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After what was a fairly frustrating European night at Ibrox during the week, the big games keep on coming for Rangers. The clocks might only be going back later tonight as we approach Halloween but already we've played 22 games this season. And, so far at least, progress has been pretty good. Sure, league defeats away to Celtic and Livingston may have blotted Steven Gerrard's copy book and our form generally has actually been quite inconsistent as opposed to exceptional but you'd be hard pressed to find a truly unhappy Rangers fan considering where we were this time last season after the sacking of Pedro Caixinha exactly a year ago. With a plethora of new players brought in by Gerrard and an almost entirely new backroom staff as well, the turnaround in quality has been notable, if not (understandably) wholly reliable yet. Indeed, it was interesting to catalogue the palpable disappointment after Thursday's draw against Spartak Moscow. Rangers fans' expectations are always high so hell mend any player or manager who doesn't appreciate that - even if the bigger picture is often ignored by some critics. Strangely enough though, we're still only 5th in the Ladbrokes Premiership and although we sit top of our Europa League section, without genuine demonstrable success and a real challenge to Celtic it's difficult to consider any progress made so far as anything other than circumstantial. To that end the only way to change the status quo is to keep winning and to bring silverware back to Ibrox. Winning the Europa League is improbable but lifting the Scottish League Cup is achievable and we can take another step towards that by beating Aberdeen at Hampden tomorrow afternoon. Aberdeen, for all their own faults, will present their usual stiff challenge. Yes, their fans may not have bought into Sunday's game (literally it seems going by their embarrassing ticket sales) but you can be sure their players will. They might be five points behind us in the league but, just like Hamilton last weekend, they will raise their game and if we show the same kind of complacency and poor form we did in Lanarkshire then passage into the Betfred Cup final will be far from certain. Interestingly, it may be in attack that both sides could have trouble tomorrow. Rangers have scored plenty in their 22 games this season but will have no recognised striker tomorrow. Meanwhile Aberdeen have only scored 16 goals in their 13 games so we'll be hoping they struggle up front once more. In terms of the Rangers team, replacing the impressive form of Alfredo Morelos will be our most difficult task at Hampden. The Columbian has scored just four goals less than the whole Aberdeen team this season so far but his creative play and leading of the line may arguably be missed more. With usual deputy Kyle Lafferty ineligible and our only other striker Umar Sadiq unreliable, it's very difficult suggest an alternative. Glenn Middleton can score goals so may be the most favoured candidate but can he live with the physical nature of the Aberdeen back line? Or does Gerrard move in-form Ryan Kent further forward given Eros Grezda still looks less than match-sharp? Might Ovie Ejaria be the best option to take the ball in and link with others and what of the usual 4-3-3 system? I don't think we'll know the answer to that conundrum until around 3.30pm tomorrow. Could Gerrard surprise us all? Moving back through the team, there's also the question of matching Aberdeen's physical strength in the middle of the park. Could this mean another 90mins in the rehabilitation of Jordan Rossiter or can Lassana Coulibaly improve his recent poor form? Ryan Jack is surely a certainty to start and he'll be looking to have Graeme Shinnie's head on a pole to annoy his former supporters after the game. We certainly have plenty of options and finding the right midfield blend will not only go a long way to determine tomorrow's outcome but our season as a whole. Scott Arfield returning would be a big creative boost as well. At the back, the manager has said he's still to decide on his goalkeeper and as much as Allan McGregor has been top-class this season, Wes Foderingham has been very good when called upon (especially in our away win at Rugby Park) so we're lucky with our quality there. James Tavernier will surely captain the side again from right back and I'd expect the same back four that started against Spartak given the creative threat of Aberdeen from wider areas and set-pieces. Nevertheless, all things being equal, Rangers fans will be expecting a win tomorrow and despite the loss of Morelos, we have every right to be confident. A score-draw despite wrongly losing the same player to a red card and the loss of a late, late equaliser in our first league game of the season showed we have more quality than Aberdeen. However, Gerrard's 'class above' comments after that game will be used by Derek McInnes to fire up his players so anyone expecting anything other than a hard-fought, physical tight game would be well advised to rethink their analysis. Ultimately, although the Rangers manager did qualify his comments to that one game, it will come down to Gerrard to prove his earlier claims are correct. Win through and all remains rosy in the Rangers garden. Anything else and the pressure will increase. Fortunately, Gerrard demands success and understands Rangers fans are impatient for it. Occasionally our expectations are unrealistic but a win tomorrow is not. We must step up and show our desire for success is authentic. Let's go indeed. Possible starting XI (4-3-3): Foderingham Tavernier | Goldson | Worrall | Flanagan Coulibaly | Jack | Arfield Candeias | Ejaria | Kent

Shame to be so cynical the issue was reported on 24th September and I must say that as much as I loathe the mhanksI had no hesitation in thinking it was a good thing and gesture from Hayes.

