Leaderboard

What will be our centre back pairing? I assume it is too early for Goldson? Will Soutar be risked on Rugby Park's drastic plastic? Balogun was down twice against the Greeks and, received treatment. Could it be Lundstram and Balogun? I am beginning to worry our defence might resemble a sieve at the start of this coming season.

This worries me. I think most fans would have a similar opinion but I hate going into any games with the notion that one team would be an easier opponent than the other.

Oh... They've corrected it, adding the point. I enjoyed being flush for 2 minutes, there.

Could we go with a 3 on Saturday for extra protection? Balogun, Souttar and maybe Lundstram stepping in. Might also help the FB's.

I sit in Bar'72, can I be allowed to sing descant? I love to harmonise.

Given 3 of our centre backs are Soutter, Balogun and Ben Davies. The evidence points to them being unavailable for many games a season through injury, Dujon Sterling might just have to pull on his shirt and get on with it at CB for a few games this season even if he doesn't regard himself as a natural centre back..

I have seen that at the store but never tried it. Aussie and Cali wines give me a splitter. Good stuff? I prefer frog sauce...them Frenchmen make some damn good wine.

This sounds familiar.

I agree he did a lot of tracking back, and it is possibly no coincidence that in all three pre-season games the right-back gave us the most problems. It is of course an attacker's role to score and assist, and that is where he fell short. How often did you see him breaking a gut to get in at the back post to score? Not often in my view.

The east end financial wizards would have gone into meltdown when they saw the 12m mentioned 😀

This takeover of Manchester United is now in the ninth month if I were the sheikh I would withdraw and just buy Everton who sooner rather than later will have a nice new stadium just leaving him more money to buy players . Mon the toffees.

I like to view these types of matches* like Scotland national team matches and see it as a bit of a win/win scenario. Hibs win - good for the coefficient and for Scottish football overall. Hibs lose - makes lots of Rangers hating twats miserable, which is very enjoyable. *Celtc are excluded, for obvious reasons

Leave that to the other lot.

I wouldnt be surprised if he didn't, assuming he's had perhaps only a week or two in full training. But also, he seems to be one of those guys who are naturally fit and can get themselves match ready really quickly.

I will be very surprised if Goldson doesn't start the game on Saturday

Wouldn't we have to reach the quarters or semi's of the UEL to match the prize money of getting to the UCL though? Surely the ideal would be qualify for UCL as third seeds, get third in the group and drop into the UEL? It's not easy but it's what we should aspire to do imo especially as it's the last season you can do it. With the UCL expanding from next season and it looking fairer to get to the last 16 (imo) we need to get as much experience as we can get, instead of making our bed in the second rate European competition. We were all aboard Rangers getting better and healing but as soon as we got a few spankings in our first season back in the champions league after going bust and being demoted to the lower leagues fans turned around and made love to the UEL. I just can't get on board with that. Tough it out. Fully agree on winning the league of course and keeping them down.

Sir, you are correct. A gentleman retires and relaxes of a Saturday evening with a glass of Burgundy Pinot Noir: of course, a small bowl of Camargue picholine olives is the perfect accompaniment.

Truth be told, while we could beat the odd standard team in the CL, there is every chance that we get a similar group like last season and get pumped. While the group stage money is essentially a budget gold mine for the next 3 years, as soon as we get humped, people will cry for blood. The EL will see us paired against more equal teams in the long run. Essentially, it is all a bonus and a win-win situation for us. First and foremost, though, in the here and now, I want us to put the Scum down in the place where they belong.

