Leaderboard

Great stuff from @Fat Eck as always... Sunday’s dropping of two points at Livingston wasn’t the end of anything significant - the Gerrard era, our chances of winning this league title or, ye know, the world. But it was the first competitive game this season in which we didn’t take the lead between the 20th and 24th minute. That, given the apparent downing of Rangers tools around the half hour mark, was all it took to curb our momentum on the pitch and end our one hundred percent record in the 2020-21 Premiership table. Admittedly, before our second game under the Sky cameras this season there was no unanimous conviction Title 55 was imminent. In fact, even during our win over St Johnstone last Wednesday, the Negativity Loyal was getting its condemnation fix on-line. Why did we make so many substitutions so early? Why were we apparently settling for 3-0 with most of the second half remaining? But Covid-19 has at least ensured such criticism is channelled healthily. Before the players had even showered and switched on their Twitter feeds, the manager calmly but firmly asserted to Rangers TV it was a good win over a sticky Perth side but it wasn’t good enough. Rather than fat, old blokes like me critiquing new signings to their face or slating easy wins from the stands, the players are hearing it constructively, from a source they respect and trust. So we found ourselves, by close of Wednesday, winning three in a row and worried only about scoring yet more goals. Now that Stevie G had spoken, the future looked shiny. Shelley Kerr, Alex Rae and Neil McCann stood on that balmy Ibrox trackside and told us the compacted season ahead would stretch SPFL squads and ours looked deeper than it has been for a decade. Suddenly, four substitutions on the hour mark hadn’t disrupted a game-winning XI – they were part of a title-winning rotation. Killing St Johnstone’s challenge by the 48th minute allowed us to bring on two brand new but rusty strikers for proper run-outs. Alfredo Morelos had created or scored all four goals in our previous two games. Even if he still wants to leave it was apparent he was again giving us his best. And the extended-by-Covid transfer window means Alfie might not depart until mid-October. By that time Itten and Roofe will be comfortably match-fit and Jermain Defoe back among the goals too. Furthermore, the Da-secure environment created by empty stadiums means the ongoing development of Gerrard’s side will be incubated. Suddenly, with Celtic’s next two league games postponed the previous day and no European football for us until September, we could do more than just nick ahead of Hibs on goal-difference at the top of the nascent Premiership table: Suddenly, getting up a seminal head of domestic steam seemed possible. Just like that, the Trophee Veolia wasn’t a pre-season friendly tournament – it was a harbinger of us finishing competitions ahead of Celtic. But if you’re ever getting ahead of yourself, the Tony Macaroni is the place to go. The service is always cripplingly slow – there was neither pitch-side multi-ball nor seat-jumping ball boys in evidence on Sunday - and the only condiment is the generous sprinkling of black rubber pellets to choke on. The only speed evident comes from their defenders getting on you like a rash. And if there’s one stadium in the world where a lack of crowd doesn’t freak out the home side, it’s here. There’s never a Livingston support big enough to fill even their shallow, perfunctory, new town shopping centre-appropriate main stand. Yet Livi were fielding a debutant goalkeeper and their biggest goal threat was unavailable because he was too busy signing for Mark Warburton’s latest Rangers: By kick-off the only thing worrying me was our Rangers weren’t wearing their traditional socks. But the Castore blue stockings have a nice red-on-white band round the middle of the fold. We looked sharper yet in our Mod tracky tops as we honoured Tam Forsyth. And then we kicked off with the tempo and endeavour everyone expects and desires. But slowly it became evident Hagi wasn’t using those wiles which compensate for his lack of pace and Ryan Jack was too deep or too slow. Big Helander was having a less than comfortable time against their emergency striker. Glen Kamara was looking more 50 Grand than ten million, their goalie’s confidence soared with every passing minute he remained untested and, before you know it, instead of gaining some bonus fitness training, Itten and Roofe are being thrown on to win the actual points. Live Podcast this Sunday This Sunday at 9.30pm we'll have another Gersnet Podcast live on Youtube. Don't miss it and remember you can take part via the chat facility! VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL Were we really missing Joe Aribo that badly or was it once again the case that, had we stuck Lionel Messi in a Rangers shirt, he’d have less joy against Livingston on Sunday than he did against Bayern on Friday? The Livi who shipped four at home to Hibs the previous Saturday were gone – their old resolutely parsimonious selves were back. Our worry is that the revitalised Rangers we’d envisaged on Wednesday night is also gone. We’re replete with players who should be able to “break the lines” but the same old problem of the Steven Gerrard era seemed to have returned: This Da certainly jerked his knee to the tune of, “Can’t deal with a low block!”, “We always slip up against minnows!” and, that floor-filling Ibiza classic, “If the first goal doesn’t come early we just can’t seem to grind out a result!” And that relentless Premiership schedule which suits our squad? Suddenly we have a free mid-week at the very point we need a quick bounce-back result. But Negative Loyalists like me, terrified we’ve let Celtic off the hook again, might employ this spare Wednesday contemplating the fact we’ve just won as many points in one game at Livi as Celtic got from two West Lothian trips last season. We might also ponder the stat saying Livingston conceded just eight league goals at home in that same season. And, if you push your rubber pellet garnish to one side, there’s yet more palatable stuff to chew on: Two seasons ago we lost at Almondvale. At this exact stage last season we lost pathetically at home to Celtic – hardly a minnow - by over-complicating things. We dropped two points at Pittodrie in December, not after starting too slowly but after going two up in the first half-hour playing like demons. We’ve clawed wins from poor starts to games at everywhere from Perth in Gerrard’s first campaign – that glorious late Alfie brace - to Dingwall in our last league match of last season when Ryan Kent’s trundler was the very epitome of grinding it out. There are clearly recurring themes, yes, but it’s not so much the “same old” problem as there’s just no such thing as a problem-free league campaign; even for the eventual champions. And you can’t incubate a team trying to win on all fronts from opposition players who only have to draw with you to be heroes. The difference is made by, as Samuel Beckett put it, failing better. This is perhaps why the manager didn’t throw anyone under the bus on Sunday. He knows the Barisic free-kick which brought the late, great save from the Livi keeper was struck even sweeter than Borna’s opener last Wednesday. He knows Kent’s fluffed chance in injury time doesn’t cancel out Ryan’s pivotal strikes versus St Johnstone on Wednesday and at Pittodrie on Day One of 2020-21. He will absolutely know we are actually top of the league and have just improved our points tally over our opening four league games for the third season running. We want the team to grind our results? The entire club, like a waiter adding pepper to every Minestrone and Lasagne in every branch of an entire chain of plastic Italian restaurants, has been grinding its way back since 2012. Sometimes we’re so busy looking at the failure to attain perfection we miss the progress being irrefutably made. And Ian Crocker always just makes everything sound worse than it really is.

