Tannochsidebear

I wish it was as easy to predict the lotto numbers! Madden refused to book three blatant Hibs dives, gave Henderson a yellow for a straight red lunge at Wallace, refused to book Cummings for the worst piece of kicking the ball away I have ever seen go unpunished, refused to book Fyvie for his kick at Halliday in the lead-up to Halliday's red. Of course he got the red card wrong as well. So I think he should have issued 4 more yellow and one red than he did. That is all i can recall off the top of my head, I know there was more I was angry about during the game. While not the worst refereeing performance I have ever seen, I knew it was going to be bad and controversial, he is that type of referee, as is Collum. They want to be the stars, the talking points, instead of anonymous as they should be.

For me the biggest difference was that our opponent believed they could win and were a match for us. They didnt defend as deeply or as vigorously as our other opponents, and as they pushed forward we managed to score two of our four goals on a break, something we could never do against Dumbarton next week as they wont be upfield to allow us to break on them. The other was we actually tried, successfully, to win the ball back in the opponents half of the field instead of in recent weeks we have not been closing down in numbers upfield. We did play with a bit more zip and a lot more desire, and a lot of that came from Law who had a smashing game for the hour he played. I'm delighted Warburton chose Law instead of Zelalem who cannot play at that pace or intensity, and I hope Law can now reproduce this type of performance more often as this was the player we signed, not the one who played alongside Ian Black last season and contributed nothing. The clock is ticking down to the window opening, and I am sure I am not alone in wanting to see a lot of movement in our squad to allow us to push on now we have a lead again. Our next few games give us the chance to build some momentum again - Dumbarton (A), Cowdenbeath (H - cup), Livvy (H), Morton (A), Falkirk (H) and Raith (A) between 2nd Jan - 2nd Feb. All must be won and hopefully with a bit of swagger and style, with new faces adding to the quality and creativity and failures (also including face dont fits) like Miller, Wilson, Clark, Temps, Bell, moving on. I know this wont happen, especially with the first 2, but I said when I seen the line-up yesterday that we were playing with 2 players that were worth 2 goals to Hibs, Miller up front would miss at least 1 great opportunity (he missed 2) and Wilson would give up at least one great chance (he was absolutely honking and his distribution was even worse than normal - out of his first 4 passes, 3 started Hibs attacks), so Warburton has to be hard on these guys and stop playing them if he wants to send the fans home happy. I understand there are not a lot of options, but he can not have that excuse on 1 Feb so the hard work starts now.

Why are we having a presser today when our next game is not until Saturday? I will say it again, we give these chunts far too much availability and free copy and what do we get in return - lambasted at every opportunity. Scrap the pressers!!

Nobody is saying he has to be more physical or saying he wont make it as he is too slight. He is correctly getting some criticism as he does not hurt the opponent at all. BH sums it up perfectly above. He plays a square ball beautifully, but when he (rarely) tries to play a forward creative pass, it invariably goes wrong either by being cut out, over/under hit, or misplaced. This is the part of his game that is holding him back, not his physicality. I know you didnt mean to directly compare him to Silva, a special player, but Zelalem is a million miles away from having that talent. I want our coaching staff to be working hard on him in training, getting him to lift his head to the options around him instead of just taking the simple square ball all the time. He has missed out on dozens of good shooting opportunities in games with us due to his lazy style of keep-ball. He has been boring to watch and easy to play against, and our team performances and results have suffered as a result. And none of that is to do with his size.

Post #143 in the match thread. Such a bad decision, had it happened to a certain other club, it would have taken over the papers/phone-ins for days calling the ref all sorts and ensuring he never got another of their games for weeks, and that team never got another dodgy decision against them for weeks.

Everyone should do themselves a favour and avoid this trash. Shove some music on instead, watch a movie, or an old Rangers DVD from when we were a good team and had great players. If it gets no viewing figures, it gets binned. If you watch it and subsequently moan about it later (a given I would say) it will be on again next year, and we repeat the process.

It was not "just" outside the box as you put it, it was 2-3 YARDS outside the box and it was an outrageously bad decision from a referee with plenty of previous errors to his name. I see he got slated again yesterday for his performance at Pittodrie. His awarding of a penalty to us in the last minute was also a bad decision. He is a really bad referee and I cannot believe he will be taking part in the Euros, representing our country there. I see we have Bobby Madden tomorrow for Hibs visit, that worries me also.

