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Merry Christmas folks!

The start of an absolutely massive week for us with best of the rest Hibs followed by a trip to Paisley where we were caught out recently and the bheasts next weekend. 9 points goes a long way towards 55, 7 points will be seen as somewhat reasonably decent, and anything less and we are going to have serious doubts about our credentials to get this done, with an always difficult trip to Dolly up after these. Our players and management must be fully focused and be aware of just how big a leap towards our ultimate goal this week can provide if we play our top game. First things first, and we must right the wrongs of Easter Rd where we dropped 2 points due to poor officiating and not being ruthless enough in attack or concentrating enough defensively. Hibs will be a very stiff test, are expected to be very different from our usual opponents in terms of shape and challenge provided and we will have to outperform their midfield and take our chances while remaining completely switched on defensively. In reality the cost to assemble our squad compared to Hibs shows a monumental gulf in quality and depth, but Hibs are belying that gulf by their performances and results recently and this will be just as hard a test as the following weekend, some may say more so. Let’s not forget however that we are on quite a league run ourselves with 11 straight victories and we will go in as clear favourites to make that 12. At the halfway point and with a decent lead of 7 points, our title rivals will be looking at the fixtures and wondering where we are going to slip up and will have this game earmarked as a potential for us dropping points and give them some momentum for next week. We must not open the door ajar even a little. Really looking forward to seeing how we play and cope tomorrow, but I will take a scrappy victory of any sorts and gladly move on as we start to count downwards in terms of games remaining rather than games played.

Rangers make it 12 in a row with vital win over Hibs. Rangers secured a vital win against Hibs today to ensure they maintained their 16 point lead over Celtic as they head into a crucial seven day period in their quest to win their league title since 2011. Hibs had hoped to pose problems similar to those they caused when the sides last met in September when Rangers were held to a 2-2 draw at Easter Rd. With Jack Ross’s side unbeaten in their last ten outings, they had ambitions to cause further discomfort for Rangers in the most horrific of conditions at Ibrox as Storm Bella arrived in Glasgow bringing with her heavy winds and torrential rain. Steven Gerrard named one change to the side which defeated St Johnstone 3-0 on Wednesday night, with Leon Balogun coming in for Filip Helander. Hibs created the first chance of the game in the first minute when Josh Doig crossed for Martin Boyle, but the striker was stretching when he met the ball and put it wide of goal – much to the relief of Allan McGregor. Rangers nearly took the lead in the 18th minute through Leon Balogun. James Tavernier took a short corner to Joe Aribo, who found Balogun in the box. The big defender calmly passed the ball past Dillon Barnes, only to see this effort cleared off the line by Paul McGinn. Barnes was called into action again shortly after when he made a point blank save from a Connor Goldson header after yet another Tavernier corner. Ianis Hagi then came close with a shot from just outside the box that went narrowly wide. The Romanian would go one better with his next effort on goal. Glen Kamara played a great ball to Kemar Roofe just outside the box, the striker turned Ryan Porteous and made his way into the box before playing a perfect ball across the face of goal for the Hagi to come in and score his second goal of the week. The teams went in at half-time with Rangers one goal to the good. Balogun came close to scoring in the 65th minute when his shot was saved at point-blank range by Barnes following yet another Tavernier corner. However Rangers struggled to create the longer the game went on Hibs also offered very little, and only had one shot on target after Hallberg curled an effort from the outside of the box which McGregor did well to save. However they always carried a threat and succeeded in making the second-half awkward for Rangers by winning a series of corners and free-kicks on the edge of the box – which were all defended well by Rangers. Hibs also had a penalty claim in the closing stages when Hagi’s high boot appeared to make contact with Joe Newell's head in the box. However replay’s showed there was no contact. The scrappy nature of the second-half was probably best summed up by Scott Arfield’s contribution to proceedings. He was brought on in the 76th minute for Hagi, but had to leave the field six minutes later after being injured in an awkward challenge on Hallberg. The midfielder appeared to jar his ankle and was carried off and replaced by Bongani Zungu. Kevin Nisbet came close for Hibs in the latter stages, and Alfredo Morelos had a chance to make sure of the points, but neither side could add to the scoreline and Steven Gerrard was happy to secure a 12th successive victory in the league. Speaking on Rangers TV the gaffer said: “"It was a really tough game. We knew that Hibs would be a really big challenge for us today. "They are an organised team and they stay in the game really well. Their 'keeper has made some fantastic saves to keep the score at 1-0, and while it is at 1-0, you are always going to have those little 'nearly' moments towards the end. "It is another clean sheet and another big win - Hibs carry a threat as well and we have beaten a good team today.” RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic, Aribo, Davis, Kamara, Hagi, Roofe, Kent. SUBS: McLaughlin, Bassey, Helander, Defoe, Itten, Zungu, Morelos, Barker, Arfield. HIBS: Barnes, P. McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon, Doig, Boyle, Gogic, Newell, Hallberg, Wright, Nisbet. SUBS: Samson, Gray, McGregor, Stevenson, S. McGinn, Bradley, Gullan. REFEREE: Willie Collum

Yaaaass! Another factually inaccurate thread about Celtic! Let it shine through.

