7 Things Rangers Must Do To Challenge Celtic
This current crop lack the passion of blood-soaked battlers like Barry Ferguson...
Anyone who followed Rangers throughout the 1990's must be wondering what the hell happened to their famous club. Years of mismanagement (not to mention an unrivalled willingness from the rest of Scottish football to see the Gers burn) contributed towards a downward spiral that the Ibrox giants simply haven't recovered from.
Rangers Football Club may be struggling to get back to where they were before, but that doesn't change the fact they are still Scotland's most successful team. The trophy room at Ibrox is literally bursting with silverware, including 54 top flight titles, 33 Scottish Cups and 27 Scottish League Cups.
Take a glance at today's Scottish game though and Rangers are clearly miles behind Celtic. In fact, Rangers are making a job of keeping parity with Aberdeen, and that just won't do for the club's massive support. In order to challenge Brendan Rodgers and Celtic's dominance of the league, Rangers must look to the past for inspiration...
7. Cut Out Reckless Wing Back Play
In season 2015-2016, English right back James Tavernier netted 15 goals despite playing in defence. That was in the Scottish Championship, but Tavernier wouldn't find goals so easy to come by in the Premiership. Since Rangers were promoted to the top league again, Tav has scored exactly 3 times. Gers fans must be wondering why he bombs forward to eagerly.
Tavernier isn't the only guilty party when it comes to getting caught out of position. Rangers captain Lee Wallace similarly finds himself too far up the park when he loses the ball. For some reason, neither current boss Pedro Caxinha or his predecessor Mark Warburton could figure out that this posed a problem; if you're going to use wing backs, at least plug the holes with sitting midfielders.
Rangers don't, and they're punished often even by mid-table teams. This will have to change if the Ibrox side want to challenge Celtic. Brendan Rodgers plays with attacking wing backs too, but the likes of Kieran Tierney either pick their moments to sprint forward or are able to track back when losing possession.