On Saturday Rangers play arguably their biggest game of the season. Bigger than last weekend's game, which despite being a final, was after all, the Ramsdens Cup. The Scottish Cup on the other hand, is the kind of trophy that Rangers have traditionally been in contention for, and Dundee United are of course a Scottish Premiership team, where Rangers aim to be playing in a couple of seasons time.

 

As far as this season goes, it'll be a new experience. In League One and in the Ramsdens Cup, just about every side Rangers have faced have managed to raise their game for the occasion. On Saturday Rangers will be the underdogs for once, a situation that might just be to their advantage.

 

With four days to go, there is a noteable lack of good news on the injury situation. From the official site:

 

Trio Doubtful for Cup Semi-final

 

ALLY McCOIST does not expect to be able to call on Lee Wallace, Andy Little or David Templeton for Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final with Dundee United.

Scotland left-back Wallace had to come off midway through the second half of Sunday’s Ramsdens Cup final defeat to Raith Rovers with a hip flexor problem.

He reported to Murray Park for treatment yesterday and again this morning but so far hasn’t shown any significant signs of improvement.

That means he’s rated as extremely doubtful at this stage for the meeting with the Arabs as Rangers chase a place in the final of the competition for the first time since 2009.

McCoist is content that Jon Daly, Nicky Law, Ian Black and Nicky Clark – all pre-match doubts ahead of the game with Rovers – came through that fixture unscathed.

And while the effects of playing a full 120 minutes in the case of the first three are being felt, the manager anticipates any weariness will wear off long before the weekend.

Where he is more concerned is when it comes to Little and Templeton, both of whom he has been without since they were hurt against Airdrie on March 12.

McCoist rates the former Hearts winger’s chances of making his squad as slightly better but not by much, with his view at present being neither will be fit.

Little has a thigh problem while Templeton is getting over a groin strain. Both are making good progress but Saturday might just be too soon for them.

McCoist said: “Lee has a hip flexor problem at the top of his thigh and he’s struggling a little bit at the moment.

“I spoke to him yesterday and again today and we’ll give him every chance but I’d have to say there will have to be a dramatic improvement for him to be involved at the weekend.

“The four lads we were concerned about before the Raith game have come through it okay. They are heavy-legged and have taken a going over physically but they’ll be ready to go.

“We’ll look after them this week, we’ll do our work and we’ll have them prepared for Dundee United. I wouldn’t think Andy and David will make it though.

“From speaking to our physio Stevie Walker, there would have to be an unbelievable improvement in them.

“We’ve been a little bit unlucky with injuries at a really important time of the season but we have to prepare the team as best we can.â€

I worry that this could be 4 or 5 nil to them after our performance on Sunday

I hope i am wrong

Just hope our players have the same belief of those on the park last night. Then we will be ok.

I'm sure the Gers will be READY for this one. Expect a noisy Ibrox

Not looking forward to this.

Especially with Mccoist at the helm.

Team news from the official Rangers site:

 

Three Changes For Gers

 

 

ALLY MCOIST has made three changes to his starting line-up for today’s Scottish Cup semi-final clash against Dundee United at Ibrox Stadium.

With Cammy Bell ruled out as he recovers from a head injury picked up in training on Tuesday, Steve Simonsen will make just his second top team appearance between the posts for the Light Blues.

Lee Wallace is also unavailable because of a thigh knock he suffered in last weekend’s Ramsdens Cup Final so Stevie Smith drops back from midfield to fill the left back slot.

With Wallace missing out and Kyle Hutton on the bench, Arnold Peralta returns to add bite on the right side of the Gers midfield while Dean Shiels will play alongside Jon Daly in attack.

So in a 4-4-2 formation it is Richard Foster, Bilel Mohsni, Lee McCulloch and Smith who make up a back four in front of former Everton and Stoke City keeper Simonsen.

In midfield Peralta and Fraser Aird will feature on the flanks with Nicky Law and Ian Black in the centre. This leaves Shiels and Daly up top with the latter coming up against his former club this afternoon.

Rangers, of course, are looking to reach the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time since 2009 when they beat Falkirk 1-0 with Nacho Novo on target. United meanwhile have not been in the final themselves since 2010 when they beat Ross County 3-0 at Hampden.

On the Gers bench this afternoon are Emilson Cribari, Seb Faure, Robbie Crawford, Nicky Clark, Kyle Hutton, Calum Gallagher and keeper Scott Gallacher.

