Pre Season Friendly v Rangers (A)

[DazaDunn]

I am slightly worried and no I'm not slashing wrists. We've just played our two last pre-season friendlies. The business starts next week and in the past 180 minutes of football I recall one shot on target? Martins free kick?

Waghorn had NO service just like Chrissy on Thursday. We're crying out for creativity here. Was slightly concerned that at no point we bought Martin on (currently our second striker without Jack). I didn't see any attacking changes. 

[GenBr]

 

So I assume judging by this forum we are all on the Cocu out bandwagon now then?

[Rample]

We really aren't up to speed yet, which is a worry with the season a week away. 

Pre-season hasn't gone well for a vast number of reasons, not least Chelsea and America.

Roos, solid enough but doesn't inspire confidence with his lack of catches

Bogle, still struggles defensively and quiet going forward today

Keogh, same as ever

Evans, kept it simple, pretty solid apart from the odd lapse

Malone, better going forward than defensively, Lowe may be more solid all round, but his attacking play should be good for a few assists

Huddlestone, okay when we had time, but the formation leaves us without much bite

Dowell, one or two nice touches but largely anonymous

Bennett, interesting to see him in a deeper role against better opposition, but doesn't look like his strongest position

Jozefzoon, I don't know, maybe he needs a run of games? Don't think we were any worse after Whittaker came on

Lawrence, frustrating performance, started with a limp shot, ended with a handbag

Waghorn, can't really blame him for being isolated

With effectively 5 attackers on, not including very advanced wing backs, we were surprisingly short of creativity and often bodies up front.

Rangers weren't outstanding but were superior, Huddersfield will be a stern test with more riding on it, and on this showing we'll get nothing. Not got the personnel to play the Cocu way as it stands for me, and definitely need to play with a bit more steel in midfield.  

[Jourdan]

I don’t know what’s funnier - the number of people losing their minds over a pre-season friendly, or the number of voluptuous women losing their underwear on the club’s Instagram page.

I am completely relaxed. It’s a long season and having 46 games gives us a chance to recover from any potential slow start.

Cocu has been given a difficult hand being parachuted in to clean up after Lampard (who built a team without genuine foundations).

He has been here less than four weeks. It is going to take some time for him to get things right, regardless of his pedigree.

There’s no point writing us off at such an early stage.

[lrm14]

12 minutes ago, lukedcfc said:

Exactly, Rangers would finish top 2 in the championship. 

I wouldn't go that far. They're just a decent side who are miles ahead in terms of preparation, their season has already started in the Europa League.

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

Can we open a prediction thread for the first home game and predict when the first boos will be heard at PP? My guess is about 11 minutes.

[Derby blood]

 

Let's all calm down a bit, it's pre season, brilliant at Burton poor at Rangers, it's all about getting minutes and fitness into the legs at the moment, I agree we need a couple of signings but these will come, concern that Marriott and Holmes have had injury hit pre seasons, but still think come the start , we will not be to far away, and people saying  we have no chance after preseason need there brains looking at, come on let's judge after the first 10 games of the season where we are heading not now.

[Nyderby]

26 minutes ago, kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong said:

Who are you???

Nugent's gone already and Martin's not even played today.

And try and spell offence and defence correctly,it makes your post even more annoying.

Calm down. I mistyped Bennett for Nugent both equally worthless and apologized earlier  

 

Martin played last friendly and given the lack of depth, likely to feature more often than he should. My point stands that our offense is in dire need of talent . Are you willing to address my points, or will you devolve into a Rees-Moog level argument of my use of punctuation next?

 

 

[Ramarena]

16 minutes ago, Mick Harford said:

True, but we struggled when Mount wasn't playing last season. The run when he was injured was horrible.

Wilson was a creative player, for me Lawrence is inconsistent and as much as I like Bennett he isn't a promotion chasing teams starter, Joz has been nothing but poor for us.

I'm surprised that we haven't strengthened in midfield, although I'm still hoping that Frank sorts us out with some quality.

I see this season as being like the Nigel Person one I'm afraid, and that's not me being overly negative it's me looking at what we've got and what we've lost, and can see is being mid-table at best. I fully expect us to be closer to the relegation spots come October then to the top 6.

Midfield was a problem for us last season and now we've lost Bradley, Bryson and Mount from what was an already weak/poor position for us.

I hope to God I'm massively wrong mind.

The big change last season was Mount and Johnson coming back at pretty much the same time. Completely changed the balance of the team, it wasn't perfect but it was a vast improvement.

Now we just need that Johnson replacement/improvement! 

[DCFC1388]

I remember Newcastle getting relegated and got thumped about 6-0 to a lower league team, cant think who, thinking Macclesfield? Anyway, they went on to win the league comfortably 

Basically, you cant read too much into preseason, in the last 10yrs we will have had some good ones and some bad ones, we still havent won promotion regardless!

[Comrade 86]

6 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

Can we open a prediction thread for the first home game and predict when the first boos will be heard at PP? My guess is about 11 minutes.

An hour before kick off if Mason or Tom's names appear on the teamsheet.

[chewbacca]

We have a gaping Tomori, Wilson, Mount shaped hole to fill.

[Ramarena]

Not a great performance but I'm not over concerned either. 

