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It has been a strange week. The disappointment of last Sunday's Cup Final still lingers, and then the last minute equaliser against Young Boys was gutting, but we did still qualify for the last 32 of the Europa League -- a magnificent achievement. And yet, I suspect we're all a tad deflated. That is two games, big games, where by all accounts Rangers played wonderfully; dominating the ball for long spells with an aggressive , stifling tempo and peppering the opposition goals with shots, but ultimately unable to take the chances that our performances deserved. The matches come thick and fast this month, and next up in the League, Rangers travel to Fir Park to face Motherwell on Sunday. Since the last meeting between the sides, Motherwell have been on a solid run of form. In their last seven matches, they have won 5, losing two (against Celtic and a surprise away defeat to Hibernian), and in that run, they have scored 13 goals. They have kept three clean-sheets in their last three games. This form has seen them jump over Aberdeen to claim the third spot in the League. The last meeting between the sides was far from easy, despite Rangers claiming the 2-1 win at Ibrox. A unusual front-three of Barker, Defoe and Stewart started the game for Rangers but they struggled to find the breakthrough against a resolute Motherwell team despite being quite lively. An early goal for Motherwell was just what we didn't need, but Defoe equalised in added time at the end of the first half. It took a late Helander header to claim the points. Despite doing well in recent visits, it is never a quiet day at the office at Motherwell. Of the last five league fixtures at Fir Park between the pair, Rangers have won three, with two high-scoring draws making up the other results. In the game at Ibrox, Motherwell employed a 3-5-1-1 formation. They were compact both horizontally and vertically, looking to counter -- a tried and tested way to play against us. They let Rangers have the ball, and went direct as often as possible. The out-ball was to their #9, Long, who waited for the overlap from the wing-back. The other forward player would get himself into the box to receive the cross from the wing-back, or the ball would be cut-back to their #9. Their goal come from a long ball from the 'keeper to the wing-back, who knocked it on for the two roaming front players. In their other games , Motherwell have employed a 4-3-3, sacrificing a defender for another attacking player. Against Celtic they employed the 3-5-1-1/3-5-2 as they did against us, to it is likely they will revert to that on Sunday. Their key men in this set-up are the tall, pacey wing-backs, Jake Carroll and Bevis Mugabi, and their #9, Chris Long. Long is not much of a goalscorer, but he is a good target-man and has developed a good partnership with Devante Cole, who is usually deployed in a supporting role around him. Motherwell remain without David Turnbull -- the central-midfielder was subject to a bid from Celtic in the summer --, and full-backs Christian Ilic and Charles Dunne. Their centre-back Declan Gallagher is one booking away from an automatic suspension. Filip Helander and Steven Davis both missed the Europa League match on Thursday through injury. Helander looks to be out for another game or two with a foot injury, but Davis is pushing to return against Motherwell. Jordan Jones is also still out. With Helander out, we could see Katic retain his place after being reinstated midweek. Katic will be more than capable of dealing with the physical threat of Long, but I wonder if he can deal with the pace? Could Edmundson perhaps come in? Katic is more likely. Dealing with Motherwell's counter-attacking pace, snuffing it out before it begins, may well be the role of the midfield, which should be Jack, Davis and Kamara. Davis may not last the full 90 minutes, but his creativity and metronomic ability to dictate the tempo will be crucial. Morelos and Kent seem certain to take two of the three forward spots. Alongside them, Gerrard may opt for the pace of Ojo or the guile of Stewart for this one. Aribo was magnificent against Young Boys, but he was dead on his feet towards the end; a rest is well-deserved. I'm a big fan of Stewart, so I'll opt for his inclusion. Our performances have been phenomenal for the most part over the last week, but we are lacking a cutting edge. They were both big games, with an even match-up; both teams going for the win. Sunday's game against Motherwell will be different; they will be looking to defend deep, but aggressively, and counter with their big target man and pacey wing-backs. Rangers will need to be patient, but we have the quality to continue our good League form. I think I'd settle for a poor, but clinical performance for this one!

Overview of Rangers UEFA Youth Squad as requested. https://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/2019/12/14/rangers-uefa-youth-league-squad/

Missed the first 10 minutes due to our normal turnstiles being behind the security barrier. This meant that everybody in BR 4 & 5 had to enter by BR 1 & 2 entrances, creating massive queues. This was all due to the large away support, one guy told he he got an email from Rangers at 1730hrs telling him about the change. Bit late and everyone should have been informed well beforehand, poor organisation by the club.

'Coming out' means something else. Might be appropriate in this instance, right enough.

Liverpool have taken 73 points from the last 75 available. A staggering statistic in Europe's richest league where even the also rans can be littered with world class.

