| WHEN IS IT GOING TO END?
I am thinking of
running a competition to see if any of you can guess what Rangers
have been doing for the last two weeks. Actually, forget it; I'll
give you the answer now. Absolutely bugger all! If this is their
idea of how you turn a poor run around then they have some serious
thinking to do.
With Simon Royce now happily ensconced
in Leicester's reserve side Nick Culkin was brought back ahead of
Digby. An injury to Dan Shittu meant that Steve Palmer dropped into
the back four alongside Carlisle, Forbes and Murphy. Murph had been
given his chance in the absence of Williams. Dennis Oli played wide
right in a midfield four alongside Bircham, Rose and Langley on the
left. Gallen and Angell teamed up in attack.
Rangers got off to a diabolical start
and fell behind after only seven minutes. County had got off to a
flier and Rangers had hardly touched the ball let alone got out of
their half. A cross was slung in from the right and Culkin tried to
come and punch clear. He got the most minimal contact and the ball
fell to Richard Liburd. He controlled and fired goalward; the ball
went straight through Carlisle on the line and in.
The second goal wasn't far away and
was as defensively crappy as the first. Murphy gave away a needless
freekick when playing the man rather than the ball. Darren Caskey
curled the freekick along the six yard line and the unmarked Nick
Fenton powered a header past the flailing Culkin.
Even though they were two goals to the
good they County were hardly brimming with confidence. Keeper
Mildenhall was trying his level best to hand Rangers a lifeline with
some wayward kicking and flapping at crosses. Luckily for them the
R's players were in typically lacklustre mood and couldn't take
advantage.
Brett Angell tested Mildenhall with a
header from an Oli cross and the keeper came out on top with a
terrific flying save. Carlisle headed straight down his throat and
Bircham, Langley and Murphy all sent efforts into the sparse Notts
County following behind the goal.
Culkin made amends for his earlier
howler with a stunning save from a County header following yet more
sloppy marking. At the other end Langley tested Mildenhall with a
twenty yard freekick but in truth Rangers never looked as though
they would halve the arrears before the break.
No doubt Holloway delivered yet
another half time speech full of ridiculous phrases and little
substance as Notts County went straight back on the attack after the
restart. The game was again being played primarily in Rangers half
as the only attacking intentions we could muster was a series of
aimless hoofs up field.
With half an hour remaining Holloway
withdrew Angell and Oli and replaced them with Daly and fans
favourite Paul Furlong. Furlong should have done better when played
in by Gallen but he couldn't get his feet adjusted quickly enough
and the ball was smuggled away for a corner.
Rangers were finally beginning to
force some pressure but were still being undone by terrible
defending. Mark Stallard should have done better when through one on
one with Culkin. The former United keeper had passed the ball
straight to Stallard from a Digby-esque goal kick but recovered well
to see off the danger. Culkin also managed to smash a clearance
against the woeful Forbes that trickled just wide of the post.
By this time Andy Thomson had replaced
Matthew Rose as Holloway went with three up front to try and get
back into the game. Wesley Daly was doing well on the right side of
midfield and had already delivered a couple of good crosses for his
strikers to neglect when he picked out Furlong six yards from goal.
All he had to do was point his face at the goal and it would have
gone in but somehow he managed to plant it wide. This was the most
heinous in a series of farcical finishes from Furlong and he is
hardly doing his reputation amongst the Rangers fans much good.
As was the case against Cardiff the
miss was punished with the opposition's third goal. The ball went
out on halfway and a quick throw in was sent in Carlisle's
direction. In keeping with his own rank bad performance he fell over
it and allowed Kiwi Danny Allsopp a run at goal. He calmly side
footed past Culkin to seal all three points.
Rangers still had chances to get a
goal back though. Twice Langley managed to break into the box and
instead of squaring to better placed team mates he shot wide of
goal. Wes Daly, in my opinion the pick of the Rangers players, if
only for the fact that he didn't disgrace himself, forced Mildenhall
into another good save with a twenty five yard piledriver. Murphy
also sent a couple of hopeful efforts over in the dying stages as
desperation set in.
This was a disgraceful performance
from allegedly talented players. How the hell they managed to turn
in a performance like this is beyond me. They have had two weeks in
which to work hard on the training ground and try and put things
right, Christ knows what they have been up to.
I have a feeling that we will get
nothing from either of our Christmas home games and even less chance
of getting anything at Peterborough on New Years Day. This was a
performance that showed no pride, no passion and no desire to shed
blood for the blue and white hoops. You can accept a defeat if you
go down fighting but the manner in which Rangers were rolled over by
a poor Notts County team was depressing.
No doubt that Holloway will use this
week to try and say that things aren't as bad as they seem and he
will tell us how they are talking about how to get things right.
Stop talking Olly and start doing. It might not be all his fault but
ultimately it will be him that is out of work and not the players so
it is in his best interests to get this fixed and sharpish.
If Holloway can't get them to win he
could at least get them to care and battle and show some fucking
pride.
simon@qprnet.com |
