Tannochsidebear

The one thing I liked about W&W's signing policy last summer was the fact that each of the deals were done without a whiff of media speculation about the players involved. With that in mind, why would anyone believe press speculation about who we are going for this time? I understand these things are worth talking about on a messageboard, thats what they are for, but I hope Bears are treating media speculation about potential targets with the utter disdain that they deserve. I recall a thread elsewhere a few years ago that listed all the players we were linked with between windows in the press, well over 100 players, and we signed one player that hadnt been mentioned. That sums up our pathetic gutter sports press in this country quite well IMO, and is another reason our Scottish press should be avoided at all costs, if the blatant bias and bigotry towards our club is not enough.

We will need more than that, given that three of our regular starters are leaving next summer. We must add a touch (or two) of genuine quality to break down these stubborn defences that are only going to be better organised and harder to breach as we go up in quality of opponent. Our defending (from front to back) has to improve many times over or the St Johnstone scenario of being picked off will be commonplace as our opponents get better at taking their few chances. I just hope they realise how far away we are from being a good side and are planning appropriately. It would be easy to think we only need to tweak a little given our results to date, but the progress needs to be stepped up. Talk of bringing in only 1 or 2 in January to protect "harmony" is all good and well, but that means it will have to be 7 or 8 new faces in the summer and then hit the ground running right away in the top tier with virtually a brand new team again. I think the better way to do it will be to bring in 3/4 players each window to replace the ones that are not up to it or are returning after loan spells. Taking sound bites from the manager and board, I just have some concerns (not losing sleep or anything!) that we are going to go into next season undercooked.

Im far from panicking Bruno, believe me I am quite enjoying the football this season. I am however not getting carried away with what I am seeing as when I look at each player in our team I dont see anybody I would call a good player capable of winning titles and representing us in European competition. They are good enough for where we are now, end of. To that end I am star-gazing a little and seeing what a huge amount of work has still to be done to build our squad up over the next two windows to a competitive squad for go for 55. Our task is being helped by our main rivals continued down-sizing, but I would expect them to strengthen in summer 16. Their model has been to buy 2-4 young-ish European players at around £1-£2M and hope that one of them developes into a sellable asset for £10M. Van Dijk, Wanyama etc. This balances their books for them. That is something I would hope our management are keen to replicate. What I mean by our off-field squad, is basically the guys who will be buying our players. The Chairman, board, Robertson, McParland, Warburton & Dickson. All these guys have to working together and be good enough at their jobs for us to grow and get things right going forward. I have not seen anything to the contrary but the big tests remain in the future.

We really have to start imporivng the quality of our first team. I am concerned that we are bringing in mediocre English Championship talent and thinking this will be good enough for a go at the title next season. It wont be. This is not a go at the players we have which by and large have done the job very well so far, but there is a real lack of special quality in all areas of the pitch. Good scouts are worth their weight in gold if they can find players within our budget that will be standouts in a year or two that we can sell on. Dare i say it, the model another club has used with some success (also a lot of failures). There are only two windows before we start our campaign to win 55 against one of the worst celtic sides in the last 30 years or so that I have seen. And we have to improve to match them. Think about that and where we actually are now. Not where we have been. A lot of work has to be done in these two windows. I hope our off-field squad are good enough.

All about opinions Bruno. I don't think he is all that good, and I don't think he could lead us to next seasons title. I only mention pens to highlight his goals return from open play is not overly impressive given the amount of chances we create. He doesn't sniff out chances like a top striker does, he is all about the work-rate (which is excellent). It comes back to my point in the other thread that I don't think any of our players are quite good enough individually, although it is still very early in their Rangers careers so I hope some can develop into top class players with us.

Im not overly impressed so far. He misses far too many chances for my liking and while he works hard, his movement OFF the ball is still not at a level where it should be. When pushed wide he used to be aggressive, running straight at and past defenders, whereas in recent weeks he is looking for a pass inside most times and therefore losing his effectiveness out there too. As for English teams looking at him, he was widely available last summer and nobody bothered their arse about him, I dont see that a few goals in Scotland's second tier will suddenly have those teams thinking he is a world-beater. If he can continue his progress and score a lot of goals while working hard and get 25 goals next season then we can review his contribution. As for POTY it is of course far too early, but the point of forums is to discuss these things at any time, and Tav must have an equally great shout of that given his goals from full back. Take Waggy's pens off the total and how many does he have compared to Tav? While these two started the campaign very well and have perhaps not been as good in recent weeks, the likes of Holt, Kiernan and Wes have been improving over the course of the season, so by the time the gongs get handed out it would be no surprise to me if one of these three pick up POTY ahead of Waggy or Tav.

