In Ally We Trust…but with a few queries

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OK, before this article gets used to justify a “Gers fans crank up the pressure on Coisty” piece somewhere, let me begin by saying that I back Ally McCoist and any talk of sacking him at this stage of the season is ridiculous. That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t a discussion to be had over some of his decisions.

So far, debate on phone-ins and across much of the media seems to involve “rolling sleeves up” and “getting stuck in”. For me, this is completely the wrong angle to take. The strength of having SPL quality players with full-time fitness levels shouldn’t be that they can “get stuck in more” than SFL3 players. It’s that they should be able to play a high-tempo passing game with a greater degree of accuracy and penetration than their opponents… and maintain it for the whole match. Doing so should generate more chances, which SPL quality forwards should be able to convert.

Turning the game into a physical battle means playing in a style that SFL3 players can compete with. It’s not making use of the greater technical assets that the Rangers squad should have.

What is happening?

Rangers ability to build passing moves is being hampered by not having a ball-playing centre-half. Neither Emilson Cribari nor Ross Perry are comfortable with the ball at their feet. Hence, an attempt by Neil Alexander to play the ball short will result in it being returned to him, with no option other than to play the ball long and high towards the halfway line. At this stage it’s an aerial battle, which only Lee McCulloch in the Rangers side is suited to.

Francisco Sandaza’s fleeting injury-free appearances have been hampered by being expected to play in this way. Despite his height, he’s clearly a player more suited to having the ball on the deck. Even if either he or McCulloch wins the ball in this way, as the ‘target-man’ who are they expected to nod the ball onto? Dean Shiels has been used as a deep-lying attacking partner, but doesn’t have the pace to burst through onto balls like that.

The lack of width in the Rangers team has been a problem, one not helped by the injury to David Templeton. The best wide attacking option has been Lee Wallace…but now that 17 year-old Fraser Aird has come into the side, Wallace will understandably be sitting rather than offering so much overlapping play. After all, if he goes then he’d be leaving a 17 year-old winger to tuck in behind him and stem any attacks. At least Aird does offer impressive attacking flair though, even if his presence will slightly stymie Wallace’s forays.

On the other side of the pitch Rangers have settled into pushing Anestis Agyriou one position forward to play wide-midfield. Initially signed as a right-back, he seemed a little too keen on replacing Steven Whittaker by looking occasionally exciting going forward…but terrifying when trying to defend. He undoubtedly has great energy and desire to get forward…but lacks the finesse to make the best use of this. Behind him is the young Frenchman Sebastian Faure. He’s already been utilised as a holding midfielder and a centre-half before settling into the right-back role through the paucity of the squad as much as through showing the attributes to play there. In an attacking sense, similar to Agyriou, he seems to offer more on the physical side than the technical side.

With Rangers penetration from wide positions limited…they need creativity to come from central midfield. The regular pairing in this position though has been Lewis Macleod and Ian Black. Macleod has undoubtedly made a great start to his debut season as a first-team player, but it does feel like both he and Black are more comfortable pressing the ball than threading killer passes once they’ve won it.

The central-midfielder on the books with arguably the best range of passing is Kyle Hutton. This brings us to another issue, McCoist’s treatment of younger players. Last season, Rangers crashed out of two European competitions while the previous season’s breakthrough success, Gregg Wylde, languished on the bench. Having refused Rangers’ initial contract offer, Wylde was sidelined as the woeful (and right-footed) Juanma Ortiz was deployed in his wide-left position.

A couple of years before that, John Fleck had been sent home from Rangers training after a bust-up with McCoist. This season, the younger player who seems to be bearing the brunt of an awkward relationship with McCoist is Hutton. With the departure of Jamie Ness, Rhys McCabe, Maurice Edu, and Steven Davis…he seemed a stick-on to become a first-pick in the Rangers engine room.

Having played in Rangers first match this season – the struggling 2-1 Ramsdens Cup win over Brechin City – Hutton found himself left out (often of the matchday squad entirely) until making it onto the pitch as an early substitute against Motherwell in the League Cup. He was one of Rangers stand-out performers and kept his place for another struggling cup win – this time in the Scottish Cup against Forres Mechanics. Despite the unconvincing team performance, Hutton was reckoned to be one of Rangers ‘least-bad’ performers.

His reward? To once again be dropped from the 16 for the humiliating defeat to Stirling Albion. A problem behind the scenes seems to the only explanation…though neither party has commented on that.

To sum up, what is Rangers problem this season? A lack of creativity. The left/right balance to the side isn’t working…with two attacking forces on the left almost cancelling each other out…as two physical ‘tryers’ slog it out on the other side of the pitch. In the middle of the park, whichever pairing is on the pitch will work hard to win the ball…then find themselves struggling to know who to hit with it. Particularly as none of McCulloch, Shiels, Kyle, or Sandaza have the pace to run onto a defence splitting pass even if that were within the midfield’s repertoire.

Andy Little’s all-round attributes mean that he has been particularly missed and his return from injury will surely help, though the imbalance of Rangers squad meant that while providing the bulk of the side’s goals he was actually being deployed in a wide-right position.

For pace and trickery, the best option so far has been Barrie McKay…but like all young players he’s prone to inconsistency in his performances and his decision-making. So far the best use of him has seemed to be as an ‘impact sub’ running at tired defenders. When starting matches he hasn’t been able to impose himself in the same way.

What do Rangers need to focus on? Passing. One of the central midfielders has to take the responsibility of dropping back to pick up the ball from the centre-halves, pushing the full-backs up the pitch and improving his options for beginning an attacking move with his pass.

From there, any lack of flair across the pitch has to be offset by making the ball do the work of beating opponents. High tempo, one-touch football will carry the ball where there isn’t a midfield schemer or tricky winger to do so. Don’t just battle, play.

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About the Author

Twice runner-up in Scottish Comedian of the Year finals, Teddy was named ‘Best Up and Coming Comedian’ at the Scottish Variety Awards in 2010. He’s written for two BBC Radio 5 ‘Unsporting Reviews of the Year’, and has also worked as both writer and script editor on the BBC1 Scotland football shows ‘Offside’ & ‘Only An Excuse?’. He’s been a Rangers season-ticket holder for the past 17 years, but he’s all about the football not “all that other shite”. Also has a fondness for Dynamo Kyiv that can be traced back to an unhealthy obsession with Alexei Mikhailitchenko (or Oleksiy Mykhalychenko if you prefer to transliterate from the Ukrainian rather than the Russian. That’s the unhealthy obsession we’re talking about.)

“brilliant Scottish comic” Kate Copstick, Scotland on Sunday

“Head, shoulders, knees and toes above the rest…mighty stage presence and impressively high punchline ratio” Brian Donaldson, Scotsman

“freshly minted topical gags…pin-sharp lines…great routine…a class act” Steve Bennett, Chortle.co.uk

“has flourished…cracking lines” Jay Richardson, Scotsman

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