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It's Friday morning and I have to admit I'm still basking in the glow of last night's excellent draw in Spain. OK, it might not have been our best ever European performance and we didn't even win the match but the positives are there for all to see. First and foremost, there's character. Some discredited journalists may think our manager is 'quietly terrified' of the Rangers job but I see a man (along with his coaching colleagues) with a huge amount of self-belief and all of whom seem to relish the task. That clearly rubs off on our players who despite two setbacks yesterday kept plugging away to get an unlikely result. Next there's quality. Sure, it's not the best ever Rangers squad and sloppy mistakes are made but even in mid September, the improvement in the team is obvious. We have more depth in the squad, can live with the physical battle and some of our attacking play is a joy to behold when we click. Finally, there's teamwork. The most successful clubs aren't just about one or two individuals but are the sum of all parts. We undoubtedly have a few key players but it's because we're now functioning as a team that we're looking less vulnerable and more dangerous. That's the kind of solid foundation we will need to bring back trophies to Ibrox. Of course we're still far from the finished article and, given our results so far this season, that's paradoxically perhaps a positive. I don't think I've really seen us fully click for 90mins yet and I'm still not sure Gerrard has managed to play his favoured XI or system either. When that happens, we might, just might be capable of challenging properly for the SPFL title. Until then, and with such a busy schedule, we need to keep asking every player to contribute when called upon. The manager was right to point out last night the performance of his subs - all three of whom did the business when they came on. And with another tough match against St Johnstone on Sunday, more fringe players will have the chance to impress this weekend. Given the hot and humid conditions in Villarreal and the effort put in to secure a point, changes to the team are inevitable. I'd expect at least three changes and perhaps as much as five. Joe Worrell had a fine debut but may have to be content with a place on the bench again to allow Katic back into the team. Meanwhile, Borna Barisic went off with what seemed to be a thigh problem so Lee Wallace may well get the chance to start his first game since he went off injured over a year ago at Firhill. I would expect James Tavernier to keep his place at right back - not because Jon Flanagan isn't an able deputy - but because I suspect Eros Grezda may start his first Rangers game on the right flank. As such the influence of Tav behind him may be a good idea. With such an impressive 20mins in Spain, Glenn Middleton may also get the nod ahead of Ryan Kent on the opposite wing. Alfredo Morelos should be a certain starter in attack as he returns from a European suspension. More tricky to predict is the central, deeper players. We're lucky to have several options in there but with injuries to Jack, Ejaria and Rossiter, we're having to rely on players like Arfield, Coulibaly and Halliday. I don't expect that three to play for the third game in a row so Ross McCrorie may add a much needed freshness if Jack or Ejaria don't make it. The return of Graham Dorrans to hopefully full fitness this time will be another great option but he may remain a sub for the time being. All in all, our excellent work in the summer transfer window means we can afford to rotate our squad given the schedule demands of the coming weeks. The big test will be doing that carefully enough as not to disturb momentum and keep delivering results. A draw on Thursday was well received but only three wins domestically over the next week will satisfy Rangers fans before Rapid Vienna visit Ibrox in a fortnight's time. It's a difficult challenge but, so far at least, we appear well up for it. Let's keep riding that wave...! Possible team (4-2-3-1)

I had the rare treat of driving to Aberdeen and back yesterday. I downloaded and listened to the Gersnet podcast during my journey, it was a big improvement on the week before. However, the three contributors were surprisingly confident about the Villareal away match. So much so that by the end of the show I was feeling upbeat about the match. Villareal aren't scoring goals this season, are languishing in the lower depths of La Liga and have no one of the calibre of Riquelme or Forlan playing for them now. Fifteen minutes into the first half I was cursing the podcast for raising my expectations as I watched us being schooled by athletic, pass and move Spaniards looking like it was a training match against a passing amateur side following a heavy night on the tiles. We literally seemed unable to make even simple passes at times. Ach well, that'll teach me I thought. Then, after threatening an anal hammering early in the second half, we turned into Rangers of old. A side that looks like it's on the ropes suddenly springs to life, Tav turns into Messi and Arfield, who I'd bellowed at minutes before for being rubbish, slots one away and all before is forgotten. Well, for a couple of minutes it was. Lafferty's goal was a thing of beauty, the first time cross from Barasic was exquisite, Laff's run and finish was high quality, my subsequent leap across the room worthy of a man half my age. And we could have won it. We could have lost it too, but let's not dwell on that. Others have said it, but it bears repeating, we were playing, and losing, to part-timers, not long ago. Last night we drew with the fifth best side in Spain. It feels good today, enjoy that feeling, you've earned it.

Excellent goal all round, but the best part, for me, was Middleton's threaded pass to play through Barasic.

Shaggers save low to his right in the first half was simply stunning world class. How he got to it I will never know?