Sure that's what you mean?

I'm going to type the above repeatedly now! #GoodJujuLoyal

Why was I eating an entire quarter of watermelon at midnight on Monday? Because it was either that or it went in the bin. Why, rather than salad and veg, does my crisper currently contain a family sized strawberry trifle, a bottle of Pinot, some runny cheese and a box of After Eights? Because there’s only so much fridge space and there’s only so much shopping time. Multiply by projected increases in appetite, subtract your sell-by dates and filling your face at Christmas is a tactical nightmare. Forget Covid. Ignore Brexit. Pay no heed to whether they’re closing borders at Carlisle or Dover or in what month they’ll be injecting vaccines in yer arse or yer elbow. Right now you need to focus because every December of your adult life has been about averting the same potential crisis: Christmas means many hours when the shops are shut and entire days you won’t want to leave the sofa, far less hit Tesco. It’s not just about having the resources to properly celebrate – it’s about how you prioritise and deploy those resources. Many of us have discovered this truth during a December trip to Braehead Shopping & Leisure Centre, equidistant from Ibrox and Paisley. Steven Gerrard discovered it this December, at the hands of a team once sponsored by Braehead Shopping & Leisure Centre. Too many of his goodies sat unused for too long. Treats were spoiled. Festivities were ruined. When our centre-half waltzed in a seventh minute opener, on the back of a 27-game unbeaten run, St Mirren FC looked like being reduced to another statistic under the steamroller that is Rangers 2020-21. We weren’t just going to win this League Cup, we were going to turn it into the kind of extended lap of honour needed by a club who hasn’t won a major trophy in a decade. Turned out even a last-minute Rangers equaliser, and me shouting “Finish them, Teds!” (quite forcefully), couldn’t stop St Mirren eliminating us without the need for extra time. The knee-jerk conclusion was we’d got too cocky. The suspicion was that a decade without one had let Rangers forget the focus required to win a major trophy. The actual truth was we’d learned a hard lesson about deployment. Bonagni Zungu shouldn’t have started against St Mirren. Not alongside Arfield and Aribo anyway. And the failure to get Borna Barisic on at half-time in Paisley – not because Calvin Bassey was completely failing to defend but because his inability to get the ball forward was dragging Ryan Kent to places he wasn’t wanted – was the moment Stevie G demonstrated, consciously or otherwise, the league was his priority. St Mirren’s outside-right Connolly, fouled by Calvin for their first-half penalty equaliser after a Kent mistake, again dangerously outsmarted our understudy left-back in the opening minutes of the second half. Borna was asked to warm up. Connolly got another cross past Calvin - it came off the bar. Borna was stripped and stood on the side-line, Jimmy Bell giving the details to the fourth official. Before Borna got on, Calvin was done by Connolly yet again and it resulted in St Mirren taking the lead. We never properly recovered from that 53rd minute goal. But in the subsequent two league matches we’ve more than recovered from that League Cup exit. And I suspect Steven Gerrard needed that defeat to discover exactly which players he could use and when if he wants to lay on the far greater festivities concomitant with our first league title in a decade. With injury the only thing to have stopped Itten and Roofe so far, with Jermain Defoe still able to finish like a master craftsman and Ryan Kent an incessant menace, the Rangers forwards fridge looks deliciously well stocked. Yes, we’ve complained about Alfredo not scoring many this year. But he’s so heavily involved in killer build-ups he doesn’t have to - not when our centre-half and right back are goal machines. We have Aribo, Hagi and even speed-meister Brandon Barker, all ready to replace or compliment the revitalised Scott Arfield in weaponising the Jack-Davis-Kamara midfield base. One day Connor Goldson might let Helander and Balogun be the centre-half pairing rather than his reliable but interchangeable partners. We have the best goalkeeper in Scotland - and the second-best too. So in our unbeaten, mostly winning, start to the season – from 1st August to mid-December - we’ve all enjoyed telling ourselves that, with the possible exception of James Tavernier, Rangers now have two players for every position. But we don’t. Not really. Calvin can come on for Borna in Liege and maintain the pace because, (a) Borna has already set the pace and (b), the other ten Calvin is joining are first-picks and/or hugely experienced. Zungu can chew up the scenery for a half against Hamilton and when starting versus Falkirk. But when we’re playing top flight sides, until he’s fully bedded-in, Bongani can only come on after two of Jack, Davis or Kamara have established the tone alongside Arfield or Aribo. And we all suspect neither Balogun nor Helander would be half as good without Goldson. Some positions have more options than others. Some players are still more vital than others. But Steven Gerrard knows his best starting XI. All