Well, Killie will come out steaming on their home turf, so we might do well to cover our defense at the start for that. I thought playing Lundstram in that CB role against the Germans was quite hazardous, but it worked and with him have someone there who can play a pass out of defence. These are games where a back-3 might be the order of the day, I'd prefer Sterling - Souttar - Balogun right now. One "cleaner" ahead of them, Jack, while the wingers get the order of tracking back as well, even though Cantwell does that anyway, Sakala and Matondo too. I'd go for Ridvan on the left flank still, as he is more a wingback than a fullback. IMHO, we have the people now to press and bury teams from the off, given the 5-subs rule, we can adopt "standard" line-ups later on. Butland Sterling - Souttar - Balogun Cantwell - Raskin - Jack - Ridvan Danilo - Lammers - Sakala What we will get will most likely look more like the standard fare: Butland Tavernier - Souttar - Balogun/Davies - Ridvan/Barisic Jack - Raskin Sima - Lammers - Cantwell Dessers/Danilo

I'm a new world wine guy tbh. 19 Crimes is beautiful. Very easy to drink. Dangerously too easy to be honest 🤣🤣🤣

Genk's captain was quoted saying that "they already look past Rangers" even before playing Servette. Karma and all that. These Swiss teams remain dark horses though. You never really know how they will perform on the day.

Perfect Saturday evening wishlist... 1. Rangers win. 2. New players contribute/score. 3. We keep a clean sheet. 4. No-one gets injured. 5. Bottle of 19 Crimes Cab Sauv. I've already got one sorted, now it's up to you Ranger's...

First Rangers Goalscorer. You just need to post your score and FGS.

Kilmarnock 0 Rangers 3 FGS - Lammers (to be changed in due course to whatever @buster. predicts)

I’d rather be playing Servette than Genk

Kilmarnock 1 - 2 Rangers FGS Souttar

Genk were the better side over the two games but blew it because their defence is poor. The Genk striker Tolu would have been a handful for our defence, as he is a man mountain and dangerous at set pieces. He even scored in his own goal.😁Against Genk it would have been a slogging game, whereas this will be a more patience and build-up game.

Saw a Faroe Islands side guaranteed European football tonight, great story.

Thanks to Weebluedevil for the constant updates, the frequency of the posting reflected the excitement of the game. Similar to my fellow Gersnetter, I watched the entire match and just like the first leg both teams were at it, hammer and tongs. The Genk skipper, And Heynen proved to be a poor sooth sayer earlier in the week when he was quoted as saying, "we are already looking beyond the Rangers tie, to the Champions League group stages". Certainly, he did not foresee being stretchered off in the fifth minute of tonight's game. Although the consequence of a red card for the Swiss player added weight to his prediction of Genk progression. The Belgians were in the ascendency and the Referee appeared to have a pocketful of Servette marked cards. One red card and seven yellow cards later, the side from the land of cuckoo clocks endured in excess of two hours of football to triumph 1-4 on penalties. They survived on barely 30% of possession with ten men making desperate tackles, blocks and, challenges. On one hand they deserved it, on the other they nicked the way their country's Bankers nicked Nazi gold and Jewish family heirlooms in the wake of World War Two. Two equalisers: one from a deflected free kick and, the other from a delightfully struck through ball. Being reduced did not change them, they are a counter attacking side. Servette proved their fitness and possess excellent mental fortitude. They exhibited a patience too and, we have to match all these attributes if we are to progress. A decent lead established at Ibrox will force them out of their shell in the land of triangular bees buzzing around triangular trees. Get it right at the Stadium and Geneva should be a Swiss roll over.

I didn't see the first leg, but on tonight's showing, I think we would beat them without getting out of 2nd gear. Okay, they played the game with 10 men so probably not fair to judge, but i didn't see much quality on show from either team in my honest opinion.

Thanks for penalty updates @weebluedevil Better service than PQ! 😁👏

Totally agree. Even if it wasn't a Saudi club, I think we're giving him away for 3m. Very poor decision if true.

I don't think many were expecting him to start in our preferred XI but the season is long and we will need a good squad. He could also turn out to be a good sub option as our bench last season was generally very weak. He's pacey and that could factor into games after the 65/70 minute threshold.

But the Matisse actually sells. Is this not based speculation and "market values".

Low end IQ's!

😆 After the last campaign were I think we set the record as the worst ever in qualifying it's a no from me

The name's a bit of a giveaway the champions league it should only be for teams that are champions