Thank the lord for Rangers. In what is an utterly depressing start to the year with the new lockdown measures, no where to go, no one to see – all I can say is thank god for The Rangers as they are providing a bit of joy in very trying times for most of us. I think football in general is providing some bit of respite from the general day to day lockdown rubbish so lets hope that elite sport is allowed to continue.
An Ibrox derby victory on the 50th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster was a perfect way to start what will hopefully be a successful year for our team.
A quick word for those who went to a game and never came home. I started going to games on my own when I was fourteen and my parents were both worried sick anytime I went – my Mum probably still is! The Ibrox disaster in 1971 had several young victims and I hope the families of all 66 took comfort in the way the club marked the anniversary.
I actually wrote a full article in response to the 1-0 victory over Celtc and looking forward to the Aberdeen game which I intended to put out at the weekend but I was that nervous about the game that I chose not to publish. I had predicted a close game, a struggle and that was mainly down to how we had been playing and with Arfield, Jack and Roofe all out injured I wasnt overly confident. I had challenged Kent and Morelos in particular to stand up and be counted and I was absolutely delighted with how both those players performed on Sunday in what turned out to be a very comfortable victory.
Of course, the sending off meant the impact Aberdeen could have on the game would be minimal, but I thought apart from the first ten minutes Rangers were the dominant team and after missing the penalty we done well to keep calm heads and score two fantastic goals. I felt the goal was coming before the red card, we had found our rhythm and Kent was desperately unlucky with his chance that was cleared off the line.
There is no question about whether the penalty was a sending off. As a referee you ask yourself the questions 1) Did he deny an obvious goal scoring opportunity? Yes. 2) Did he make an attempt to play the ball? No = Red card, Yes = Yellow Card. It doesnt matter whether hedges meant to trip Alfredo or not, he made no attempt to play the ball while committing a foul inside the box therefore its a penalty and a red card.
The goal conceded was disappointing and meant the last twenty minutes were a lot more nervy than they should’ve been but we were never in any danger of dropping points. The manager was correct to be frustrated after the game but every single one of us would have taken any sort of victory before the match therefore we take the points down the road and now look to Motherwell away next week.
I think the eight days between fixtures helped us massively against Aberdeen. Since August I believe Rangers have played every single midweek apart from during international breaks therefore the extra recovery time and time spent on the training pitch looked to have been beneficial because it was a far better performance than what we witnessed in most of the matches since the middle of December. This week again we have seven days between fixtures and hopefully we will go to Motherwell full of confidence, fresh and raring to go.
At the moment we can have absolutely no complaints about our form. Fifteen league wins in a row and even when not playing well we are getting the three points.
Hopefully the upturn in performance from Alfredo and Kent against Aberdeen is a sign of things to come because although he was poor against Celtc, the news that Roofe could miss the next few games is a hammer blow. He has been excellent since coming into the team at the start of November and will be a big miss – and so will Scott Arfield. He is minimum 4-5 weeks away from return and that is another massive, massive blow. The manager said this weekend that Jack should be back in full training next week and it goes without saying the quicker we can get these players back the better.
The introduction of Janice Hagi has also had a major impact in the last five or six matches. Theres no doubt the Romanian would’ve been disappointed with his lack of game time in October and November but his impact in December, starting with coming on as a sub in the game against Motherwell, then performing well and scoring in Perth, scoring against Hibs, assisting against St Mirren then again playing well against Celtic, his impact has been excellent. He was again a solid seven out of ten against Aberdeen although after a bright first half he drifted out of the game. For me, our attackers and midfielders dont shoot enough but when Hagi is on the ball you know he aint shy to have a shot from twenty five yards which gives a completely different dimension to our attack because defenders have to commit and close down quicker which then opens up space for other players.
I tweeted after the Celtc game that if you don’t lose goals you don’t lose games and I will make no apology for again mentioning our defensive record. Six goals conceded in twenty three league games. Two of them goals in the one game. Eighteen clean sheets from twenty three games. No matter what way you say it, or look at it, it is absolutely ridiculous. I have mentioned game management numerous times before, and every league win in December, plus last weeks derby victory, once we got ahead we didnt look like we were going to lose a goal. This is an outstanding characteristic to have and the team will be disappointed that they gave Aberdeen hope because the game should’ve been out of sight. Then if its not getting put out of sight you have to have a leadership and maturity about you as a group to not let the opposition get a sniff, so again I’m sure as a group they will look to improve in this area.
