ascender

If we hadn't signed JCD and Cousin then I could see a point to us signing him for when we play one up front. I just don't understand where these stories come from. He's just signed for a new club and we've got more strikers than we've had in ages.

We badly need an attacking, creative midfielder who can drive us on and plays box-to-box.

This was on a couple of the radio stations. There's so much wrong with it though, I'm not sure how anyone thinks its plausible tbh.

I don't understand why we're playing so negatively in the SPL against average sides. Look at our lineup today and the players we left on the bench. I just don't get it.

Its getting tiresome to be honest.

The fact he's now producing great performances for us in the CL and for Scotland are getting him noticed. Its been interesting to see that the English media now mention him and Scott Brown in the same sentence when talking about the most talented Scottish players at the moment. Should he be in any rush to move though? He's still improving and is young enough to stay for a while yet before moving.

I'd say on current form we could get 5-8M for him. Which is pretty amazing and I have to say if we got an offer near the top of that scale and he wanted to leave, we'd probably have to let him go.

Apparently Barca have struggled in La Liga this season unless they get an early goal. There's no doubt they play very nice, passing football, but if that doesn't work, they don't seem to have any other options.

It was up to them to break us down and they couldn't. They have far better, more talented players, so why shouldn't we sit in and try to contain them. If we hadn't, we'd have been humped.

Awful display. Biggest surprise for me was how much we missed the guys who were suspended. We struggled from the kick-off and I thought there was no hope of us getting anything within a few minutes. Weird how you can tell that about matches sometimes.

So, destiny is still in our hands, if we beat Italy at Hampden, we're through...

An article from the ET today.

Clicky

Good to see him talking positively and we obviously all wish him the best.

I'm just a bit worried about some of those quotes from him which make me think he's fighting a losing battle. I really hope I'm wrong, but when a young athlete is out for this long, particularly a footballer, I start to think the worst.

Don't like the colour. I quite like the colour of the red tops the backroom staff wear, but that kit is basically the same colour as the Jambos wear.

McCulloch is suspended so there will at least one change unfortunately. Which is a shame because like you say, confidence seems to be high just now.

But am I right in thinking that if we lose against Georgia and then beat Italy we're also through?

I have to wonder where Buffel or Gow would fit in given Smith's current favoured formations and more importantly personnel.

What's his preferred position though?

I agree, he deseves a chance, but am not sure where WS would fit him in?

Just noticed, Faye was on the bench again yesterday?! How many defensive midfielders does WS think we need? Given our patchy SPL form you'd have thought that Novo would warrant a place on the bench as he can come on in games and turn them around, or at least lift the tempo, with his pace and workrate. Also, why were subs not made until just over 20 minutes to go? Even listening to it on the radio I could tell that we needed to change things much sooner.

And I agree, that we're getting to the point where a few of the younger Scots lads could do with a spell on the bench before they become real targets for abuse from their own fans.

I don't understand why Smith plays Thomson, Hemdani and Fergie in the same XI in the SPL, let alone at home. Never have done and never will. I've been saying for a while now that I don't think Smith knows his best XI and that he's unwilling to drop certain players even if it might mean a more balanced and attacking formation. Unfortunately I still stand by that. We've got a much, much stronger squad with lots of options, but I don't understand why WS won't change things around, particularly in the midfield, to try and sort out our lack of attacking drive and creativity.

I also don't think the changing of tactics and team selection is helping anyone concerned, particularly the younger lads in the team.

Not sure where the Brown stuff is coming from now, I thought DM cleared that up some time ago? Affording the fee was no problem but the wages would have burst the wage structure.

Great post Cammy and its becoming more frustrating year on year that everyone connected with their club are allowed to behave exactly how they like and never seem to get punished for it.

The other thing I've never understood about Parkhead is why its acceptable for large groups of fans to be allowed to leave their seats and come down to the edge of the stands to abuse opposition players or celebrate with their own. I remember it seemed to stem from when Gazza was playing and he took some awful abuse whenever he went over to take a corner etc.

Why do they get away with it? Its never mentioned in the press but if it happened at any other ground there would be calls for it to be sorted asap.

It's hardly a disability being right footed,Beasly played on the right last night,left footed,and McCulloch plays either side :cheers:

Have you seen Broadfoot play this season on the wrong side?

He did OK, but was at a huge disadvantage and never looked comfortable. This isn't meant to be a dig at the guy, particularly as he was playing out of position, but he looked very one footed to me.

He's still a arrogant wee wanker in my books. What he did last year to PLG was a disgrace. That still riles me up!

I agree too I'm afraid. I know it was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as the whole PLG reign was concerned, but I still think it was shameful and embarrassing for us and no way for a captain of Rangers to behave.

He is doing well for us,but i'll tell you what,I liked what I saw in Kirk Broadfoot when he played and he seemed to get down the wing as well ?

I thought he did OK at LB but had no chance of making it his position due to one slight problem.... His total lack of a left foot. Every time he got the ball he was checking inside to get it on his right. Might get away with that in the SPL but not in the CL groups.

I felt we got very lucky with 2 or 3 of McGregor's decisions, but overall had a good game.

I'm old fashioned and like to see keepers catching the ball whenever possible. It always used to be the continental keepers who would favour punching or palming the ball away but its slowly crept in to the British game over the last 10-15 years. As someone who used to play in goal and at CB, it just makes me really nervous and I thought we rode our luck a bit last night. Which you need in Europe to be honest.

I thought Hutton had a great game, especially going forward, but I remember 2 or 3 times where he was caught flat-footed or napping. We weren't punished, but him and McGregor were making me very nervous at 1-0.

I thought Naismith might have got the nod as he's young and could put in a real shift while being fast too.

Beasley blows hot and cold, but I've been impressed with how he doesn't hide away like a lot of wingers. He keeps plugging away and isn't afraid to get stuck in. He's disappointed me a bit with his ability, but has more than made up for it with his attitude. At least he can also cut inside and have a shot which is more than can be said for some of our recent wingers.

Doubt he'll start given his style of game and the nature of the injury he's got.

I think Hemdani is one of our most technically gifted players. But he really doesn't give us much in an attacking/creating sense. In fact, he does tend to slow the game down more than Thomson, which is I think why he does so well in Europe. But as I've said before, as he is clearly talented, could he be asked to do more in an attacking sense for the team, or is that just the way he plays?

I don't think he'd have made much of a difference to the result on Saturday, but being one of our best players, maybe he should be in there on merit ahead of Thomson? For what its worth, I don't think it will solve the problem we had on Saturday.