On this thread, I have learned that: Facebook is a reliable source of information. The Scottish press is a bastion of objectivity and impartiality. Jonny Hayes is a nice guy. I'd have been better off reading the Daily Sport. ?

whether it is bullshit or not it has kept you guy's busy for a few hours.

Not a clue. I actually think we will play without a striker and have a front 3 of Kent, Candieas and 1 of either Grezbo, Middleton or even Arfield pushed further forward in a false 9. It will be down to our movement and passing to create opportunities and hope that the dons defenders dont know who to pick up as the front 3 will be alternating consistently. Perhaps he will play Sadiq, you know the striker we have on loan from Serie A on big wages!! How about whoever is playing well in the forward positions in the reserves? What does it say for our whole system if we play without a striker when we have (albeit inexperienced) strikers playing every week in the reserves. Does it say to these guys that they are wasting their time as even with no strikers available they didnt get a sniff? How we line up and play tomorrow will tell us a lot about our young manager. I leave it in his capable hands and for now we can do nothing but back him to get it right,, but if we fail to reach the final, serious criticism will be coming his way for allowing this circumstance to happen. Not "get him out" or nonsense like that, but his management of the whole affair has been poor, from playing Morelos in an easy home QF when this could easily happen, not pushing Sadiq more (or getting rid) and not giving any reserves a bit of game time to try to get them used to their teammates. If he is going to play Middleton through the middle, why wasnt this tried last week at Hamilton, or in a bounce game during the int break? There are far more questions than answers, and the only easy way out of it all is a victory tomorrow which will allow us to say phew, we got through it, and move on. Penalties will do as long as we go through.

That would be the same Derek Ferguson who once opined on Radio Scotland that "I'm not really a fan of Rangers".

Not exactly an objective set up. Two Rangers detractors with bells on.

I put a poppy on my coat on Wednesday. It's the first time I've worn a metal poppy, it's a commemorative one. I don't think I'd wear the Rangers one though, I'm not altogether comfortable with mixing football and poppies. Perhaps an exception can be made for Hearts.

Whilst I worry a little that I've seen this Euro movie before; a great start, some good performances but a running out of steam and ultimately missing out I'm constantly reminding myself that any Europa League participation this season was a huge bonus. For me the matches against Villareal, Rapid and Spartak have done one very, very important thing; they've returned pride on the field to the club. We've not had that for a good number of years. Other clubs are taking us seriously again, we're defending like the Rangers sides of old and the support, the one constant through all the setbacks and false dawns, are being entertained and excited again. We're competing in Europe again, we're in a cup semi final and we're pretty well placed in the league despite playing two games a week since mid July and not finding any real consistency. Had I been offered that last June I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. There will be disappointments this season, nothing surer, but there's a very real chance of glory, of silverware and of genuine peer recognition. I really didn't think that was likely just a few months ago. We should have beaten Spartak last night, oh, but how wonderful it is to just be saying that sentence.

Found this shared on a Rangers facebook page called 'Rangers Football Club No Surrender' which also in fact shares the gersnet podcast.

And what's the best we would achieve at the end of the day? To have people who universally loathe and despise Rangers using their new obligation to report from Ibrox to belittle and ridicule us to another generation of gullible listeners? Or are we going to force persuade them to employ only Rangers fans in future? If they reported on Rangers every minute of every day I couldn't listen to it anyway and I'm a bit surprise there are Rangers fans howling for a return to that sort of anti-Rangers garbage.

Blom is just crap. Just another thing is that Dutch referee's are now used to calling in VAR so that maybe makes them a bit Lackadaisical when refereeing without it.

I think we'll minimise disruption to the rest of the team and start with Sadiq up front. If it doesn't work, we'll go to plan B and move Middleton to a central forward position. But really, I haven't a scooby. McGregor Tavernier Goldson Worral Flanagan Jack Candeias Ejaria Arfield Kent Sadiq

Where Facebook and Celtc are concerned, cynicism is absolutely essential. Both are untrustworthy, at best. Stories 'doing the rounds' = Chinese whispers.

If Arfield is available, I'd go with: Foderingham Tav Goldson Katic Flanagan Ejaria Jack Arfield Candeias Middleton Kent It'll be interesting to see how we start. McInnes never goes full tilt against us, so I see no point in being cautious and I'd go for their throats from KO.

I'd play Middleton through the middle, with Kent and Candeias either side of him. Will Arfield be available?