What I noted on occasion last night is the lack of speed some showed when it was required, leaving Morelos alone up front facing a certain lack of options bar shooting himself from a tight angle. Maybe with the return of Jones we get that back, who is quick and direct. Jones, Morelos and Kent in an 4-3-3 build for counter-attacking games ... Ojo ... is IMHO too often "too green" (as we say), lacking a certain competitive edge in his game.

"Stuart Cosgrove is an intellectual colossus". The above quote was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland last week by Dr Eamonn O'Neill, DrStu's fellow contributor on the weekly Media Review. Mutual support is necessary to maintain their 'quite important' status. BBC Scotland decided to celebrate DrStu's 'quite important' credentials by allowing Edi Stark to present a 30 minute biography on the intellectual colossus as he enters his sixty-eighth year. Sycophancy is most important whilst clinging to 'quite importance', especially when you have a trilogy of books to shift. DrStu' has morphed into one of those hackneyed, old, Radio One DJs from forty-odd years past, banging on in self promotional ways ie supermarket openings, night club appearances, and opinions on nationalism. DrStu' will be appearing at a Book Festival/Book Shop signing/School fund raiser near you soonest, and he will shamelessly utilise the exposure awarded to him by the national broadcaster to do so. Research is the thing, DrStu' tells Edi he loves it, always has done. Each rung on the ladder has been climbed by thorough research, DrStu' has achieved the lofty heights of quite importance by putting in the hard graft. The rewards are deserving, the big House in Dennistoun with access to private gardens, the Big House in Sri Lanka with infinity pool, and the flats in London; all might explain his obsession with Big Houses in London/Hampshire owned by Alex McLeish and Gordon Strachan, and why such properties should preclude both from being awarded the national manager's job. Of course, the current recipient of the post, Steve Clarke also has a Big House in southern England, but DrStu' has not told us so, nor has he held it against Stevie; we can only assume DrStu' is continuing with the necessary research? Ah mean, an intellectual colossus committed to thorough research would surely arrive at a more appropriate conclusion to Rangers winning the ECWC in 1972 than this piece of preferred prejudice, "Rangers supporters ransacked Barcelona cathedral". A Scots club, Rangers goes to Barcelona in 1972, the 33rd year of Generalissimo Franco's fascist regime to play Moscow Dynamo, the KGB's preferred team. The currents and eddies of nationalism swirled on all sides, the Soviets had backed the Spanish national Government and Franco sent the Blue Division to support Hitler's invasion of Russia. Such evidence is not persuasive, Rangers are, "H-u-ns and typical orange wan-kers". Last Thursday's Media Review lasted 45 minutes and DrStu' spent 43 minutes shooting the messenger. Oh, Dr Eamonn O'Neill joined in too, like fellow Journo, Lyra McKee; Andrew Neil was caught in the crossfire. The message conveyed by Neil was simple, our First Minister could not stand up to relentless questioning based on relentless research. Nicola took a pummeling, the next evening, Jeremy Corbyn suffered similarly. It is to BoJo's shame that so far he cannot drive his exploding clown car into Neil's studio. Anyways, the Scots media overwhelmingly chose to ignore Sturgeon's poor performance, but it really irked the intellectual colossus. Apparently, Andrew Neil is a bully, he asks questions with no intention of allowing an answer. Dr Eamonn provided support, "it's like viewing a wrestling match, your champion is being hammered but you know the bout is a fix". We know DrStu' is kept awake at night by injustice, and anxiously intervenes, "Andrew Neil is very good at his job, probably the best". He then attacks Neil for a working life associated with the right wing press. DrStu' is correct reference Neil's working life. Both Neil and Sturgeon are fellow Alumni of Glasgow University, Neil also graduated from the hard knocks required participating in the Uni' debating society of his era, the likes of Donald Dewar, Ming Campbell, John Smith, Derry Irvine, ...etc. Nicola graduated with a Law Degree, spent 3-4 weeks in the Drumchapel Law Centre, then entered party HQ. It was a mismatch, not because it was a fix, but because Neil predicates his questions on thorough research. We heard all this several years past, when DrStu' jumped from presenting the petty and ill informed Off the Ball, on to James Traynor's phone-in show. All that research gathered on the Rangers Tax Case Blog was on his hip as he spent several weeks shooting down Rangers supporting callers before they got their questions out of their mouths. The rank hypocrisy is that on three occasions in the last year, DrStu' has uttered, "Rangers supporters should forget all about the RTC Blog". I suspect the BBC Radio Scotland audience will NOT be allowed to forget about Andrew Neil? Still, it's comforting to all that our Witchfinder General is an intellectual colossus.