I hate to say it, and, no doubt, some -many, perhaps- will wish to pillory me, but , having watched Kent since his arrival, the expression 'flatters to deceive' was coined for him.

Au contraire mes amis, The family Butler accompanied Pater and I to London because Pa decided upon Mater's motor, a fire engine red Morris Traveler. The cedar wood needed a linseed oil refreshment. It was while perambulating to the Junior Ganymede that bampottery and bawbaggery was afoot, chibbery livened the air. I bow to 1969, over half a century leads to temporary fog. The song I remember was, 'singing Kai aye yippee, yippee aye, Jock Steins a fcuking hippee'. I have never been a fan of foie gras, more salt of the earth in my preference for rillettes. I would consider a chablis accompaniment with goose based pate a crime, buttery burgundy should be reserved for crab/lobster, and the occasional ash covered cheese. Burgundy Pinot Noir is the thing for fowl liver produce. Of course, the very thing for all trencherman tit bits, is the sparkling perry, Babycham.

Sell on clause might be based on profit, not sale price. I would sell him to make a £2 mill profit, especially if we attracted a better player for less..... who that player is though I don’t know ?

If this is genuine then we should be looking for £17-20M. EPL is cash rich and we should be looking at a £10M+ profit on Kent. Given the interest in Alfredo has subsided, we may entertain offers for other players.

Not to worry, we have Barker in the frame ?

Yes, I would say so, here's 26s programme from the day, suspect he tasked the downstairs maid with recording the score on the front, in anticipation of the Veuve Clicquot befuddling his recollections.

I’m told Wigan Athletic (in administration) still owe Rangers £500k for Josh Windass. Could the trialist be him ? ?

Glad you’re taking it with a pinch of salt Cammy as Wilshere was NOT playing for us as a trialist today.

How do you know though?

I'm of the opinion that we paid far too much for Kent. Any kind of profit would be good. Gerrard doesn't like wingers, so get £10m for one and then spend it on the midfield, where we desperately need alternatives.

Totally agree. No idea why some would settle for £10-15m? No chance-we should be looking for minimus £20m as he is on a 5 year deal and we bought him for 7.5 and Liverpool have a sell on clause. Do the math, selling him for 10-12m is hardly worth thinking about. £20m minimum.

Not sure Boyle would work for us Relies on his pace but he wouldnt need that with us as he wouldnt have any spaces to run into. Often we see these players that look good with lesser teams struggle with the OF because the way they have to play needs to adapt - see O'Halloran as an example.

It's strange that we're all firmly in favour of moving him on, arguably one of our 'best' players. I would take £10-12M. He doesn't quite fit into the system, despite doing well enough without setting the heather alight, and it would represent a decent profit. Will Liverpool not have a sell-on fee due? I am confident Wilson will do the right thing.

Hopefully nothing, £7m was a huge fee

In the case of Ryan Kent, the question isn’t how much Leeds are offering. It’s how much we will sell for. That said, I’d sell for £15m

We would have until 5th October (over six weeks, at the current date) to replace anyone we sell.

If we could recover the fee paid for Kent, I'd be glad to get it. Surely there are other players we can bring in who can occasionally beat a man and provide assists more often than Kent.