Having never seen him play or heard of him before we signed him, I have no idea if he has a better position than where he is currently playing for us. I will say that he looks better the further up the park he gets the ball, and he certainly doesnt look like a natural "sitter" in the holding role, so perhaps he feels that he could do better than Holt/Shiels or Zelalem/Law can do in the more advanced midfield positions. However our lack of depth coupled with Warburton waiting since July for Eustace to get fit and Halliday has had to play there due to a lack of obvious options. If you sign a four year deal and have to play four/five months in a unfavoured position, it is no big deal, especially as a Bear who is delighted to be living the dream. I like the way he is frustrated that even though he has been playing well, he believes he can play better if in another position. Plenty other players would settle just to be a regular pick.

Can you expand for those of us who will never watch Sportscene ever again please?

While the football has in the main been a huge improvement on recent years and W&W deserve a lot of credit for their initial rebuilding of a broken squad, it is becoming clear to me the more I see them that there is no real quality in our current squad. A look at the team that won the title back in 2009 after a 4 year wait would see this typical line-up; McGregor Whittaker bougherra weir papac mendes Ferguson Davis Thomson Boyd novo. Other squad players included hemdani, edu, Adam, Naismith, lafferty, Miller, Beasley, dailly, jig. Perhaps the full backs might get in, but we have still to see Tav's defensive attributes tested properly. I genuinely don't think any of our current side would get into Walter's championship winning side. While I am comfortable with stage one of our 4 window rebuilding job, I feel just about this entire side will need replaced if we are to get towards a side capable of matching our own 3IAR side, which of course was nowhere near as good as our title winners from 99 & 00. The only saving grace we have is that our only rivals on paper for the top tier title have been downsizing at an alarming rate since our demotion, and therefore the bar has been lowered to such a degree that we would perhaps have a chance of the title next season if we strengthen 4/5 positions and they keep their useless manager and continue their downsizing next summer, neither of which I expect them to do but I can live in hope for now! I would be interested in the views of my fellow Gersnetters as to how they rate this current squad and where we are at, not at Championship level, but for next year, and if you think any of our current team would get into the fairly average side from 2008-09.

I dont disagree with much of that Ian, but there is a time and a place to come out with stuff like that, and it is badly mistimed after we got beaten by Hibs, who have answered all questions asked of them since the Allan saga was finalised. I take issue with Miller because he has been a complete wage thief since his return - done absolutely nothing last year (like most of them) and has been abysmal this year, so we dont need to be giving Hibs further notice board ammunition from one of our worst players. Miller should concentrate on getting his own game in order and not the media whore he so loves to be.

Timing, content, and the person delivering it are all a joke. The sooner we get rid of deadwood like Miller the sooner we can move forward. The time to throw down a title challenge is not the day after they beat you, especially on the run Hibs are on just now which is deserving of a title contender tag. Credit where it is due, and that is to Hibs and not to Miller.

It looked more like a 3-4-3 to me from my seat, with both Wallace & Tav totally unsure of how far up (or back) they were supposed to be. Neither are midfielders and both lack the quality and experience to play in those roles. The front 3 for me were far too narrow, with McKay and Waghorn far too often not providing any width for Wallace & Tav to link up with. To me it looked like the tactic was dreamed up in the dressing room 10 minutes before kick off and looked unplanned and pretty much a shambles. This gave Hibs the first half to play with as we had too many players not knowing where they were supposed to be. It is no coincidence that Tav put in his worst shift since his arrival when he was moved into an unfamiliar role, with no assistance or link up man in front of him until we changed it in the second half. The manager has to take the blame for this error, although had we got either of the two stonewall penalties (from where I was sitting, not seen them back on tv), we would clearly have won the game. Fine margins and all that. If Wilson kicks another ball in defence when Ball & Kiernan are available I will be amazed. I thought that was the one huge mistake in bringing him back into the side, when for weeks prior to his injury he was the worst performer, and clearly has confidence (and perhaps ability?) issues. Nothing went right for him in the first half and I was commenting that it reminded me of Ricksens OF debut and I would have repeated the decision of that day and hooked him after 20 minutes and got us back to our "normal" formation. We may well have had more time to win the game had we done so. I will be very interested to see how this team reacts over the next few weeks, although we only have one game then a two week break (another ridiculous decision) until the games start to be twice weekly again. We cannot allow the lead to be cut before hosting Hibs on 28th December.

Stalking club officials is not something I do BH. Gersnet is the place to discuss such matters.

No fine??? How can he possibly not be financially punished for such an outrageous tirade?

Good luck to the kid, although at 20 he is really no longer a kid. Make or break season for him you would think.

