Rangers will head to Fir Park this Easter Saturday hoping to get back to winning form.
After the disappointment of the last two matches, losing to both to Celtic and Kilmarnock at home, victory is crucial in the race for second place and to build up momentum for the upcoming Scottish Cup semi-final.
Here are the 5 storylines to follow vs Motherwell.
1-THANK GOD IT’S AWAY
Our home form this season has been nothing short of shocking and borne out of fear. Thank goodness this game is away from Ibrox, where we seem to perform better.
Fir Park is not a big, intimidating atmosphere or ground as some might want you to believe, the weird construction and differing stand sizes only help to aid that cause. It is a tight pitch but one we should be able to exploit with our far superior players.
The question of a weak mentality so often asked and labelled against this squad will not be answered on Saturday irrespective of the result, a win in this early fixture would help apply some much-needed pressure in the race for second. A bare minimum for this squad.
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2-MURTY’S MIDFIELD MINEFIELD
So many times in recent games have we either been outplayed, outmuscled or outnumbered in the middle of the park that it has ceased to become any sort of laughing matter.
How Murty addresses this dilemma is of vast importance and interest to myself. We are just not good enough in the most crucial of portions at stages, most notably when we don’t have the ball. Teams are applying the blueprint set out by so many before, it is quite simply all about how we can dictate all phases of the match, both in the attacking and defensive transitions.
Players must get back behind the ball when we lose possession, too often we have seen players either turn their backs or just give up. Make it difficult for the opposition to play through us.
3-WINDASS OR CUMMINGS?
The question has quite often been asked by supporters who they would like, either Morelos or Cummings, but I would be tempted to drop Windass.
Cummings is not a player who can lead the line, he is not a lone striker or a player who plays best with his back to goal, it’s just not his strengths.
I personally feel he would be better served in the Windass role, running with the ball with the space in front of him, leaving defenders to play on their heels.
Cummings would give us a better work rate, I just don’t see the point in signing the player if we are to only use him sparingly.
Unleash the Cumdog, set him free I say.
4-MORELOS BACK IN THE GOALS?
I am a huge fan of the wee man, his all-around game is at times unplayable for opposition defenders. He does not give them a minute’s peace, dragging centre-backs into areas of the park that they are anything but comfortable in, creating space we could better exploit at times I feel.
Yes, I know his finishing has to improve, but he is not the finished player, or we would not be able to have him amongst our ranks, it’s that simple. I’m backing him to get in on the goal trail again, it is not uncommon for players in his position to have a dry spell, but he always comes back for more.
One area I feel we can and must do better in is runs to the near post when the ball is in wide areas. Murty likes to get the ball wide, but all too often we have players who are waiting for things to happen rather than making it happen.
5-MOTHERWELL’S WRESTLING MOVES
We know how and what Motherwell is along with the nature of their physicality, the Steelmen like to put it about a bit you could say.
We must match them and have strong match officials in order to deal with this type of play. I long for the days again when we can beat teams with our skill and in a street fight football style, a huge worry of mine is that we can’t cope or regress into our shell when teams take the match to us.
I suspect Motherwell will play the hard done by card, highlighting some poor refereeing decisions, all the while forgetting they have put players in our side out of action for a considerably longer period due to challenges made, some that would look like a finishing move in the WWE.
Prediction
Rangers 2 Motherwell 1
How do you think it will transpire? Give me your prediction
@steven_harrigan @rangersnewsuk