Basically the only black mark in what has been an outstanding season so far is the exit in the league cup to St Mirren. They deserved the win on the night, and especially after going 1-0 up to lose the game was very disappointing. However, we have reacted with six straight league wins, conceding two goals and although it wasnt pretty at times its exactly the reaction we wanted. Talking about reactions, that very night basically everyone outside of our club had us down as bottlers. They all think the team are sh1tebags, they have the players and the manager down as losers and until they win that first trophy they wont shake that tag – and what an opportunity they have given themselves to do that now. The very next game following the league cup exit was Motherwell at home, and with eighteen minutes to go we were losing 1-0. I went mental in my living room when Itten made it 2-1 that day as the mentality of the team would have been majorly questioned if they didnt win that game. However, they did, and they must be applauded for how patient and resolute they were that day against Motherwells 5-5-0 formation and since then we have kicked on again.
The lead at the top is just mental if you think about it too much. I know its points on the board but my mind is programmed to still see it as ten points. For us to lose that gap we would have to drop points in a minimum of four games, and they would have to win all of theirs. That’s not impossible, and I am still taking a very cautious approach. I get uneasy when I hear fellow supporters or ex-players say its done. Of course it would take a pretty big collapse to not win the league but although I know this season is different and we are MUCH stronger than before, we only won four out of nine league games before the league was stopped last year therefore I will continue to take a game at a time and hopefully the players keep delivering victories which one-by-one are taking us closer to where we want to be.
I spoke to a few pals at the start of December and I cited ‘the law of averages’ and said we were bound to slip up somewhere. I take no pleasure in that St Mirren defeat because the league cup with the way the draw had opened up was basically an open goal for the groups first major trophy and it was a major disappointment to go out. I was nervous about the trip to Aberdeen and theres no doubt about it that the victory, while consolidating last weeks win, sent a message out that we are hopefully in this for the duration.
Whilst saying that, people tend to forget how good our form was last season up until Hearts defeated us in the 23rd league game of the season. Up until that point we had lost one, drawn two and won the rest. I hope I aint jinxing it but this is now the time for this group of players to kick on and prove that they are the best team in the league. Aberdeen was our 23rd league match of the season and the win now takes us to six points better off than we were last year at the same point. The form so far has been incredible and it is important the players continue to win games and show the belief and character that is required to become champions. The team have put themselves in an incredible position and now have the chance to make themselves legends.
Looking ahead to the next few weeks, I think it is important to recognise that this season has very much been a full squad effort and at different times, different players have really excelled. I praised the impact of Hagi earlier but if we look back to August and September, it was Ryan Kent excelling. Then it was Scotty Arfield and James Tavernier. We then had Kemar Roofe making the difference and more recently Hagi. This supported with an outstanding consistency from the other regular starters such as McGregor, Borna, Goldson, Davis and Kamara with a noteable shout out to both Balogun and Helander. I would love the goals and performance at Aberdeen to be the start of Alfredos time to shine because if we can get him to perform to that level in most games then the rest of the league dont really have a chance of competing. His form last year before Christmas was the reason Lille bid 16million euros for him, and if he still has hopes of playing in Europes big leagues then the best way to win a move will be to score the goals that win us the league.
Overall, Christmas and New year is widely regarded in British football as a crucial point in the season. We have come through our schedule over the festive period unscathed and continued our impressive winning streak into 2021. There is only going to be one team who stop us winning the league title and that will be ourselves. If we treat the remaining matches like we did the match at Pittodrie then we will be champions come the end of the season, its as simple as that.
This month the transfer window is open but I dont expect us to do much business. Dont get me wrong, if a player becomes available especially in a situation that could be a loan with option to buy (like Hagi last year) then we may do some business. I think the most important factor in the window is not to lose anyone – if we were to lose any of our key players it could have a massive negative effect on our pursuit of the title so all I am hoping for is to keep everyone from the core group – if we add anyone else then that will be a bonus.
The final word on this months article must go to Alan McGregor. His save from Griffiths shot in last weeks match was world class. He recently played his 400th match for the club and has been an outstanding servant. In one of my earlier articles I discussed the goalkeepers and was of the opinion that Jon McLaughlin was well worthy of keeping the gloves at the time. McLaughlin is more comfortable at cross balls and with the ball at his feet (in my opinion) but I doubt very much he’d have saved that shot last week. I think it was Slaney from opengoal who described it as one of those shots that keepers dont even normally dive for and he was correct – Griffiths has bent it round the defender, its high and its coming inside the post. For McGregor to move his feet quick enough to get across and save was just outstanding to see both as a keeper and obviously as a Rangers fan. I also love how honest he was in interviews after games recently, he knows and said himself that performances weren’t at 100%, but he also knows how important each win is in our quest to get back to where we belong. He frustrates me with his lack of command at crossballs but his shot stopping can never be called into question and having a world class goal keeper is really making a difference for us this season so far.
Lets hope lockdown is kept bearable with Rangers continuing to win. The message from me is simple. Focus on us, and only us. Take one game at a time and treat every single one as a cup final. I said it already and I’ll say it again, the only team who are going to stop Rangers winning the league is Rangers – so lets make sure that doesnt happen.
See them march on!
The Referees a Goalie 