Jonny McFarlane is slowly coming round to the realisation that Celtic have better players and a better manager than his Ibrox heroes.
The brains behind the Rangers Review has been on message to everything coming out of the club, flooding the internet with the wonders of Micky Beale the coaching genius.
All sorts of stats have been produced to explain why Malik Tillman. Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin are future Balon d’Or contenders but another defeat from Celtic has left the entire Ibrox support deflated at the horrors of reality.
Showing just how smart he is McFarlane has discovered that Stats Bomb doesn’t lift trophies, James Tavernier is bang average and the serial loser as all those nasty Celtic fans had been pointing him out for.
Several matches against Postecoglou’s Celtic have boiled down to failures in the basics of the game; work rate, desire, controlled aggression.
Walter Smith used to say you have to earn the right to play your football. Rangers haven’t when it counts. https://t.co/5E1ZwZB6xc
— Jonny McFarlane (@jonnyrmcfarlane) March 1, 2023
Facing up to more Celtic success this morning McFarlane opened in the Rangers Review with:
When I sit opposite the Rangers Review’s tactical guru Joshua Barrie to talk football, I can often feel a weary, eye-roll coming before I see it. As polite and well-mannered as this son of the manse is, he lets me know his disapproval in his own gentle way. The display normally comes alongside my insistence on some theory that can be best described as ‘old school’.
After a few long winded paragraphs he gets to the point that Celtic are better at football than his stats based heroes.
And that’s why it’s been so shocking to see another Old Firm where the basics of the game were approached with more vigour and enthusiasm by the opposition. At Hampden, Celtic harried and harassed, they bolted back into position like their lives depended on it. They went the extra mile.
Rangers lacked the same vim. They didn’t seem to want it more. Quality is one thing, and maybe the squad from the East End has more stardust at the moment, but this is about something deeper. Character. Heart. Desire. It sounds anachronistic, and perhaps it wouldn’t have been enough, but there’s a reason Rangers fans have taken this defeat so badly. It’s because the team didn’t give them anything to hold onto. It was a performance where they were bested on almost every level, not by much, but enough that it stings.
Michael Beale’s mistakes have been pored over in great detail elsewhere but he isn’t the first manager to watch these players overpowered when it matters. That’s on them and they must be held accountable. The manager talked about some of their futures recently and said that much will depend on how this team ends the season. He knows as well as anyone their use to him is finite if they don’t carry the backing of the fans that can phase or raise them.
I know there are differing opinions but I think history will be kind to this call. If you go by data – consistently best player in Scotland over last five years. If you take a more traditional view look at the goals from RB. Top scorer in EL. Captain of the 55 team. Strong case. https://t.co/q4MlI0SG07
— Jonny McFarlane (@jonnyrmcfarlane) February 20, 2023
History will be kind? It never lasted a week!
Mr. Beale looks a little like a certain Oliver Hardy, no? “That’s Another Fine Mess You Got Me Into, Stanley!”