This seemed to be the 3rd match in a row that I was questioning the manager's decisions. For someone who prior to the enforced, extended winter break had been getting it so right, he seemed to have come back and be getting it so wrong for me.

Though as I thought it through on the drive to Ibrox it made more sense to me. I thought about our options on the bench and realised that this was more an enforced line-up than a chosen one. Scott Arfield was our only real attacking midfielder option on the bench, with Aribo only just arriving back from the African Cup of Nations, Bacuna on the way out and Hagi now out for the season, and he was just returning to action himself. 

With that in mind it made sense to start Lowry, as you don't want to start 3 more defensive minded midfielders, and the lad had certainly shown enough against Stirling Albion to justify a chance in those circumstances. Personally I would have liked to see Lundstram get a start in this game as I still think he has a lot to bring to the team, but he's not the type of player suited to being a substitute in my opinion. However, I understand the manager's choice in playing Sands, after all he's his first signing technically and he'll be looking to see if James has what he envisions for him at the club.

I would say Sands performance was justified as he was neat and tidy, Like Aberdeen I didn't see anything particularly standout but I did pay closer attention to his passing and movement in the game and thought he had a decent game. I felt Scott Wright really struggled in the game, and at times felt he was hiding. I know he's a player the support have a lot of time for and a lot of hopes, but for me he's not doing it. I hope he goes on to prove me wrong, I really do, as I think he's a good guy, but I struggle to see him being considered a must start any time soon.

I was also disappointed in Itten, again, another one that I hope to prove me wrong, but I just can't see me wanting him to lead the line against that lot across the city next Wednesday. With that in mind it was great to see Roofe back on the pitch, and hopefully he can build on that this weekend against Ross County, with a view to starting against them on Wednesday. He will be a huge boost, along with Aribo, as when he's fit he's one of the best players in Scotland, and if not for those injury issues he would 100% be playing in the EPL.

A special mention for Ryan Jack, it was brilliant to finally see him playing again and I know my 6yr old will be delighted to have his favourite player back.

Overall it was a tough, turgid match, with horrible playing conditions and a stuffy, well organised team to play against. I've a lot of time for David Martindale and with that in mind and the enforced team and weather I was happy to see us pull out the win when it looked like we may end up dropping points. Much like Motherwell last season, it's wins like that you can look back on at the end of the season and, hopefully, say "that's why we're champions, digging in and securing wins like that". 

Transfer activity

Look we wouldn't be Rangers fans if we weren't on every single twitter post from the club demanding announcements of new signings. Has it been fairly quiet on that front? Yes. Would we like more? Yes. However we're done well so far in my opinion. No we haven't gone out and spent millions on 5 or 6 players to add to the millions and millions we spent in the summer, but that's because we don't need a massive overhaul. 

We have a very good squad who just need a few additions to really push us over the top. So far we've agreed a pre-contract with Souttar, who in my last article I had said I was very keen for us to pursue, and if a deal can be done to bring him in early then great, but it needs to be on our terms. It's a deal that makes sense for all parties, Hearts can get a fee instead of losing him for nothing, the fans are already on his back so it removes a bit of a toxic atmosphere from Tynecastle and it allows him to bed in at the club without as much pressure as he'll have in the summer when he'll likely need to step into Goldson's shoes. If Hearts want to cut their nose off though that's up to them, we won't be bullied into paying more than we should.

Speaking of Goldson, I think it's clear he'll be going in the summer. If/when he does he will go with a thank you from me. He's been a mainstay of the team since he signed and by bringing us some stability and pride back he's more than paid back his transfer fee, if he now feels it's time to move on then goodbye, thank you and best of luck for the future.

It was also a good move by the club to move Bacuna on, and decent enough business if the reports are to be believed. It just hadn't worked out for him up here for whatever reason, and rather than keep him at the club on a wage and not playing the club have identified early it's not going to work and moved him on so he can continue his career somewhere he might be able to progress at. Now if only someone would come in for Barker.

As far as transfers in at the moment goes James Sands looks to be a nice option to have, though I'm still waiting for the real standout performance but lets not try ad judge a player after only 2 games... even if we really want to, and yesterday brought the exciting news that Amad Diallo has signed on loan from Manchester United. A player rated very highly, Man Utd signed him for a fee that could rise as high as £37m eventually, so they clearly have some faith in the player. He looks to provide an exciting option for the front 3 and by all accounts will offer us something different from our current options.

It's also glorious to see how much he's triggered that lot, from "no way he's signing" to "he's rubbish anyway and they're skint" to "they'll not like this" (referring to either a picture of him with an Ivory Coast wristband or holding a Palestine flag). Truth be told the only people this is bothering is them, same as they're the only ones who are bothered by our players crossing themselves. It's because it reminds them that they are still stuck in a backwards age where religion, nationality and heritage are tools to argue, fight and point score over, and it breaks them to realise it doesn't bother us, we only care about how they do on the field. They're desperate to make the world think we care about that stuff, when the majority of us couldn't care less. 

I still think we need to bring in another attacking option, especially with Hagi's injury, but I'm not too panicked at the moment.

A last note on the African Cup of Nations, I'm disappointed for Joe Aribo, who showed at the tournament just how good a player he is, but I won't say I'm disappointed that he's back in time for the Old Firm. He's been our best player so far this season and having him back for such an important fixture is huge.

Now we move on to Ross County away, which will hopefully be a routine game, before the big one. Enjoy and I hope your team wins.

The Rambling Ger

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