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Don't Believe The Hype Tuesday, 07 February 2012 16:57 Written by bluenose_72

The post-Jelavic era could not have got off to a worse start. A convincing 2-0 win for Dundee Utd meant yet another premature cup exit for Ally McCoist’s men and it has left many fans wondering where the team goes from here. We can all accept that the better team beat us on the day, but it was the manner of the defeat that has left many wondering where we go from here.

We were all expecting Jelavic to be sold in the January transfer window, but we were also expecting a replacement to arrive at Ibrox. The financial doubt surrounding the club was obviously going to make it difficult for this to happen. But even if a fraction of the Jelavic transfer was used to bring in a player, that would have helped. There were bargains out there and we badly needed to add to the already thin squad. I’m not going to speculate as to why we didn’t bring anyone in but rather look at how we can work with what is left.

There is no doubt that Ally McCoist has an almighty task on his hands. This could be a make or break spell for him in his early tenure as Rangers’ manager. Throughout the season there have been many questions regarding team selection and tactics. This is the perfect opportunity for McCoist to prove he is the man for the job. During Walter Smith’s time in charge there was always a doubt as to whether or not his assistant was the man to take over. So let’s have a look at the problem areas.

A common theme over the past few years has been players playing out of position. It was done under Walter and is a trait that Ally has inherited. The left side of midfield has been a problem for a while and should be one of the first things that McCoist fixes. Papac and Wallace rarely play well together. Neither are natural wingers and expecting them to provide creativity is asking a bit much. Ally has to pick one for left back and play a natural winger on the left. Gregg Wylde has been inconsistent since he broke into the team. He has blistering pace but his delivery can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. But you could argue he is exactly what we need just now as the side is lacking pace, something which neither Papac nor Wallace possess. Kyle Bartley is another player being exposed playing out of position. He has all the attributes to be a fine centre back but he currently finds himself filling the void left by injured Steven Whittaker at right back. His positioning defensively was exploited by Dundee Utd and has been in previous games. In attack he also doesn’t offer much. You expect your full back to go beyond the winger and get a cross in, something that Bartley rarely does. When your game plan seems to focus on getting the ball out to the wide players, it is critical that those players can deliver a good cross or can at the very least know to get in a position to do so.

But where the big problem lies is in attack. Without injuries and the loss of Jelavic it was an area of the pitch that was already bare. In the summer we seemed persistent on bringing in central midfielders that we didn’t need instead of addressing the real problem area. Selling Jelavic was not a problem. His heart was elsewhere and his performances over the past few months were below par. The problem is that he wasn’t replaced and we can’t rely on whom we currently have. David Healy hasn’t consistently scored at club level and I don’t expect that to start now. He has scored a few goals since he became the only option up front, but he misses a lot more chances than he scores. The other problem is that McCoist persists with playing a long ball tactic. It didn’t work when we had 6’2 Nikica Jelavic up front and it certainly doesn’t work with 5’8 David Healy up front. The only other option we have is Kyle Lafferty who is currently injured. However he is no more reliable than David Healy. He has never scored consistently at club level and he is injury prone. Options are so bare up front that Andy Little and Salim Kerkar were spearheading the attack against Dundee Utd in the 2nd half. I don’t think they have more than 10 career goals between them. That is why we needed to bring in a striker on deadline day.

For as bad as things are looking just now we are not out of this title race. For all the adversity we are currently facing we are still within touching distance of Celtic. Our squad may be on the thin side but we do have some good players. McCoist has his work cut out from now until the end of the season. He needs to start by playing players in a position they are familiar with and in a formation that they know. The formation has been chopping and changing too much over the past few weeks. We need to play 4-2-3-1 with three natural attacking midfielders behind the striker. Celik was far from impressive against Dundee Utd but he needs time to get to full fitness. We need to cut out the long ball tactic and play it on the deck. When we have done this over the past month or so we have all seen that we actually can play.

Ally McCoist may or may not be the man to take this club forward and he has had an up and down inaugural season, but it is vitally important that we all get behind the team and drive them onto four in a row. A lot of work has to be done, but this season is far from over.