A team selection that could be described as misguided at best, at worst incompetent. A team performance that could be described as below par at best, at worst disgraceful. The Rangers management team and players showed the watching world exactly why they are rooted to the bottom of the league with an absolute shocker at West Brom. 

After the battling point against Watford, many fans, whilst not expecting much from the game were certainly expecting more of the same attitude and application. You can imagine the surprise that swept the concourse at The Hawthorns when a quite ridiculous starting XI popped up on the screen. 

Camp was in goal behind a back four of Rehman, Cullip, Stewart and Barker. Ainsworth, Bolder, Rowlands and Moore were in midfield with Sahar and Blackstock up front. Timoska was on the bench, alongside two more right backs! How Rehman and Moore were in the line up baffled me and quite why Timoska wasn’t, likewise. Timoska was apparently ill but if you are fit enough to be a sub then you are fit enough to start. If he wasn’t fit then he shouldn’t have been selected at all. 

The stalls were firmly set out from the off with West Brom piling forward almost constantly and Rangers gifting territory and what scant possession there was to the home side all too easily. Stewart had twice thwarted Kevin Phillips before Rowlands was forced to hack a shot off the line and away to safety via the post. 

The opening goal came in the 17^th minute and to be honest it was a mystery how Rangers had managed to hold out for that long. The impressive Ishmael Miller drifted the left and completely mugged Cullip, leaving the R’s bruiser flailing on the deck. Miller’s cross was missed by Rehman and Camp and Kevin Phillips-Bong was left a tap in from all of two yards. It was poor keeping from Camp, to my mind he should have cut the cross out, but Rehman and Cullip were similarly culpable. 

Rangers needed to steady the ship now. Instead they handed possession back to West Brom, tried to play offside with a line like a dog’s hind leg and conceded a second in a little over a minute. This time Miller himself burst through like a rampaging shire horse and smashed a shot through Camp. More poor keeping and more bad defending. 

Rangers incredibly pulled a goal back six minutes later. Rowlands flighted a free kick into the box and Blackstock rose high at the far post to head it goalward. The ball wasn’t quite on target though and Ainsworth came steaming in at the back post to prod home from under the bar. To be honest, it was a goal Rangers didn’t deserve and it masked some of the shortcomings, albeit briefly. 

Sahar tried his luck after beating a couple of defenders on the left but could only flash his shot across the face of goal. At the other end Camp saved from Morrison after he had cruelly exposed the laughable pace of HMS Barker in the left back spot. I can only assume that Barker’s boots are made by Cemex as surely no professional footballer can be that slow? 

Moore hacked a header from the towering Leon Barnett off the line before Rangers produced another moment of lamentable defending to gist Phillips his second of the game. Rangers managed to clear a set piece and then pushed up to the edge of the box, or at least some of them did. Some of them couldn’t be arsed and Phillips was onside and in acres of space. He controlled before flighting a beauty over Camp into the corner. 

At the break Gregory made a change with Curtis replacing Rehman. Once again Gregory had picked a player that has consistently proved that he is miles out of his depth at this level and then shattered what precious little confidence remains in him by dragging him off. There is a school of thought that says you shouldn’t play Rehman at all as he is shit. Unfortunately slick haired failure merchant Gregory isn’t of that opinion. Well not before games at least. He soon comes round to the views of everyone else but by that time the damage is usually done. 

The half was much of the same as West Brom came at Rangers and Rangers did very little to resist them. Morrison forced Camp to have two bites at a stinging volley before they scored number four just before the hour mark.  

Camp produced a terrific save to deny Phillip’s the match ball only for possession to be gifted to Robert Koren outside the box. The Slovenian midfielder didn’t hesitate as he thrashed a shot into the roof of the net leaving Camp powerless to intervene. That was my lot; my travelling buddies got up and fucked off almost as soon as the ball hit the net. I couldn’t force myself to sit there and watch this torture any longer. 

I haven’t seen the fifth, by all accounts it was an excellent goal from Baggies skipper Greening. I also hear that we should have conceded a sixth as former Celtic man Craig Beattie had one chalked off incorrectly for offside. In truth Rangers could have shipped ten and have had very few complaints such was the level of incompetence that riddled this performance. 

Rangers simply weren’t at it all afternoon. There was no fight to be found anywhere in the side. Rowlands and Bolder’s efforts in the middle of the park were nothing short of amateurish. I lost count of the number of times Phillips dropped into the yawning chasm between that pair and the two centre backs with neither of them seemingly willing to drop in and block him off. 

If there are two worse full backs in the league than Rehman and Barker then please show them to me as I could do with a laugh at someone else’s expense. It says little for the abilities of Curtis and Bignot when they are unable to displace either. 

In wide areas Ainsworth, still working his was back to fitness was as game as ever. On the other flank the cowardly waste of space that is Moore was so uninvolved that at one point I almost called the police to report him as a missing person. How he gets selected ahead of Ephraim is incredible. How he gets selected ahead of a young player like St Aimie is equally unfathomable. He is not good enough, he has never been good enough, and he will never be good enough. 

Up front Sahar and Blackstock were fighting for what little service their colleagues gave them. Sahar was once again hooked early. If I were him I would ask to go back to Chelsea as he isn’t going to learn anything playing for a team as bad as this. 

Colchester now await on Wednesday night and this is a must win game. A draw wont do, a defeat is unthinkable. The only problem we may encounter is that fact that we cannot keep a clean sheet and the fact that we can’t score more than one goal in a game. The two problems we face… 

It will be interesting to see how Gregory approaches this one. Will he keep his current selection policy of just picking the same old players regardless of form and see if it works or will he change things, throw in some of the youngsters and see whether they can dig him out of a hole that is getting deeper by the game? I think I know the answer and I think most of you do to. That is why someone else needs to be picking the side on Wednesday and why Gregory must call Flavio and tender his resignation immediately.

Man of the Match – Marcus Bignot. Someone told me he did ok when he came on so he gets it. If we didn’t have Fantasy Rangers I wouldn’t give on at all, so some of you have some bonus points. Enjoy!

simon@qprnet.com