I hope this is simply about arriving at the position of having three players sharing the burden of two positions and not a case of having preferences and pecking orders. I also thought Worral looked good last night and brings an aggression and physicality that might be invaluable in the Scottish game. He looks to have a bit of a warrior mentality and I don't think he's going to be easily bullied by opposition forwards.

superb result. like most i feared the worst after 43 seconds but we grew into the game and by half time i thought we were comfortable although we had done very little to try to score. second half i though Villarreal came out the traps on fire again for 10 mins but once we weathered that we again grew into it but this time tried to create chances as well and got a great equaliser. we then fell asleep and conceded a really poor second with at least 5 players guilty of not closing down their man but we just rolled the sleeves up and got into them again and i think a draw was a fair result overall. A deserved draw away from home against 5th best Spanish side. I want that to sink in a bit! The intensity of our European performances has been fantastic this season and its important we treat our Scottish opponents with the same attitude and intensity, which i think we havent quite managed to do so far. if we can do that we will definitely be title contenders. For now im looking forward to a few days of walking with a spring in my step. Thanks to the manager, coaches and players again for making us proud again.

William Struth, our greatest manager died on this day 1956.

“I have been lucky – lucky in those who were around me from the boardroom to the dressing-room. In time of stress, their unstinted support, unbroken devotion to our club and calmness in adversity eased the task of making Rangers FC the premier club in this country. “To be a Ranger is to sense the sacred trust of upholding all that such a name means in this shrine of football. They must be true in their conception of what the Ibrox tradition seeks from them. No true Ranger has ever failed in the tradition set him. “Our very success, gained you will agree by skill, will draw more people than ever to see it. And that will benefit many more clubs than Rangers. Let the others come after us. We welcome the chase. It is healthy for us. We will never hide from it. Never fear, inevitably we shall have our years of failure, and when they arrive, we must reveal tolerance and sanity. “No matter the days of anxiety that come our way, we shall emerge stronger because of the trials to be overcome. That has been the philosophy of the Rangers since the days of the gallant pioneers.” We should play an audio of this before every home game on the loudspeakers. Will make the hairs on your neck stand up

I think Kent and Middleton are 2 different kinds of players. Kent is more effective inside and linking middle and front but has trickery and he puts in a shift. Middleton is more direct out wide and a great crosser but doesn’t have same all round game as Kent. If you know you need to get good balls in the box and don’t have much time to do it then Middleton is reliable. I think Kent starting is probably SG style and Middleton as impact - for now. Incidentally the clever aspect of the second goal last night was the Barisic run. He started and finished it from well off the touchline so there was a big channel for Middleton to play the ball down (superb pass) , but also that ball down that space meant the central VR defence could not cut it out as it was down the line and lafferty was occupying them and also because of Barisic position of run meaning the VR right defender had come in off the touchline to pick him up. Looks like that tactic came off the training ground. Credit to SG for turning the game round. Great point he also made about the lesson of the game is watch the second half and start to believe in yourself. Football is about being as good as you can and maintaining or improving even on that. Before SG our club was full of fear and that was infecting us/me as fans. That fear is going and this result will give massive self belief to the team. The scum would have lost in VR.

True, but he can still be raw if that's all he can do; which is why that's when he comes on. I wouldn't say he's different per se, -- maybe different from what we have, or is that what you meant? -- more old fashioned. He basically always wants to take on his man; It's exciting, and it has come off, but for me, it's naive. (I felt he contributed to the capitulation at Motherwell, because he couldn't keep the ball and couldn't defend.) I'd like to see how he can keep possession, pass the ball, take up defensive positions etc. To be fair, his cameo last night impressed me most because of that exquisite through ball. He certainly deserves a start. I'd just like to temper the expectations; we need more than a player that can only take on a player, as exciting and refreshing as that is.

honest accurate assessment. want to see that type of desire, intensity and quality domestically as well, starting Sunday.

I think it's the contrary, looks like an attempt to circumnavigate the fat one.

taken from FF: Neil Friar is the director of Elite and also the chairman of Hummel UK & Ireland. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/neil-friar-51101944

There goes my winnings from last night's game then two kits tomorrow morning for the wee ones .

New home top now on sale online

We have St Johnstone, Ayr United & Livingston coming up in the next week before we go back into European action so definitely a chance for Middleton, Grezda etc to get starts. I would expect them both to start next Wednesday for example.

But it's an assumption that it is all he can do. He's only been given cameos so far and it seems clear he's been asked to do this. But from the evidence of youth games he's a much more rounded and talented player. Last night's through ball was no surprise to me, he's not just a new Gregg Wylde. Clips of him playing for Scotland youth and Norwich youth shows him deployed on the right and able to cut inside as well as having a fantastic shot (both right and left foot). Defensive discipline is something he may be weak with, but I just don't buy the idea that we need someone starting on the left who will run inside and pass back to the defence (which Kent does constantly). Middleton is the kind of winger you want centre mids coming towards and playing a one-two down the line with allowing him to get where we want our winger, in behind the full backs. Man City were doing this constantly last season with Sane and Sterling. We need our wingers in the cut-back position in behind, which is where we got both our goals last night.

