Follow, Follow -- Resurrecting a Scotland Giant (FM16)

[OliDegu2008]

I'm definitely following! Good to see a Scotland league report!

[jasontoddwhitt]

Quickly realized that I can't do game-by-game reports without getting bogged down. I'll do the single game reports for big matches, but I'm going to debut a month-by-month magazine approach to this.

Stay tuned.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Vol 1. No. 1/September 2015

A New Era
Positive results following regime change

It's been a time of exciting change at Ibrox of late. Out with the old board, in with the new. Out with the old players, in with the new. Out with the old manager(s), in with the new. A month in, and judging by the play on the pitch and the turning of the turnstiles, things are looking up for the best club in Scotland.

The new manager has thrown out the long ball tactics of Ally McCoist, bringing in a patient style of attack that values possession of the ball. The defense however is anything but patient, featuring a swarming, pressing defense that would have managers like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp smiling in approval.

Things got off to a slow start as new players came in and new and old alike learned the system that American Jason Whitt is installing at Rangers. Things looked even rockier when Rangers had a disgusting 1-1 draw at Alloa in the second league match of the season (Whitt blamed the synthetic surface as Rangers passing was not crisp and accurate that day).

However, Rangers have not lost a competitive match under Whitt. They lead the league in possession (65.5%, 2nd place is 52.5%), completed passes (2,043, 2nd place is 1,732) and passing percentage (82%, 2nd place is 76%)...stats that Whitt lauds showing that his system is working. They are also first in goals allowed and second in goals scored. That kind of record will make it hard to contend with Rangers.

It's shaping up to be an exciting season.

Notes
Trio of loans


Mark Warburton continued his raid of the south, bringing in a trio of young talented players on loan, headlined by Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Sheffield Wednesday striker Caolan Lavery and Southampton midfielder Harrison Reed also joined Rangers on loan.

"These are three players who strengthen our midfield and our attack," said Warburton. "They are talented lads and I look forward to seeing what they will do for us this season."

Jason Whitt was delighted of the new additions.

"Our midfield and attack drastically improved with these players," said Whitt. "I'm salivating at the thoughts of a Zelalem-Reed-Cheek midfield. Reed has a tremendous work rate while Loftus-Cheek possesses great speed and acceleration that will make him hard to deal with. Lavery is a very pacey striker who should fit in well here."

American Flavor


It should come as no shock that an American manager would make sure some American players would find their way into the squad. Seattle Sounders midfielder Aaron Kovar will be making the trek across the Atlantic when his contract runs out as he has agreed to a 2-year contract to join Rangers in January.

"We're making a youth movement at this club, and we don't care where they come from," said Whitt. "Aaron is a player I'm very familiar with and I'm looking forward to overseeing his development. He is a dangerous player on set pieces and his mental attributes will make him scary in the midfield."

Clean sweep of monthly awards

Domination on the pitch has led to domination of the league awards. Left back Lee Wallace and midfielder Jason Holt finished 1-2 in the voting for the Championship Player of the Month Award. Wallace made four appearances for Rangers, scoring a goal and recording two Key Man of the Match awards. Holt made four appearances, scoring a goal and a assist. Hibernian striker James Keatings finished third, making four appearances and scoring four goals.

Finishing second in the main award meant Holt won the Young Player of the Month Award. Some would argue he deserved the Player of the Month Award, but it's still a wonderful achievement for the youngster.

With three wins and a draw in league action, manager Jason Whitt won the Manager of the Month award. Hibernian boss Alan Stubbs and Raith boss Ray McKinnon tied for second place, their clubs with three wins and a loss in the month of August.

[jasontoddwhitt]

In front of a crowd of 34,268 at a soggy Ibrox, Livingston put on a battling display. The Gers finishing let them down today, but all it takes is one. That one finally came in the 69th minute, when Nicky Law scored on a good finish from close range to give Rangers a 1-0 victory over Livingston, extending their unbeaten streak to start league play to six games.

"We're going to have to get use to the way teams are defending us," said Rangers boss Jason Whitt. "They are going to put eleven players behind the ball and pack the box in to make it as difficult as possible for us. I think their defenders ended up blocking like seven of our shot attempts."