This is the kind of thing club 1872 should be getting involved in. As for why some feel dependent on the BBC. Some can only have a radio at work. Many older people are not computer savy enough to get streams. Not everyone can afford 17.50(?) a month plus the price of a VPN. And many just like to listen to the commentary. My sister always listened to the commentaries while working in the Kitchen. Plus we should have the choice but the BBC are taking that away from Rangers supporters

This was widely reported in the Scottish press a few months ago - it's old news. Spare a thought for me - my kid has Kevin Thomson as his private coach... and when he runs camps my kid both attends and assists KT in setting up the drills and "demonstrating" for the younger kids.... and almost invariably KT has Scott Brown show up to present their participation certificates. My Mrs always sends me a picture of my kid smiling beside Scott Brown - it's enough to make you puke. But, it gets worse.... my kid says "Scott Brown's a really nice guy - don't be calling him nasty names" - my kid hasn't realized yet that he has been cut out of the will

I'm going to stick a story up on Facebook about Anton Rogan rescuing my kitten. Just to see how long it takes for it to go viral. I'll kick over a few sandcastles while I wait...

“I’m going to suspect the OP has taken offence.. “ Dont read it that way. I think he’s just showing that not all of our rivals are wholly bad. Hayes did the right thing. See 26th above.

I hate bullying even more than acquired victimhood. Yet every one of us has almost certainly been part of it ourselves, either giving or receiving, at some stage in our lives. It's truly horrible and has tainted many many lives.

Well, he was hardly handing out level judgement on Thursday, but none of his decisions cost us games (note the plural). As opposed to Beaton ... even though the last games he officiated with us was not that bad ... I do fear that Shinnie and Co. will be offered to have a clean go at Ejaria and Kent a few times before he takes action though,as they seemingly "like it physical" in Scotland.

Are people seriously angry at Rangers for this situation? The mind boggles.

Hope he doesn't become our older version of Rossiter. 31 ain't that old in this day and age, but getting back from knee-surgery takes time and rehab to get back to full fitness as well. It could well be that we have progressed far enough by then to be able to get even better quality players than we now have ...

Excellent news!

Last night was a missed opportunity, achieving the seven point mark at the half way stage, would almost seen us qualify. I was on my feet when the ball was passed to Grezda in the final seconds, it was his chance to become a hero and almost certainly book himself a starting berth come Sunday. The ball sailed over the bar and our players slumped to the turf. The effort was there last evening, but our 23rd game of the season in the last week of October is revealing fatigue. Two things, firstly we missed Arfield. Those constant twenty yard diagonal shuttles, create angles and take opposition players away. Secondly, we regained possession regularly, only to give it away. We could not achieve that half yard before the opposition stuck a foot in or blocked the pass. Spartak brought a physicality we found hard to shake, their front two continually sprinted to shut down both our centre backs when we were looking for an out ball. Oh, and the Ref' was frustratingly inconsistent.

Whilst this is technically true, it is amazing just how much revisionism there is around that Aberdeen game. At the time we were almost unanimously lauding our team for having been the better team playing for 80 minutes with 10 men. It is really disappointing when people then trot out the above with absolutely zero context. We gave them an extra man for bout 85% of the game, were the better team and only conceded an equalizer with the last kick of the ball. Some context please !!

Other than a 10min period in the second half we played fine generally but our final ball and set pieces were rubbish and that's what cost us the three points.

To be more positive, we really are good at the controlling the game side. Jack was excellent and a number of others were good too. Spartak Moscow haven't spent as much as some have suggested (net spend of minus £10m this season), but have spent a good 55m Euros over 3 seasons. They had much better players than us on paper but hardly got a sniff last night. It was quite remarkable and I bet they got a bit of a shock. Gerrard has built solid foundations and it's a great position to be in to be dominating teams like that and just lacking one or two players with more quality in the final third.

We are very good at "controlling" games at home by playing with a high intensity and pressing the game with the crowd behind us. But my word we are poor at turning that into chances and goals. For all the praise Kent etc get, our final ball is consistently poor and we almost never manage an attempt on goal from a set piece. These are very concerning things. In my opinion in January we still need a player who offers us genuine aerial threat. Like I highlighted in the transfer window, we have a team full of crossers but almost no-one who is very strong in the air. We also need an attacking winger with more finesse and technique. Ejaria offers this is in the middle, he looked very threatening last night. Kent and Candeias's hustle and bustle are fine but only go so far, against stronger opposition they just lack the quality and finesse necessary to put something on a plate for Morelos. The cross always seems to hit the first man or go over everyone. This side have so much promise but Gerrard was right to play down the hype and stress we've still got some way to go.

Went into the stadium shop last night, spent 5 mins roaming around as there was not much on offer tbh. No new kits on show and most of the old kits and other merchandise had MEGA DEAL labels which i believe are Sports direct branding so nothing much to see or indeed purchase.

The physical store is not always about it’s own sales, it acts as advertising and opportunity to see and touch the merchandise and try on the shirts etc. It will also help increase online sales as the shop acts as a reminder and prompt to purchase. I think we need a Rangers store outside of Ibrox to be our showcase as many fans may never get to the superstore at Ibrox if they don’t get to games very often.