Thing is that journalists (and I am sure your everyday BBC reporter is amongst the frontliners here) demand freedom of journalism and information, want to be everywhere, know everything and report this to the world. Which is all fine and well ... unless people get ideas. I have met dozens of journalists who have developed some sort of egalitarian idea of themselves, as usually everyone bows to their wishes. After all, a journo carries quite a bit of power, as a word or two of him in a report or broadcast can instantly ruin a life or job for someone who crossed him. So they indeed get ideas how the world shall function. And with BBC Scotland in general and Scrote and some more chosen few in particular, you see a stereotypical example of that. People working their agenda, sometomes openly, sometimes less so. And the BBC Scotland HQ et al - as is typical behaviour amongst this caste - closes ranks rather than question the journalists' actions themselves. These journalists forget the other side of their job though, the part about responsibility. The responsibility to report on things AS THEY ARE ... and in case of discrepancies they are required to question the info they get. What is even more heinous here is that these are publicly funded reporters and a publicly funded institution that does not deliver to their customers. Which is an even greater incentive for any Bear to take them to task and report them to e.g. Ofcom or the BBC HQ.

I could join the crowd and pretend to be incredulous about the bias and corruption of PQ but somehow I can't bring myself to waste the time and effort involved. They are what they are, they've been that way for a very long time now and nothing is going to change in a hurry, certainly not as a result of anything Rangers or its support does or says. I enjoy reading about their antics on this topic but the idea of ever actually listening to BBC Scotland sports coverage would never enter my mind these days. So, on balance, I think it's best just to laugh and look away (OK sneer and look away). There's no way I could bring myself to get anything as interested as to be annoyed any more. My bottom line is I don't need them and I sure as hell don't want them. In terms of sports reporting, BBC Scotland no longer exists in my world. I get almost everything from RTV, the Rangers website, Rangers social media and some external online sources. The one thing that IS missing for me is a live Rangers radio service, covering matches (the RTV commentary could easily be adapted), post match analysis and providing wider news about the club and its worldwide support.

They are friggin shameless. The overall narrative regarding our game was to focus on our shortcomings. Let's not dwell on the fact that a team from Scotland got a credible draw against a team that finished 5th in La Liga (by far the most successful league in European football over the last decade). No no, let's talk about how we should have got hammered. How Villareal had players missing blah blah f*cking blah

I must admit that I had a little chuckle when I looked at the main BBC sport site last night. The main sports/football story was Steven Gerrard's Rangers fighting draw in Spain. PQ must have been beeling

By the way, we've discussed modern styles vs tradtional styles before and I think Chris Burke would struggle to break through today because people don't fancy an out and out winger these days. For me the game hasn't changed as much as people say it has and fast wingers who'll beat a full back and get to the by-line will always be a full back's worst nightmare and create lots of goals.

Perhaps our PR department should invite - quietly - a delegation from BBC "insert Liverpool-area" and have them talking to SG and Co. about the first few months in Scotland ... and present it to listeners/watchers in England first and foremost.

I thought my banging on about Middleton was vindicated last night. Changed the game. You could almost smell the fear in their full back when he came on. He is so much more of a threat than Kent as a left winger it is just frustrating for me he keeps being benched because of his age. Anyway last night he's proved his doubters wrong again and surely he's going to get his first start of the season soon. Middleton and Barisic is a parternership on the left that would bring a lot of goals this season.

Right unfortunately

Did you? Old age does not come alone☹️. Will do in future.

Anyone notice we changed from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 in the second half? We were all complaining that we weren't doing anything with the ball, which this switch helped to change; we then had options further up the field. It helped defensively too: I thought Halliday and Coulibaly were slow to press -- simply because they were playing a wee bit deeper -- and Arfield was kind of on his own, outnumbered pressing and receiving the ball. Halliday sat, with Arfield and Coulibaly playing slightly more advanced. We were quite open early in the 2nd, but grew into it. McGregor was at fault for the first goal for me, but then makes a wonderful save low to his right which looked goal-bound; that's the difference a top 'keeper makes. Fantastic result!

Given where we were just a few months ago after a largely disappointing season and with no expectations at all of making the group stages this result is all the more remarkable. Top that off with this not being our strongest 11, throw in the fact we can only get better, then maybe we should start at least begin to believe what Gerrard said in a post match interview. I have been tentatively believing that since the first day of the season at the sheep pen. I'm starting to believe it more all the time. For me the biggest test to come in a little over 2 weeks is the Hearts game. Even if Hearts don't keep winning till then if we can produce a commanding win we're definitely on our way to challenging. There's a home Euro tie 3 days before that Hearts game but the league is our bread and butter. The road to a full and total recovery from the disaster of the past 6 years and our path to the riches of the CL.

Not me anyway. That result tonight....I would've laughed my head off 3 months ago if you'd told me we'd manage it.

There is room for improvement but a draw in Spain, after the Hell we have suffered for 8 years, is very respectable.

You feeling ok??

https://mobile.twitter.com/steVVVen11/status/1042843732779978752/video/1

Much improved second half where we actually got forward much better and took our chances when they came. In the end we could have won it but can't argue with a point. Delighted to see Dorrans fit and playing again as well!

Told you two each even had a ten pound on it at the bookies ?

Don't scrap but stop the away goal in extra time rule as home team then has disadvantage.If then drawn after extra time penalty shoot out should ensue.