he discovered in Paisley is how far he could dilute it and when. Now we've all consumed our hearty Christmas dinners and the team hits this ridiculously intense festive period of fixtures, us punters also need to get brutally pragmatic. This is the best season to exit the League Cup early. In historical terms, the Scottish Cup is the only domestic competition in which we trail Celtic. We’ve won 27 League Cups and the nearest challenger, with 19, went out the round before us this season. In the more recent context of “the journey back”, the time for being satisfied with a League Cup is long gone. During Mark Warbuton’s reign? Yes, it would have meant the world. In our second season back in the top flight, it would’ve been great. But by the time Steven Gerrard arrived at Ibrox, a League Cup was only of use as a marker of progress – confidence booster for us, treble-buster for Celtic. And even that ship sailed last December when a Hampden linesman gave his flag arm a rest and Tav gave that penalty to Alfie. With Covid rescheduling the current season in much the same way an accordionist reschedules his bellows, winning at St Mirren last week would have meant a January semi and probably a February final: Two massive games – both carrying the possibility of extra time, penalties and general fatigue - at the very point we’ve collapsed in the past two seasons, and at the time we’ll be entering two rounds of the Scottish Cup and two massive games versus Royal Antwerp. Had we been trailing in the Premiership last Wednesday, then fine. Had we won last season’s League Cup, meaning two no-win games at Hampden would now have no psychological drag, perfect. But, frankly, our league form in the first half of the season has made finishing this campaign with just one, even both cups in the bag, the stuff of failure. It’s 55 or bust now. And a team with no top tier titles in ten years needs to focus harder than a recent champ. Our next treble can wait, because we won’t achieve it until we get used to winning leagues again. At the outset of this season there was still some room for improvement under Gerrard, for tacit success, without us necessarily winning the title. That angle disappeared when we won at Tannadice. Having also come away from Easter Road, Parkhead, Rugby Park and Pittodrie comparatively unmolested, we’d proved we had what league titles take. And since cruising to victory at McDiarmid – something we don’t always do - we’re halfway through our league campaign with four points dropped. We’ve won 53 points from a possible 57. Had Celtic kept pace, had they been the team to take points from us then, again, we could have contented ourselves with a cup or two and more season-on-season improvement. But our only serious challengers have fallen so far behind the psychological and financial damage we’d suffer by not winning this title could be catastrophic. The thought of our miraculous, even-more-spectacularly-improving European form of the last three seasons putting Celtic rather than ourselves straight into the Champions League group stages is unbearable. It’s all gone too far. We’re too good. We have to win this league now. They’re currently telling themselves they trail by just seven points. But we all know that, should Celtic start clawing us back, they’ll want the world to know we were 16 points in front. With the festive week bringing Hibs, a return to Paisley, and Celtic themselves, retaining our focus and intensity is paramount. The Scottish Cup and Europe will provide distraction enough in the next two months. Depending on how draws and first legs go, they could also provide the first games of 2021, and the first this season since Falkirk, where we can afford to rest most key players. Celtic, on the other hand, now have nothing better to do than trying to stop us winning the league. Gerrard didn’t deliberately chuck the League Cup. But he knew how packed the fridge was for the rest of the month. He prioritised ruthlessly. He deployed accordingly. Cups can wait. Zungu came on when we went 2-1 up versus Motherwell on Saturday and killed it. Bassey’s development continues. Barker and Defoe will be needed yet. Jordan Jones and George Edmundson can come on against Edinburgh City or Spartans in the Scottish. Maybe Steven Gerrard, who only failed to win the league at Liverpool, will make that the only thing he wins at Rangers. And that particular deployment, of silverware, would be just fine by me. Across the festive period I have no time to shop for extras and little taste for the watermelon that’s oh so healthy for my body. It’s all about the turkey, trimmings, pudding and booze that’s absolutely vital to my soul. And this season is now about winning the one prize the soul of our club demands above all others.

Good performance and result. Got a bit nervy towards the end but we never really looked like conceding. Hagi - again, the boy does things that win games. He should be a starter. Kent - another match with no end product whatsoever. His form is poor and he needs dropped.

Kent asks questions of the opposition which often it can answer; Hagi asks questions of the opposition which often it can't.

And all we heard from all the Rangers hating Scottish gutter press is good teams win badly!