Seems strange. I hope he can get a flight up in time for Easter Road tomorrow.

The best (and only) excuse I can think of for calling this off is due to the style of play with a high energy, high tempo, high pressing game with a small squad, that to get a full two weeks between matches serves as a sort of mini-break for the players to recharge the batteries. I must admit I didnt see much difference in the first game after the last break, and having to play a midweek game in between two weekend games gives you the exact opposite problem to deal with which can be detrimental. I criticised the decisions Ally made over the last 3 years in similar situations, and I again criticise the management for taking the easy option of cancelling games. The supporters are not taken seriously into consideration when making these decisions, and we should be. Bigger attendances at a weekend game, better service for ST holders to play a game on a Saturday at 3pm, midweek winter matches are usually terrible affairs to watch. All of these situations should be given far greater weight than they currently do. If Warburton believes that not having Hardie, Aird or Oduwa on his bench is going to make a potentially match-winning difference to his preparation then I really question his thinking.

Got a BBC text alert that our game against Dumbarton next month has, as expected, been postponed due to international call-ups.

While I agree that Gazza was a wonderful footballer who we were lucky to get his best years out of him, I lost all respect for Gazza the man when he admitted to wife-beating. I will have nothing to do with him and will not support anything he does, like this event, as a result. Recent charges of harassment against an ex shows he has not learned. I do have sympathy for his alcoholism and other personal demons he is clearly losing the fight against, but it ends there.

Very detailed and interesting analysis Rousseau, thanks. However we can analyse all we want about what went wrong, how the opponent frustrated us, etc, but if we had only played with 11 men instead of 10 plus Miller, we would have had the game in the bag inside 40 minutes and been able to turn on the style in the second half. If Warburton continues to play the absolutely garbage Miller from the start in games, we will continue to struggle. It's that simple. He has no pace left, he cannot trap a ball, he cannot see or find a pass often enough or with enough precision and he cannot shoot with sufficient accuracy even when in great goal-scoring positions (should have had 3 on Sunday before half time). I can see some credence to bringing him on in a wide striker role for the last 20 minutes when the opponent is already tired and beaten (would still prefer someone else but he has added some late goals this season) but he is not going to contribute to the tiring and beating of the opponent anywhere near often enough to merit a starting spot.

Maybe I am more simple in terms of tactical awareness, but in my book we have struggled to match the tempo of the opening weeks for two simple reasons. 1. Our passing is slower, the movement from the midfielders and forwards is not as quick and as often as before and is therefore easier to defend against. 2. We are no longer attacking in packs when we lose possession in the final third and therefore we are not winning the ball back as often in dangerous areas. We scored a lot of goals in the first few weeks by winning the ball back well upfield. While being thoroughly entertained in the early weeks by the above two points in particular, it was also a worry that we would not be able to maintain that level of intensity over the course of a season, especially with a small squad. For the same reasons as our opponents visibly tired late in games by our above tactics, it seems as though our front 6 no longer have the same energy as in the early weeks. We still look a lot fitter than our opponents, rightly so given the resources, but the intensity has most certainly dropped. I would respectfully suggest that it is nothing to do with the opponents working us out or how to play us, or systems learned from the almighty Pep, and more to do with our own intensity, pace of movement, and accuracy of passing in the final third. We do not play against Real Madrid and Dortmund every week, but Livingston & Morton, and we do not need the tactical genius of Kasparov to break them down, just good players playing well and a system that works.

Wont argue with much of that Frankie, aside from I dont really see Wes as being that great with his feet, and his distribution I think needs some work as when he takes a cross and looks to break quickly, he always seems to miss the one Rangers player in space! There is no point leaving two/three players up when defending set pieces if the keeper cant hit any of them with an early ball. Neither of the two main keepers on our books seem capable of pulling off match-winning saves that they had no right to get to, and that is the difference at the top level and worth a good few points over a tight season, and perhaps even get you through an extra round in Europe/cups and IMO neither will be good enough once we are established back at the top but may suffice for this and next season.

I think Bell is a good keeper, that like so many last season, we did not see the best of. I am still not overly impressed with Wes, and he would struggle to make my top 10 Rangers keepers in the last 25 year, and while sufficient for where we are now, does not look like a keeper to win us matches/titles.

The chunt has no problem writing what Lawwell tells him to write, hence ridiculous articles in the past bumming up poor septic players valuations.

Should be playing in front of Kenny Misser in my book. Every minute of game time we waste by giving it to Miller we are stopping this lad with real potential from progressing. I am very surprised a manager with such a forward thinking and progressive outlook is persevering with the abysmal Miller with someone like Hardie waiting for a chance.