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Interesting article on Cifu: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/set-to-join-rangers-jose-cifuentes-has-elements-of-caicedo-and-pogba/view/news/417267 Looking forward to Rousseau explaining the half 8 role to der Berliner as the season goes on.

It's a reaction to a performance, one tour, and three games in to pre season. When the players can't even pass the ball to each other, then surely we have to be concerned. Let me ask you: Were there any positives? Did any of the new faces look the part? Where does MB go from here? Maybe there will be some magical transformation, before the serious stuff starts, next week, but there seems nothing on which to base such suggestion, and Kilmarnock on a plastic pitch begins to look like a nailer for points dropped.

I watched the entire game live last evening between Servette and Genk and, the genuinely surprising aspect was the hammer and tongs approach of both teams. It was mostly end to end. I think Genk shaded the possession stats, certainly more studied in their build up play. Two players for the Belgian side caught the eye, the Nigerian centre forward, Tolu Arokodare scored the opener. He is 6 feet 5 inches tall and easily rose above everyone else in the box to nod home. He is big and awkward. The other was a wide right midfielder/forward, Joseph Paintsil is a tricky, fast footed Ghanaian. He was Genk's continual out ball. However, he displayed a fair bit of petulance towards the officials and, was deservedly cautioned. He could be worked on. Both sides were quick in the transition but, Servetted were marginally quicker. They caught Genk out on three-four occasions with the long diagonal switch, probably because Paintsil pushed too far forward. They had two one on ones with the Keeper but failed to convert. The Swiss looked a bit pacey in the wide areas. Further, they picked up four bookings. Both clubs did not look too clever defensively. Next week, we will find out whether it is the plucky Belgians or the punctilious Swiss who are visiting Ibrox the following week?

I refuse to get too downhearted or excited by pre season matches. It's all about fitness. We have beaten the likes of Real Madrid & West Ham in pre season matches and ended up with nothing at the end of the season. Let's just hope it will all click together for the real matches.

That's 3 pre season games now and i've seen nothing to get excited about....it's looks like it's gonna be a long long season.

Can I advise some caution on Lowry comments. He is an eighteen year old lad who lost his Mother last year. He has one sibling, a younger brother and, the Father has not been on the scene for a dozen or more years. His Mum had long term severe health issues and was not always in a position to function. I hope Rangers provide the stable platform necessary for Alex and his bruv'.

I’ve always believed that friendlies do give you a pretty good idea of how the team is shaping up. It isn’t just a workout. Especially when you are testing out a whole new system. There should be signs that it is working.

That dive by Cantwell was embarrassing. The Gers were unorganised crap tonight, players & coaches. I get it was a friendly, but that aint good enough for me. That aint good enough for Rangers.

Better prepare yourself Gonzo....before we kicked a ball against Newcastle i was looking forward to blowing Kilmarnock away and sending a clear message of intent...now i'm worried, really worried, i've never felt like this during any pre season and like most on here i have been through many pre season friendlies through the years. I sincerly hope i am wrong.

I watched that for 90mins, and it was a shambles from back to front, and from front to back. Not only did they play like they had never seen each other before, they played like they had never seen a ball before. Were there any +ves from the performance? No. Did any of the new players look the part? No; they looked like duds. Where does MB go from here? Don't know, but it's not likely to be the Champions' League.

No creativity, no link up play middle to front. None of the new outfield signings have impressed me so far.

Lundstram is just a distinctly average player and very boring to watch. I wish we could sell and replace.

I appreciate Beale is trying to give everyone a chance and build harmony, but there is absolutely no point in giving any game time to the likes of McLaughlin and Matondo. They have nothing to offer us but viewing pain.

On holiday at the moment and have not seen 1 minute of live action in our 3 games. I'm slightly confused about the constant changes considering we have major games on the horizon. Why have we played 3 goalies in these games? What have we learned from that?

It’s just a friendly but seen nothing but red flags so far

30 seconds in Barisic runs into trouble and gives it away. Not sure I can be arsed with another season of that tbh

If you do can you put your foot through it?

Kamara is a smashing footballer, whatever the reason that's behind him going completely off the boil since the UCL qualifier against PSV, it would be best for him, and us, if this was true. Best of luck to him, I genuinely hope he does well. It bodes well for us selling in future if our players do well when we cash in.

Hopefully Kamara is away. Best for both parties.

Non-domestic stuff is, sadly, more about the appearance money than actually winning silverware these days. That's just the way it is and we need to get up to whatever trough is going.

World club cup , FFS we can't win our very own league cup 😂

Now all we need is them to match the World Cup with accurate added time and we can pretty much give the whole squad at least 45 minutes every game 🤣

Eddie Waring much missed; Stuart Hall, well...

That was awful. I have never seen such a shambles. Soutar apart we still can't defend. The midfield couldn't win the ball or link with the forwards and upfront we created almost nothing. We weren't at the races. We could learn a thing or two from their press. It was embarrassing how Dowell was taken to the cleaners. I have nothing positive to say except that Hagi, Sakala and Matondo improved us.