RANGERS: Simonsen; Foster, Mohsni, McCulloch, Smith; Peralta, Black, Law, Aird; Shiels, Daly
SUBS: Gallacher, Cribari, Faure, Crawford, Clark, Hutton, Gallagher

Rangers 1-3 Dundee United

 

The good news is that the humiliating scoreline feared my many Rangers fans didn't materialise, the bad news, stating the even more obvious, is that Rangers are out.

 

The scoreline doesn/t tell the story of the match. From the word go, Rangers were well up for it,but despite being by far the better team, went behind after 22 minutes, largely due to sloppy defending following oshortly after a horrendous miss from Dean Shields. Dundee's second  also ame as a result pf poor defending, following hot on the heels of an arguably even more horrendous miss from Jon Daly, through on goal with just the keeper to beat, plenty of goal to aim at, but managing to blast the ball hgh over the bar.

 

Earlier in the game a close range Moshni shot was blocked on the line, a cross/shot (I forget who from) cannonned off the bar), a second half goal line scramble miraculous failed to resullt in a Rangers goal, but the only time Rangers managed to actually put the ball in the net was from a Stevie Smith free kick shortly before half time.

 

The third Dundee United has to be put down to Simonsen, making only his second appearance for Rangers. With plenty of time to clear a back pass, he instead gifted the ball to a United attacker who scored what is very likely to be the easiest goal of his career.

 

I have to agree with Ally McCoist who felt that overall Rangers were the better team, and that it was errors at both end of the park that cost them a place in next month's Cup Final.

Why was the game played at ibrox TD? Is that how it works in Scotland

Nothing to do with Rangers being in the semi, the venue was arranged way back at the start of the competition. Purely coincidental, same as when Bayern played the Champions League final at their own ground,

Nothing to do with Rangers being in the semi, the venue was arranged way back at the start of the competition. Purely coincidental, same ais when Bayern played the Champions League final at their own ground,

Ok tommy cheers

Rangers had spells of the game where they had the most possession but the quality of defence and attack is shocking.

Toothless up front and headless at the back.

Change is needed first at boardroom level then move onto the manager and coaching team.

what i took from today's game was that Rangers aren't that far from being able to compete in the Scottish Premier League. Yes they blew good chances and their defending looked panic stricken at moments in the first half but overall Rangers dominated the game and gave as good as they got.  A season in the next tier playing a better quality opposition week in week out will do no harm  

what i took from today's game was that Rangers aren't that far from being able to compete in the Scottish Premier League. Yes they blew good chances and their defending looked panic stricken at moments in the first half but overall Rangers dominated the game and gave as good as they got. A season in the next tier playing a better quality opposition week in week out will do no harm

We should be ready mate as most of our players are SPL quality(or at least were).

We have second highest budget in scotland and the best training facilities and we were beaten 3-1 by a utd team who didnt get out of second gear.

Shiels,Daly,Foster,Smith,Black,Mcculloch,Law are all Spl quality..We have no excuses.

Edited April 12, 201412 yr by paisleyblue

We should be ready mate as most of our players are SPL quality(or at least were).

We have second highest budget in scotland and the best training facilities and we were beaten 3-1 by a utd team who didnt get out of second gear.

Shiels,Daly,Foster,Smith,Black,Mcculloch,Law are all Spl quality..We have no excuses.

I see what you're saying. I thought Rangers looked ok apart from a bit of quality up front. Daly looks a bit of a donkey. So you wouldn't cut them some slack for thr effect of playing lower quality opposition all year? I think that's bound to have an impact of your own game it's got to be hard to lift performances up a couple of notches.

The Manager shoulders most of the blame imo.

He has managed to take the above Spl players and instead of progressing then they have went back the way.

His tactics generally consist of high balls into Daly with no plan b.If it was anyone else who was manager at the moment they would be sacked.

Living up here i speak to gers fans day in day out and ive yet to meet anyone who thinks Mccoist should continue as manager.

Miles better performance than the Ramsdens final but our defence still needs a good clear out. We also created some great chances but did not grab them.

Championship next season will be a step up and if we play like yesterday with some new players we should do alright.

Still some way off SPL top 4 form.

Going unbeaten in the league would still be a great achievement this year. Looking forward to next season should feel more like the real thing.