Eck could be Ex as Gers throw another missy fit (Maritimo … 1 GERS … 0)

I don’t know. Will Rangers sack McLeish after this? Probably not. He’ll get til the second leg perhaps. But one things for sure - that’ll be it. I originally felt he’d have til the next Old Firm game but things have become so bad - that’s three successive games without a goal, four without a win - that the return leg of this match will decide whether or not Big Eck is still gonnae be Our Eck.

It is tempting to believe the Dodds-Burley analysis of this game - that Rangers created so many chances in the first half this was really just an exceptionally unlucky night - but it’s not so much an analysis as a spin. A faithful retracing of all the facts, and the ful context, ends with the conclusion that Rangers can’t currently put the ball in the back of the net and are always likely to lose one.

It’s “unlucky” if you have one game like tonite - Novo hitting the post, Prso hitting the post, both missing sitters and the Maritimo keeper having a good point blank save - but we’ve converted one away goal in five games on the road since the season began. Add Mladenovic’s wholly hazardous display and we’re right back to the start of last season - all our new signings are failing. However, this time it’s worse. We ain’t in the Champions League as we were last September, we’re already miles off the top of the SPL and THESE signings weren’t made at the last minute - these are the guys McLeish scoured Europe for, left Andy Watson in charge on match days to go and watch personally.

Chris Burke should have his bags carried from the ground to the bus to the hotel to the airport to his hoose by Prso, Novo, Arveladze et al. That wee guy has thrown in more quality crosses in the last two games than Arteta, De Boer and Capucho managed the whole of last season. Yet all he sees is “strikers” in the same strip as him (again the white socks damn us) contriving to take all the pace and danger out his most generous gifts.

Jean-Alain Boumsong wasn’t so great against Hearts on Sunday but, by Goram, he was fekin outstanding tonight. The problem he has is that he knows he’s better than almost every one of his team-mates in whatever position they occupy and he tries to do too much in covering for their inadequacies. In one second-half venture forth he managed a more biting, pointed tackle in midfield than either Mladenovic or Ricksen could muster all night and then duly hit the best ball wee Burkey received during the entire match, setting the wee man into space on the right flank, heading for the by-line.

For the first time in ages, and probably only the fourth time sice Klos arrived, Boumsong may even have been given the impression he could have improved on Der Goalie’s performance too. It was only one less-than-miraculous moment but, well, I’d rather say Special K only “failed to compensate” for Mladenovic’s error than he was truly at fault for the only goal of the night.

Apparently the Maritimo gaffer was once a fitness trainer at Dortmund, at the same time Stefan was king of the Westfalen Stadion. If you ask me, judging by the number of long-range efforts their guys were zipping in tonight , including an attempted lob from the half-way line, the opposition manager shares my wee theory about Stef’s eyesight: He maybe noticed, back in the mid-late 19990s in the Ruhr, what we all saw last autumn when Panathinaikos’ Angelos Basinas hit one in from 40 yards or more. Long-rangers have once or twice seemed to come out of the blue for Stef , while a free header at pace from two-yards in front of him is a piece of piss

The local star man, Leo Lima, had shot from the edge of the box after Mlad impaled us with a horrificaly short header back to Moore, Boumsong and co. Most normal keepers would have failed to hold the shot but we’re just so used to Stef doing the necessary, and then some. Instead he culdn’t hold the rasper and failed to turn it round the post. It rebounded to the feet of some nippy wee striker who did what Prso - admittedly being played out of position - and Novo seem to be finding so alien right now. Ball - foot - net - goal.

In the slow-mo action replays, the Ardrossan Loyal flag behind our goal, seemed to fill Stef’s net with the name of my home town, just as the ball hit it. I’ve only moved to Glasgow, in 1997, but Stefan suddenly seemed to be as far from Champions League triumph of the same year as Funchal and Maritimo are from mainland Europe. He moved to Glasgow with far higher expectations than myself and maybe, as he turned to pick the baw oot the rigging, he was noting another flag, just to the right - East German Loyal.

The pitch looked like an ash park in need of a weeding. Jock Brown and Mark Hateley (My all-time fav Rangers striker - worst summariser I’ve “er eh, er eh” heard: “Shota Are-lad-ze-val will be hanging his hands in his, er eh, head at that one”) informed us that wee boys had been kicking-in at the goalie at half time - very much in keeping with the Ardeer-Thistle-versus-Saltcoats Vics look of the ground - which would really have helped the surface mend. The heat and humidity were more African than Iberain due to the unique location of this ground and the players are clearly suffering from a nervousness which, if their palpable workrate is to be continued, might very well change with one goal and one good result.

However , as the “o Jogo” trackside advertising hoardings brought painfully to mind, the Brazilians and Portugese in the home side had no problem with playing some damned sharp football on the same surface and you wonder what exactly will stop them nabbing at least one on our bowling green in a fortnight’s time. While our players continue to lack the elan to match their undoubted effort, they didg themselves and their manager further into a hole. Even if they do start banging them in on Sunday against Inverness, this is mereley what’s expected, that’s is what happens every SPL home game bar two. The focus is now on our away form and failure to actually win the Caley Thistle game - who knows to what heights they’ll be inspired to on their first trip to Ibrox?! - will definitely result in McLeish’s dismissal.

I’d hope we’d turned the corner on the park as well as of it this week … NOPE!

PS. well done to Hearts. Excellent result (and, don’t worry, I’m not just trying to big up Craig Levein in order to prepare him for a move to Ibrox! … although, having said that, if he finsihes the job off in a fortnight and Eck doesn’t … against teams from the same league …)

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Published:
09.16.04 / 11pm
Category:
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