Ryan Gould - the 'mini-Messi. We do tend to over-hype our players in Scotland: Gilmour is an exception.

Somewhere there also needs be a greater physical presence.

I watch us passing back/sideways and also get fed up with it then I watch other games from supposedly better leagues and watch the ball being passed back/sideways. Obviously the ploy is to pull opposition mids/cb's a bit further forward and then strike swiftly which often happens. The problem here is the ultra defensive teams don't get sucked out which negates swift strikes,therefore I think we have to work more on the one-twos to beat this.

Julian Nagelsmann may be a good manager but his dress sense is bloody awful, judging by his outfit this evening.

Would be a huge drop in revenue and not sure i can see turkeys voting for Christmas just yet.

Two things that annoy me about us:- 1) kick-off, the ball goes back and we can’t get out of our own half 2) the amount of times we needlessly pass the ball backwards

I would call it a 4-4-2 based formation. You know from the type of player I like and the type I don’t like that I favour technically gifted players. And most of the players I don’t like, or I think are overrated, it’s because I think they are not technically gifted enough. So it’s not that I want to play old fashioned football. In reality, 4-4-2 is often a slight variation on the formation already used and I would only favour it if it suited the players at our disposal better. For example, mcGregor Tavernier Goldson Helander Barisic Aribo Jack Kent Hagi Roofe Itten That is a very attacking lineup. On the right Kent would operate as a traditional winger aiming to play one-twos and get to the byline, but on the left Hagi would be all about coming inside with quick one-twos in to the striker on his side, following his pass and vacating the wing, leaving a gap for Barisic to overlap and get to the byline. A big part of what the midfielders would be trying to do is get a pass in to the strikers feet and follow it, hopefully getting the ball back in a much more advanced position. Obviously when out of possession pressing is easy and we would win back possession very quickly because pretty much everyone we play would have no option but to lump it. Our play would be fast, high tempo and all about getting the ball into dangerous areas quickly. These are just basic ideas but I think you can see it would make good use of our players, allow them to play to their strengths and it wouldn’t be about playing it long to a big guy. And I am only saying it should be used at times, not necessarily all the time.

Yes, Kamara and Jack were the defending midfielders and usually received the ball from Goldson and Helander in our half but for most of the match they were in advance of the centre line, at times even Goldson was in advance of the centre circle. We had plenty of players in Livi's half, it was more just a case of not being able to capitalise on the possession we had. Against teams like Livi scoring that first goal is important because it settles the team and then requires the opposition to be more offensive. If we don't score in the first half we seem to become tense and our football loses its composure.

The two I would go for would be Tavernier, Davis, Kamara and Arfield ?

Fluidity, that's the important thing. Our lot think that to be something the govt puts in the water

I like McCorie to the sheep. I wish him well but he's not good enough for Rangers. We take their best, Jack, for free and send them our cast offs for a price. It's perfect.

I'm obviously in the minority, but what do people see on McCorie? He is not the standard we require and shown nothing to suggest he could become a mainstay in the team. Sticks on my throat wishing him well at Aberdeen, but I do, wish the lad all the best.

As someone who has "liked" Chelsea since early 80's and who has always had a warm welcome whenever I've visited / attended Chelsea games, historically, if Rangers have a relationship with an English (or London club) it's undoubtedly with Arsenal!

That was a great few nights of football, for me. I can't stand Atleti, Barcelona, nor Man City. All got pumped. (I was rooting for Atalanta too, but you can't have everything.) The arrogance of the pundits and commentators last night was annoying, as if City just had to turn up - they were even saying that Man City will have a field day against Bayern because of the high line the Germans were playing against Barca. It's all so naive; as if teams just play one way. Bayern would not have played with a high line against Man City. Matches are not played on paper. You have two teams, two managers looking to out-do the other; different tactics, different approaches, difference ways of playing. We had a Lyon side who got their tactics spot-on: playing quite a deep block, but aggressive to close down; and then pinged ball over the top for their quick forwards. I think Steve McManaman was saying it's not arrogance, they just now what City can do. Yes, at their best they are superb. But can they do it when they are stopped from doing it? It's not even an English thing: the same thing happened in the Atleti-Leipsig match. Historically there's only one winner; on paper you'd say Atleti have the better calibre of player. But again, the game is not played on paper. Atleti are very stubborn in their approach; there's no real attacking impetus; they defend deep and counter. In contrast, Leipsig are managed by a tactically astute coach, Nagelsmann, and they play some of the most wonderful attacking football you'll ever see; the pace and movement is superb. Another good thing: We pumped Lyon a few weeks ago, so we're basically the 4th best team in Europe!

Millwall are a club with Scottish origins. They’re named after Millwall on the Isle of Dogs where they started out but have since moved to South London. Their strip is/was the blue and white of the saltire and their badge the Scottish lion

If the FA and others are so concerned about this infusion of Arab money why dont they urge their players and other nations to boycott the next world cup in Qatar which has a human rights record that stinks and a lot of the workforce could be said to be modern day slaves .