And yet, last seasons League Cup Final saw us utterly destroy them and lose 1-0. One of the best performances against them that I can remember. I'll take a 1-0 victory against them no matter how we perform right now, and sure all Rangers fans would accept the same.

Well worth noting how well we defended these. Once or twice we looked unsure defensively but, generally, we were very good again.

Gerard needs to be bold & sub Kent at times when he’s ineffective. And the ibrox pitch is looking in poor condition again at this time of year. That’s a worry.

We adapt our game according to the opponent, as you have seen throughout our Scottish and European campaign. You have to draw the opposition out of their defensive shape and as Hibs were willing to come forward (as opposed to Motherwell), and that was one way to do so. IF anything, i would have removed Kent after 60odd mins for Morelos or Itten, as those would have kept the ball and would probably have been more efficient with the ball in vital areas.

Hagi was clearly knackered and had taken several knocks.

Roofe's useless; he looks like he's never seen a ball before...

Your turn this week buddy

Ensure Boyle plays with his back to our goal, wherever he is on the park.

Pick any other Hibs supporting celebrity other than Irvine Welsh. Some forty-odd years past, when he was working in London as a Civil Servant; he founded a punk band called, 'Stairway 13'. He was lead vocalisat, lead guitarist, and lead song writer. They lasted a couple of years, I saw a review that damned them with faint praise, their opening number was, 'Orange Crush'. If Welsh ever returns to Scotland from his numerous homes in Dublin, Chicago, New York, .... etc - his price of entry should be a gig with his band in Markinch. He is beyond the pale.

A thoroughly enjoyable article there, however I found myself agreeing with hardly any of it. I will pick out just a few, Bassey has one bad game out of the 12 or so he has played, and in a game there were no pass marks for anyone, and all of a sudden he is rubbish? SG threw the league cup by not making a sub at the right time? Come on that’s just utter nonsense. SG has not mastered the art of subs in his time here, yet, and you could tell by his post match how angry and upset he was at our elimination that he badly wanted to win this trophy. Really badly. I did love and agree wholeheartedly with the points gap point made above. To my mind it is 7 points, and the tims are quick to agree with this number, but we know we will have blown a 16 point lead if they catch us according to our media and the bheasts. Let’s hope we don’t get to find out how true that becomes.

Acceptable. Sportscene that evening showed the usual five minute highlight package, followed by 3-4 minutes discussion. Michael Stewart spent three and a half minutes lionising the Allen pass for Hibs goal. It was August and it was deemed 'pass of the season'.

It was what I believe Buster calls humour. I'll try to be less subtle in future, maybe include a smiley face to eliminate strangeness.

Yeh, sorry, I deleted the other thread after your reported it. I litterly just saw it on mainstream news and was about to repost. Sorry for the confusion

Happy now?

Delighted with the win and first half performance. Second half I thought we were second best all over the park and we were lucky not to concede as we gave away ball control and territory to an impressive Hibs side who won’t be shut out very often this season if they can keep that level up. Im just going to take away the positives from this one, the victory, clean sheet, some lovely crisp passing in the first half, and turn the attention to some cold hard revenge on Wednesday to right the wrongs from our worst performance of the season a couple of weeks ago.

Perspective please. The priority was a win and 3 pts. The clean sheet was a bonus. Did we play our best game of the season? Far from it but these are the games that will win titles. We simply cannot reach the heights for every game.

?? Ianis Hagi for Rangers this season: ☑️ 16 starts ⚽️ 3 goals ?️ 9 assists ? 1.5 key passes per game ? 2nd in SPFL - Assists ? Unbeaten in all of his starts ? Top of the SPFL table Scored the match winner v. Hibernian today! ?

Ross making me laugh claiming the Porteous/Tav incident should have been a Hibs penalty. Ok, let's agree, that makes the Tav/Gogic incident in the first half a penalty too. 2-0 to us at half-time is a rather different game to 1-1 with 15-20mins to go.

Tell you what, Roofe must have a few miles on the clock after that match! he was everywhere, never stopped running and set up the goal

Poor performance and poor tactics. Severe lack of urgency in our gameplay. Sick and tired of davis and his side and back passes. Play like this against the scum and we will lose.

Easy to forget that save - was going in for me and he did well to force it wide when the bounce could have beat him.

Alfie still can't score. I don't care: he's working hard.

We need a second goal

Failed!

Yeh that’s what pretty much what I see.

A very good goal - Hagi was so unlucky minutes before as well.

and a £40,00 fine blinking ridiculous

Must dash but will read later....... Wonder if FatEck thinks Haribo will be a matchwinner today ?

David Francey...I have fond memories of hearing his dulcut tones. These were usually via the TV/Radio from some exotic location when Rangers/Scotland were playing (pre Sky for the younger members)