Holmes_and_Watson

As others have posted, it's good to see you back, Fred.

It is noticeable to anyone who has seen him coach their team, how many of the same glaring things appear with his coaching. He, of course, will embrace this as his system being there, only for those pesky human players to not be able to implement it. I listened to a BBC Scotland post match podcast. One of them flat out told him that the Rangers fans now wanted him to go. How could he possibly reconnect with them? By winning the Old Firm was the answer. It was incredibly blunt. While the performance spoke for itself, the Shortbread pundits, with the exception of Billy Dodds, were also embarrassing. Forcing their own views onto the narrative, only to constantly reinvent them in the face of evidence and other opinions. Tom English though Rothwell was a top English player. Because someone told him, not because of anything he'd actually seen or any ability to interpret more than a sound it's. Dodds pretty much had the Will Still line. No matter what, you have to win. Nothing else matters. How you got the win can be looked at and changes made. But that comes first for Rangers and Celtic.

Performance

I just hope Will doesn't break down in tears when we win. "Not even when I took Rochdale to the Champions League in FM, did I manage to beat the most special club ever >sniff< It's such an honour >sob<" 🙂

Sounds as though he knows an equally terrible Old Firm debut as manger will force the hand of his employers. Form supportive board to Sunday defining his job. Some of his comments are not wrong. Going down to 10 did make it difficult, They did lose their heads and make basic errors. There is a lack of harmony in the squad, they do need reinforced and there are some who fight a lot more than others. And yes, getting his system in place will take time (possibly until the sun goes nova) But he will never understand that those lost looks, the tactical and positional errors and a system falling apart are down to the way he puts them out there. He will never get that so many other teams are fitter and sharper, because he trains his squad to play differently.

ref kindly blew the final whistle early. Brugge had 32 shots and basically ran rings round Rangers. 6 on the score sheet, but it could easily have been so many more. Are there positives after such a beating? Sure there are. Put on your NotNowFabrice hats... Rangers are now in exactly the same European competition that Celtic are now in, having beaten a couple of very decent opponents along the way. At least one of their European goals was a very good example of RussBall. As I posted earlier, Brugge are a clued in outfit, well ahead of the basket case at Ibrox. Rangers now have a Europa League format to compete in. That was a defeat playing with 10 men. I said before that Martin's system is set up to do better against stronger opponents, rather than the league. That's one of the reasons they hired him. Outclassed by Brugge shouldn't remove the two rounds they did get through. As seen tonight, Rangers are trying to put together a team on pennies. This is a stop gap team to lay foundations on what's to come. Even after all the incomings, they still don't have all the first 11 roles that Martin really needs to have a chance with this system. If he stays, the board should back him through this window. Martin has the one system, so if he stays he should get to have the tools to use it effectively. Unbeaten in the league. The negatives were there for everyone to see. It took to the second half for any sort of tactical reorganisation. That's very poor management from a team needing help to hold it together. They were under the cosh right from the whistle, and well before losing Aarons. The set up showed that they hadn't learned anything form the last leg. Rangers were miles behind on fitness, tactical awareness, strength and fight. If you have budget players, the least you should be doing is make them really fit and tough to beat. Martin's teams don't seem to recruit or train for that. His players looked lost out there in that first half. Looking over to the bench for instructions that changed nothing. Second best in fitness and in everything else there were hurt and angry expressions on their faces. Rangers lacked any leaders to change that game around. Because in a system oriented side, such actions see players straight out the team. Martin needs leaders while making sure there aren't any. Without the players to make a system work and yet persevere with it, leads to results like tonight. No pragmatism exists for Russell. It can't as he depends on driving the same message home. When, and it's often a when, things go wrong, there's no way of coming back. Because his system just isn't flexible to do that, and there's only the one. His side fell apart tonight, even one man short. Brugge were shooting for fun. The bar alone stopped that being Rangers worst ever defeat. Rangers could sack him at any point. On the other hand, he may stay even if a defeat from Celtic is not a terrible one, equivalent to tonight's performance. Should results in the couple of games after that go against him, it's hard to see any board sticking with him. You'd need Sport Republic in charge for that level of lunacy.