I actually think Cocu needs to see a performance like this, it will help him see where the deficiencies in this side are. Lot's to work on especially the midfield which is so unbalanced, Shinnie will help but there needs to be another defensive midfielder bought in as we've lost Johnson. 

I think Hudds is an absolute Rolls Royce of a footballer at times, but is he a square peg in a round hole? 

[lrm14]

I'm not too fussed about the result today, it's a preseason game and they're miles ahead of us in terms of preparation due to the Europa League qualifiers. Impressed with Roos and the Keogh/Evans combination, they were the standout players on our side.

We're in desperate need for at least a winger and a midfielder though, more the former than the latter. If we go into the season with just Jozefzoon as our our only true right winger then we could really struggle to score down the road.

[Millenniumram]

Full time 1-0. Scoreline flatters us, that was as bad as a Pearson match where we just launch it and create nothing.

Was to be expected, rangers are a good side who are fitter than us, so the result as per with most pre season games shouldn’t be taken too much notice of. What we can take notice of though is the performance:

Headline is exactly that, rangers are fitter than us. We don’t look fit enough to start the season to me, which is concerning given that’s our last pre season match. Poorly organised pre season for me, not enough games and not well spread out. Really quite concerned that we’re not at all ready to start the season, our first team players haven’t had enough minutes to be ready for competitive football for me and I’m worried we’ll be run rings round like we were today.

We also don’t look to have a squad anywhere near ready and built well enough to launch any sort of promotion challenge. We still need a lot of players in for us to have the quality needed, can’t be relying on the likes of anya, nowhere near the quality required for our first team, along with some of the youths who aren’t ready. We have little time, mainly due to Lampard leaving us in the lurch, so we’ll need to get a move on. Today showed how severely lacking we are in midfield in terms of both options and actual quality on the ball- we’re really lacking anyone who can look after the ball and create something. Not 100% convinced by either dowell or shinnie based on pre season, but that’s not always that indicative of anything. Also really need some quality in wide positions in, our current senior options lack any real end product, and the youths aren’t ready there yet. Still think we need a centre half too, Evans has done well and I rate Buchanan, but it’s a risk to rely on just them two as I don’t think Curtis can play this system. In more positive news, Roos was excellent today which may reduce the need for a new goalie, though I’m still not 100% convinced he’s consistent enough to be No1.

In terms of the actual performance, we were really lacklustre and offered nothing after the 15 minute mark, rangers just ran rings around us while we tried lumping it up top with no real idea, very Rowett esque perfomance for me. I hope that that’s mainly down to fitness and not what the actual plan is or we’re in for a very long season/ short managerial reign. Back 4 wasn’t too bad apart from when we seemed to panic and not clear properly, though corner defending as per wasn’t good, and neither was some of the closing down wide as well as the defensive support offered by forward players. Defenders worryingly seemed to tire towards the end though, particularly Keogh and bogle who got sloppy, indicates the lack of fitness as it stands. Midfield were very poor, Huddlestone was torn to shreds for pace, dowell couldn’t pass a ball to save his life, and Lawrence was petulant and mardy for some reason and didn’t focus enough on himself. Absolutely no creativity there really and kept giving the ball away. Up front, Bennett and josefzoon lacked any end product, though at least the former gave some support in general play. No real movement though. 

Not trying to overreact even if it reads that way, as it’s only a pre season friendly and there’s still time before the season starts to improve/ bring in players. But just saying it how it is, that was awful and we don’t look ready. Let’s hope cocu has something up his sleeve in the transfer market, cause atm were top 10 at best.

[kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong]

2 minutes ago, Nyderby said:

Calm down. I mistyped Bennett for Nugent both equally worthless and apologized earlier  

 

Martin played last friendly and given the lack of depth, likely to feature more often than he should. My point stands that our offense is in dire need of talent . Are you willing to address my points, or will you devolve into a Rees-Moog level argument of my use of punctuation next?

 

 

You still have not managed to master 'offence' despite my assistance,so I fear that entering into the correct use of punctuation may be a lost cause.

In answer to the comment I actually understand,no I don't believe we need any more additions to our attacking line up,it's the one part of the team that we have sufficient quality.

The rest of the squad is the problem.

 

[CornwallRam]

5 minutes ago, chewbacca said:

We have a gaping Tomori, Wilson, Mount shaped hole to fill.

Also Cole, Johnson, Nugent and Bryson. Obviously none as key as the loanees, but all made contributions last season.

[lukedcfc]

12 minutes ago, lrm14 said:

I wouldn't go that far. They're just a decent side who are miles ahead in terms of preparation, their season has already started in the Europa League.

Morelos and Defoe would get 15-20 goals each, they look solid all over the pitch. They would be right up there imo, they did look fitter and that's our only excuse for a poor display.

[RamGer]

Obviously have a foot in both camps but Rams looked decidedly short today. As many have pointed out above, lost some quality at the end of last season which doesn't look like being replaced before start of the season. Still, Roos was fantastic today and Championship is a long season, plenty time for it to all come together. 

[Topram]

 

God that was awful, friendly or not we didn’t have a clue, need a new winger and CB for sure! No link up play nothing! Didn’t expect us to be that bad