"I'm sure it's not fun to watch for the fans," said Whitt. "Football is supposed to be fun."

It was the play of captain Lee Wallace that gave Livingston the most fits, as the wing back made several attacking runs and his passing was as crisp as ever. Wallace is leading the Championship in attacking runs per game, averaging nearly seven per contest.

"With the way we play, Lee can thrive," said Whitt. "With our wingers cutting inside, our wing backs provide the width in the attack that we need when the other guys pack the box. Once we get James Tavernier back fully from injury, it'll only strengthen our attack."

Rangers 90 in 90

[jasontoddwhitt]

Vol. I, No. 2 - October 2015

Rangers Flexing Their Muscles

Two months into the season and Rangers are showing the class of a club that deserves to be in the Premiership. They have yet to lose a match in league play, and have won six in a row to open up a six point lead on Hibernian and Raith.

Player performance has been at a high level, headlined by Rangers captain Lee Wallace. Wallace followed up his player of the month campaign in August by having an even better September. Wallace leads the Championship in several statistical categories, including Player of the Match awards (4), distance covered (68.72 miles), distance covered per 90 minutes (8.59 miles), average rating (8.36), key passes (60), and attacking runs per game (6.88).

"I ask a lot out of my full backs and Lee Wallace is thriving in this system," said Rangers boss Jason Whitt. "He's fairly athletic and he loves to go forward. And Lee just loves being in the moment. He's earned that captain's band and this team looks up to him. He's really growing into his own as a player and he's the type of player that we want to bring to Rangers."

There was one low point in the month that had fans cringing and Whitt absolutely disgusted by his team. The third round of the League Cup would pit Rangers against Premiership side Inverness CT. Rangers would jump out to the early lead, but then a double salvo at the one hour mark would be Rangers undoing.

"Our defending left a lot to be desired in that match," said Whitt. "Lots of missed interceptions, one leading directly to the game clincher. We had trouble keeping possession at times, and Inverness just kept hitting us with quick counters. Looking back, I probably should've played a slightly deeper line, but then I'm also not a manager who's going to chop and change based on the opposition. There is a way I want to play the game, and that's how I'm going to play it. Regardless, we had the lead and we didn't put the game away. It was an embarrassing collapse and it shows that we still have a lot of work to do to get where we want to go."

Clean sweep of monthly awards



So how much did Rangers dominate league action in the month of September? The Player of the Month voting was dominated by Rangers, with the award ultimately going to forward Martyn Waghorn. In four league starts, Waghorn scored two goals and assisted on four goals. Second place in voting went to full back Lee Wallace, who won the award last month. In four starts, Wallace completed 37 key passes. Third place in voting went to midfielder Andy Halliday. In four starts, Halliday collected an assist and completed 29 key passes.

It should come as no shock that with four straight competition wins, manager Jason Whitt secured the manger of the month award for a second straight month.

Tavernier finally makes debut to rave reviews



After missing five weeks of action due to shin splints, full back James Tavernier finally made his debut in the starting lineup in the 5-2 victory over Dumbarton. Tavernier has been been putting in some really good performances in his three starts, collecting an assist and completing 27 key passes.

"With James and Lee both out there, it really adds to the width of our attack," said Whitt. "Both players are fairly athletic and James proved that his speed out on the right flank is going to be a great asset. Once he completely gets his legs under him, you'll probably see him kick it into another gear."

[Son of Sam99]

would love if this were to get going again. Always been intrigued by Scottish PL/ Old Firm

[jasontoddwhitt]

Quote: Originally Posted by Son of Sam99

would love if this were to get going again. Always been intrigued by Scottish PL/ Old Firm

Actually working on a post now. Got transferred by my job and have been dealing with that the past few weeks.

This isn't dead...just been on hiatus.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Vol. I, No. 3 - November 2015

It's A Marathon, Not A Sprint

Rangers boss Jason Whitt has been stressing that it's a long season and not to read too much into the quick start that Rangers have made to the season.