Bravely just conceded the 1 goal in the second half with 10 men. Needed to get them in at half time to tell them to ditch everything he'd been trying to tell them, and just hang on. Just like his last second half with us.

Brugge are the club Rangers would dream of becoming these days. They've got into the CL group stages 7 out of the last 8 seasons. 8 out of 9 now. The funds from that, and good recruitment, have enabled them to move up in the players they bring in. Currently easily able to spend more than Rangers. According to capology their revenue was twice that of Rangers in '24, with a strong club environment. They are what the Rangers owners can now see and aspire to.

On police advice, Russell Martin will not be allowed into the Govan area. 🙂

I think you have to wear a hazmat suit to even sit reading it. Not even going to win the second half.

None of the defences he was in were that good, especially that Norwich one.

I hadn't even got round to mentioning that Russ could go as soon as an exec kicks a chair at 5-0 down. And here we are...

They got beat 7-1 off of Liverpool once. So, it could be worse? Oh, that's 5 and it's a horrible night for them.

4 as he stands there shaking his head. 4 going on 10. A rout.

He could really go at any point. It's as much about how much face they want to save now. As the third goes in.

Breaking news.... Rangers sign the bar as their new top defender. A bit of an onslaught here. And it's not as though Russ has any other tactic to use.

Bravely defending down to that last passing triangle. As Butland and their bar keeps them form being further behind. Spoke too soon... that's two now.

Oh, he's been working out then? Much fitter looking. 🙂

For balance, Tom English puts the boot into Celtic as they drop out of the CL too. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c8denljlv64o Same delivery style, same pet peeves, some relevance, much moaning and a Daily Record substitute. 🙂

With them having Meghoma, they can put Tavanier as a KWP figure, roaming, sweeping up and supporting as needed.

Aarons was one of two very attacking fullbacks that Farke used to play out from the 'keeper to. It worked really well, getting them promoted. By that time there was not only the quality step up needed, but also everyone knew how they would play. So Norwich got beaten a lot. Aarons went from attacking full back that clubs fall over themselves for, to defensively suspect in a losing team. Bayern were linked with him at one point. Years later, he's a shadow of himself. It took me a long while to not think he'd be good for us, based on his earlier form.

And now Aarons off

Brugge passing it about effortlessly around the half way point, to launch their attacks. RussBall lumbers around their own penalty area. Brugge passing pings it into the full back gap that Martin deliberately leaves vacant. They cross and score. Martin will blame the Rangers player for playing it long, giving possession to Brugge for them to pass it about and score from. And the defender for not marking properly. But the root of that goal is the system.

Humour

A lot quieter after the subs came on. We snuffed Norwich out, but didn;t see that much from either Downs or BBD. They both looked a little less than sharp. But both (yes, even BBD) probably have more to give. Of the other subs, Matsuki's goal was a screamer, and we controlled the game. Sesay gets a debut and Taylor looked fine, which he mostly always has. No idea what's gone on behind the scenes in his time here. But this was against a much changed, and very poor Norwich side, and we worked hard to give them chances in that first half, before getting ahead. So, this is a confidence booster, but with the knowledge that a lot more is needed across a whole 90 mins than we saw here. Still will be pleased that the midfield of Downes and Charles found some roles and managed to link up. Albeit, Norwich gave them a lot of space. Having three forwards, all capable of coming into the centre to finish made a difference. Archer finished, as did Fraser, with Stewart being very close on a few occassions. We could still do with someone a lot more physical and pacy on one of the flanks. Although Charles did well as the game went on, we also really need an out and out attacking midfielder and someone specialised in breaking play up, rather than relying on Downes in that role all the time. It took time for us to take control, and better sides could really have punished our defending in that first half. A nice win in the end, and we got to see more of the squad get a run out tonight.