I don’t agree that it’s only a “bounce game” and all about “getting minutes into legs”. As Uilleam rightly says the team are already through pre-season and have played three matches. There should be signs of something by now. Somebody’s got to start scoring goals. Take away Tav’s penalties and there’s hardly anything. Let’s hope Danilo and Cifuentes, if they arrive, can create and in Danilo’s case score a few. Despite some very good performances last season, I remain dubious about Cantwell. I’ll be surprised if Dowell makes it. I hope Sterling can defend because Tav, Barisic and Redvan and to a lesser extent, Davies, can’t.

What is most concerning is that we can't pass the fucking ball!! Tonight's match was the worst performance of the three games to date, and, thus, there is little or no sign of progress. It's worrying.

No, not unless, by some miracle, it all clicks very fucking quickly.

I'm hearing that Celtic have rejected the 780 seats offered to them. They said they wanted a euro style allocation or nothing, and Rangers haven't allowed themselves to be bullied and held firm at 780, so it looks like there will no away fans at OF games this season. There will be a PR war on this and hopefully Rangers can publicise the fact that it's celtic's refusal that's caused it.

So we're no where near ready for competitive games. Terrible game from us, even RTV thought the final score was 3-0, which would have been more accurate.

Totally lost our discipline……in a friendly. Lundstrum would get a red card for that in a proper game. This is about fitness and avoiding injury, WTF is going on here. Don’t care about the score, but really worried at how we’ve lost our discipline.

Then is at fault for their 3rd

Sima has been pretty unconvincing tbh. I think I’d rather him on the right.

Absolute shambles that 2nd goal. Could McLaughlin not have grabbed at second chance?

Barisic is H O N K I N G.

The other whipping boy, Ben Davies, has been pretty good though.

Davies and Barisic ..

Jesus. Don't be so hasty. Harry Kane had 4 different loan spells before becoming England's all time leading scorer and one of the highest scorers in the EPL. If Lowry goes on loan, I would prefer a Championship team or a team abroad. Preferably one that has a lot of posession. Not some lower league team in Scotland.

Looks like his days are numbered tbh

I feel like Raskin and possibly Cantwell have the ability to spot that in an opposition player.... The other new players, no idea yet

Leaving Rousseau's addled line ups aside ... ... one of my first dictionaries of English was published in 1957 (fair city of Leipzig, deep in "commie land"), which is actually a picture dictionary. It has a neat draw of many a sports game and the football page gives you the goalkeeper, the right back and left back (either side of the penalty area), with centre half in the middle. Ahead of him the right and left half, ahead of those the centre forward, flanked by the inside right and inside left, with the outside right / right winger and outside left / left winger on the touch lines. Those were the days, right?! On paper a clear 3-2-5 or perhaps 3-4-3, if you count the outside left and right guys a "midfielders". That's how we should approach most games in Scotland, anyway.

The 12 teams being sent by UEFA are this year's Champions league winners, plus the previous 3 (Man City, Real Madrid and Chelsea) and the 8 teams with the highest coefficient over this year and the previous 3, with a maximum of 1 from each nation. As it stands there are, 7 nations that we're almost certain not to catch. England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and the Netherlands. (There is a vanishingly small possibility that Ajax might win the Champions League, qualify that way, and that we overtake the next best Dutch team, Feyenoord, who have a 5 point lead on us.) As it stands right now (as far as I can figure out, anyway), the race for 8th place is as follows: 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 Total Glasgow Rangers Sco 15 19 4 3 41 FC Salzburg Aut 7 17 9 4 37 Club Brugge Bel 11 7 17 1.5 36.5 Dinamo Zagreb Cro 17 9 7 2.5 35.5 Shakhtar Donetsk Ukr 14 6 11 4 35 Slavia Praha Cze 16 10 6 2.5 34.5 Red Star Belgrade Srb 10 15 4 4 33 FC Basel Sui 2.5 12 17 1.5 33 (The column for this year shows the guaranteed minimum points - e.g. we'll get 3 even if we drop to the Europa League). The biggest threat, imo, is Club Brugge, who have ended up in the Conference League this year, and will probably find it very easy and score big.

Article from the Record in June: Rangers are going to the USA in 2025 if they manage to clinch their place in the revamped edition of the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup. The Premiership side are, as it stands, one of the 12 UEFA teams who would play in the money-spinning event in June and July 2025. Rangers would qualify for one of the dozen European spots on offer because of their coefficient ranking over the last three years, although the upcoming season's results will also be used and they will need to build on lengthy runs like 2022's journey to the Europa League final to ensure participation. Only one club per country can qualify which means that clubs with higher coefficient than Rangers would miss out and open the door for the Ibrox club. The tournament is estimated to be worth as much as a minimum of £25 million per team as it prepares for a dramatic revamp from its 7-team form and FIFA have just announced the venues will be in the USA. Last month, reports claimed the new competition 'will have the biggest club prize pot in the history of the game.'

The problem is if we qualify for the CL and bomb again and we could end up missing out on the riches (and prestige) of the World Club Cup. Financially in the medium term, the Europa may be better if it gives a much higher chance of keeping the co-efficient up to allow us to qualify for the WCC.

Or 3 nil down 😆

Word.