Would have been quite happy for the boy to go back to Arsenal. He has a chance to be a good player, but he needs to develop a killer ball and not take the easy option without looking at what else is available. Neat and tidy is a good grounding, but it won't be enough to become a top player. Now that he is staying, I really want to see him push on and be coached properly in the areas that need work, and see some progress in the pace he works at, and his awareness of options, including shooting opportunities that he never seems to consider. He could be a valuable member of our promotion push if he progresses.

I have said for ages that I would stop giving pressers for papers. Release all info through official club channels (website, Facebook Twitter, Rangers tv) and give the papers nothing. They have shown consistently that they abuse the access they are given, misrepresent what was said far too often, and generally are far more negative than positive. Not just our club but all clubs I would add. Do a televised interview so nothing can be misrepresented. Why should we give papers all this access and content for free? We are long long past the stage where the papers were a valuable source to promote upcoming games/events. We most certainly do not need them to survive. Can the opposite be said?

Do "journalists" actually get employed and paid to write articles like that? No wonder I gave up buying newspapers in the last millennium , what a complete non-story written entirely to stoke up some controversy. The sooner everyone stops buying or online reading these horrible outlets and they can be killed off for good will be much better for everyone, apart from those working there of course, but with talent like that, these guys should be able to find jobs in sports direct no problem.

My football viewing only consists of Rangers, some EPL & a little la liga so I have not a clue who would be available within our miserly budget, or who could be attracted to play for us in our current state. Thankfully, I don't need to make the choices of who comes in, all I know as a paying punter/shareholder that they better be good players in required positions and have the necessary mental toughness to play for us. That's why we have professionals at the club in senior positions who will be praised or criticised accordingly. Interested in reading the names put forward, but, just like in the summer with Wes, Tav, Kiernan, Waggy, Holt, Halliday, I probably will not know much about them and instead make presumptions based on their careers to date. The level has to rise from the summer purchases, and I expect it to.

I know, but I would bring him back now. I don't think it will happen, but I would.

No problem joining in Max, it's just a bit of fun. That is quite a thorough prediction, us mere mortals struggle with score and first scorer! I would happily take your prediction all day long though!

Warburton better not try the 3 centre backs farce again, like at Easter Rd. He has to just play Kiernan & Ball as Wilson has been terrible since his return to the club without an experienced partner to keep him right and a proper defensive midfielder to protect him. I hope he brings back Gasporatto next week from his loan spell as I read good things about him and think he is ready to come in. Got to be better than continuing to give game time to develop a loanee for Spurs benefit, and bring in an experienced organiser centre half to play alongside him. In midfield we need to match up with 4 in here if we are to get anywhere. Holt & Halliday seem to be nailed on, so it should be a pick between Shiels, Law, McKay, Oduwa & Zelalem for the other two spots. I have been impressed with the little I have seen of Thompson, but he is clearly not going to come into the side on Monday. Up front we need to play a twin strike force, and Waghorn will play so it is between Miller Clark & Hardie for the other starter. Not a great choice and I expect to be disappointed when I read Millers name in the line up. Waghorn has been isolated far too often up front on his own, and when he has drifted in search of the ball or space it has left nobody in a scoring position, so a second central striker should work better. If Warburton sticks to his 4-3-3 and we play anything like we have done for the last 2 months, I fear we will not win. If he accepts his formation and tactics are not working with this current squad, we have a chance. The line up will tell us the managers thinking, and whatever formation and players get the nod on Monday, we better see them outfight Hibs all over the park as an absolute minimum and move the ball much much quicker than we have been doing. Those two things alone should be enough to win.

Wasn't meaning to give you undue hassle Zappa. I'm sure I speak for all Gersnetters in saying that we understand you have much more important issues going on in your life, and that these need to take priority. We would also wish your mum the speediest of recoveries and a peaceful Christmas. Now get it feckin done!!!

What again!! Or have we actually done it this time? I will believe it when we have confirmation that our trade marks etc have been returned.

Any chance we can keep this thread to what the title says and keep all other discussions to other threads. Seen there was over 20 added comments and thought we must have signed someone only to spend 20 minutes reading interesting but nonetheless irrelevant content. Apologies to admin if I am out of order in this request

Any idea what the standings look like? I know i have been having a nightmare recently but it is a bit of fun to see just how badly I am doing!