His words would prove prophetic, and the depth at Rangers would be put to the test in the month of October.

It started right away in a home match against Falkirk. The league leaders would lose the match 1-0 on a fluke goal late. That was not the concern coming out of the match. Rangers would lose both leading goal scorer Martyn Waghorn and captain Lee Wallace to injury in the match, both missing extended time. Then, more adversity as it was announced that right back James Tavernier suffered an injury in training and he would be out for a few weeks as well.

"To lose three key players at roughly the same time is going to be hard for any club to overcome," said Whitt. "That's why we have a team full of players though. It's an opportunity for others to step up and prove their worth."

Though Rangers would defeat St. Mirren 3-0 in the third round of the Training Cup, this would be followed up by a 1-1 draw against Queen of the South, a match that required a late goal to secure the draw by midfielder Nicky Law. The match would also see another injury, this time to Andy Halliday, who was filling in for the injured Wallace, leaving Whitt with a major question, who's going to play left back?

The answer would be center back Danny Wilson, and this decision would cost Rangers in a 1-0 loss in league action to St. Mirren. St. Mirren's lone goal came off a mistake by Wilson. Whitt though would not single out his player, saying the team wasn't clinical enough in front of goal and had numerous chances to win the game.

Rangers six point lead in the league had all but evaporated, with Hibernian sitting one point back and Falkirk and Queen of the South sitting two points back. To close out Match Day 12, Rangers had to visit Easter Road.

"You never want to say that a match this early in the season is a must win, but we definitely needed a result against Hibernian," said Whitt.

Rangers were getting some reinforcements. Waghorn came on as a sub in the St. Mirren loss and would get the start against Hibernian. Wallace and Tavernier would prove to be game-time decisions.

"I wanted to play," said the Rangers captain. "I told the gaffer that I knew I couldn't go a full 90, but I could definitely go at least an hour."

"That's what you want from your captain," said Whitt. "He wasn't 100%, but he knew the club needed him for this match."

Hibs would open the scoring in the eighth minute, when striker Jason Cummings scored his league leading eighth goal. In the 27th minute, Wallace, clearly favoring his injured ankle, would chase down a loose ball and launch a cross to the far post. Barrie McKay beat his marker and hit a thunderous volley past the keeper to draw Rangers level.

The 55th minute would see Whitt pull Wallace from the match, the Rangers faithful who made the trip to Edinburgh giving him a raucous ovation. Into the match would be Tavernier, who took Wallace's spot on the left flank. Tavernier would waste no time making an impact, as he laced a beautiful through ball to Caolan Lavery to put Gers up 2-1.

Hibs would throw everything including the kitchen sink at Rangers in the closing moments, but Rangers were able to secure a very important three points.

It was a rough month for Rangers that tested their depth, but the important thing is they are still in first place. The team is beginning to get healthy, and the month of November brings Rangers against teams at the bottom of the table. We look for Rangers to maintain their lead on the Championship.

Where is Gedion Zelalem?



Noticeably absent from the Rangers lineup this month has been American youngster Gedion Zelalem, who did not make a single appearance for the club in the month of October. Zelalem was chosen by the Americans for their squad attempting to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Zelalem played every minute of every match (five matches in eleven days) and generally gave a good accounting of himself as the US qualified for the Rio Olympics despite losing 1-0 to Mexico in the finals.

After Zelalem returned to the club, the staff decided to give him an extended break.

"Zelalem has played a lot of football the last couple weeks," said Whitt. "He's only 18, he's still growing into his body. We could tell he was a couple steps slow in his first training session back with us, so we decided to give him a couple weeks off."

Zelalem has been ever present on the pitch for Rangers, making 12 appearances across all competitions.

Rangers draw Elgin City



Following Rangers 3-0 victory over St. Mirren in the quarterfinals of the Training Cup, Rangers have been drawn as the home side against Elgin City in the semi finals.

Elgin City defeated Hibernian on penalties in the quarterfinals as the League 2 side continue to defy the odds. Will the slipper still fit on Cinderella, or will midnight come crashing down at Ibrox?