I'm glad he has stopped talking about 1 or 2 and squad harmony being the priority. I'm delighted he has realised a creative midfielder is a must and I hope this will be the main purchase. We are not going to get a Gazza or Laudrup quality, but we must be able to recruit someone with the necessary quality to open up sardine tight defences. I'm also hoping the physicality he is talking about is a new proper centre half, physically dominating opponents and organising the others around him. At worst a defensive midfielder with the same qualities.

You see, that is the whole problem I have. Warburton is imposing a philosophy and has brought in several new players to play this way. Unfortunately the players are nowhere near good enough to play this system, very few teams worldwide are, and that is my problem with it. After an initial few weeks when it was new and everyone was fresh and energetic and we really did hit the ground running, reality has set in for a couple of months now, and the cold hard facts are that we cannot combine this system of play, with these players, and achieve winning football. Therefore it has failed and something needs to change. Given we are not going to bring in 6-8 quality players in Jan, we need to change the system to one that wins football matches. Warburton is not going to be given 3-4 years to build this slowly, not at Rangers. We have by far the biggest budget in our division, we have the best players and the best manager, so it must be the tactics/ formation that is wrong. By all means go back to 4-3-3 in this style next year when we are up a level and have given W&W another 2 windows to get the players to play his system, but until then he has to find a new system to win 2nd tier football matches against really poor opponents, Hibs apart. Not one Falkirk player would get in our starting 11, so why were we beaten so comfortably and unsurprisingly? Tactics. Simples.

Bears should re-read the sentence above over and over and over until it sinks in. Then discuss.

It is your defence of a tactical system that is so obviously flawed that grates, Rousseau. If our team defended the ball as well as you defend this system, we would still have our 100% record intact, not 2 wins from our last 6 league games. Our philosophy is not better than our recent opponents, because our tactics are easy to quash, while we continue to allow our opponents tactics to bear fruit. That proves the opposite is true. I have some major gripes about our side and management. While I initially enjoyed the fast paced passing and triangular movement, cutting defences open, getting in behind, counter-attacking at pace, those tactics have not been seen at a Rangers match since well before the clocks changed. Instead we have tippy-tappy, one-dimensional, slow paced, trying to thread passes through non-existent spaces, refusal to shoot, boring football. And all the while the early defensive bomb scares have not been corrected. I said after the first couple of games that you have to give a new defence time to gel, but the more time they get the worse they look. After initial bursts of form that made us all lick our lips, Tav, Waggy, Oduwa, Zalalem all look miles out of their depth at our very demanding, high-pressure club. Stories linking us to similar level players has me very worried indeed. If Warbs insists he only needs one or two additions in January, then he will be seriously questioned as it is clear we need a lot of changes to this side now that our opponents have worked us out, and are getting success. Warbs either needs to change his formation, tactics and philosophy, or he needs to bring in 8 players to play how he wants to. He must learn that substitutes are for changing the game, not for squad rotation, and that this is no ordinary club that will accept mediocrity.

Ive rarely read such utter drivel on this site. Your continued blinkered defence of a system that DOESNT WORK is becoming ridiculous Rousseau, with due respect to your entitled opinion. Highly superior technical what? Playing square passes. Ignoring runners, on the rare occasion there may actually be a runner to find. Substitutions that are set in stop for the 60 minute mark no matter the score or state of play. This manager has only a plan A, which might work with quality players, but not with bargain basement lower league journeymen. That we have been amateurish in defence since July and not done a damn thing about it is either arrogance or lack of coaching skills. By all means you can argue we had more possession, more attempts etc but never in a million years can you get away with saying we would have won if our opponent didn't work as hard as they did, and bemoan it as a problem in our game. Yes, let's all slow the game down to a snails pace and make 500 ineffective passes per game, look how pretty it looks on a tactics board. Utter drivel man.

Easily the most impressive interview with Paul Murray I have ever read. I'm not a fan of his, but I think he is spot on the money with this.

I would say he is one of the worst culprits, but that would be trying to say his performance level was ever higher in this third spell at the club. Please stop your empty promises Kenny, we heard them all last season too and you didn't improve one jot. A couple of goals off the bench when Hibs were chasing the game back during the Glasgow Fair still remains your best performance of the season, so enough of your bull and just leave.