Tannochsidebear

I dont mind taking these guys (Jack, Wright etc) on a pre-contract or free transfer from these other Scottish clubs, but HIbs were front and centre in wanting our club dead, their fans were and remain utter scum and as such we should NEVER be giving them a chunky transfer fee for any of their players.

A hard one with no real standout. No idea where the official MOTM in Helander came from? While he didn’t put a foot wrong, he didn’t really stand out for me. I will go for Kent just for the goal which was a stunner.

Hibs are easily the best Scottish team we have played this season, and for those saying we will need to be better next week to win, I’m not so sure. I really want us to play better, but I think a similar standard would be enough to beat the bheasts, who let’s not forget, are utter dross. The big nosed and mouthed Kennedy’s remarks will be pinned up for next week and we will have a point to prove. But back to today, I’m delighted to get the win, 2 great goals, mostly in control and in the two periods where we upped the tempo, we scored. Hibs are very dangerous on the counter, have quality and pace up front, and always looked like they had a goal in them. 2 home wins away from a perfect home season, 4 league games away from an unbeaten season, and the title won a month ago. That’ll do for me!

Strong line up announced, no place for Wright as first choices Kent Roofe Morelos are back in the front line. Although this is technically a dead rubber, we have to use today to get into top form for the (in real terms) cup final next week so I’m glad to see our first choice 11 (Tav apart) starting today. Tough game ahead today for sure, with our 100% home record and of course our unbeaten league record both on the line. We showed a good attitude last week albeit against poor opponents so hope for more of the same today.

Rangers 3 Hibs 1 fgs Morelos

Fair enough, I don’t see it myself but if the boy can get any resemblances to the best Rangers player I’ve ever seen he will do very well. We can but hope!

I have gone for Wright as well. While I’m not going over the top with him yet (comparisons to Laudrup, really?), it was an impressive performance albeit against poor opponents. Sets us up for the bheasts in the next round, which is an absolute must win for us. The narrative from the mhedia is that the bheasts have outplayed us in the last 2 games and are just as good as us but just had a bad run, so time to put the record straight and destroy them twice in the coming weeks.

Strong side, very strong bench. Let’s get this done early and give more game time to those needing it. I thought Simpson might have started alongside Goldson to give him a game, and perhaps Itten instead of Roofe alongside Defoe but we may get so see them in the second half.

Rangers 5 Cove 0 fgs Defoe

By the tone of JT’s words, it seems he thinks this was a box-ticking exercise from the football authorities in Scotland with no intention of any action. Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but he certainly wasn’t complimentary of the meeting. On Slavia, I hope we come out and say we will only back off when the racist scumbag has been suitably punished, and that the rancid club can do one until then.

Increase to 14 teams, play each other twice for 26 games. Top 6 break off to play home and away to make 36, bottom 8 have their own home and away which has a trophy for the winners and also decides relegation, (at least 2 down) plus they get an extra couple of home games to make up for lack of OF visits. Post-split fixtures are pre-determined with position 1 playing position 6 in week 1 etc, so no possibility of outside influence as happens every year just now. It would be a tougher league when your last 10 games are all tough games, but at the very least it will be fair, with the same home and away fixtures for every side.

A further point to back this up - we scored from a set piece, which means most of our players were in or around their box when we scored. Normally an OF goal at the piggery would see all outfield players rush to celebrate with the scorer, but on Sunday Morelos was only congratulated by 4 players, with a 5th (Borna) jogging over as they were heading back to halfway, and the celebrations were similar to if we had scored an equaliser against Hamilton. Compare to our previous OF goals to see the difference.

It was more of a priority to have us going to the bheasts, sheep, Hibs & Livy all away in the first quarter so they could try to get the bheasts an early lead in the title race. Next season , if we are to believe these things are based on previous years seedings, we should be playing 2 of these 4 sides at home and 2 away in the first quarter. I imagine we will also be away to Hearts early in the season, but of course that will be purely a random computer generated outcome.?

Perhaps i need to see that period again, I was on the Peroni! I just recalled I wasn’t surprised we equalised when we did. They had some joy down our RB area getting in behind Balogun in the first half but strangely I never felt the game was getting away from us. Perhaps that just comes from knowing the gulf between the 2 sides.

I thought we strolled the game in first gear and only upped it to second gear when we were behind. Gone was our usual press and high energy, gone was our attacking full backs, gone was our long diagonal balls in behind a square and wooden defence, we went there for a point and were happy to play out the second half in cruise control. Not something I ever want to see from a Rangers side, especially at the mhidden, but completely understandable. I said at FT that they would jump on a “we were the better side again” and it proves there isn’t a gap between the 2. Perfect, I hope they truly believe that and recruit accordingly.

A third trip to the worst pitch in football beckons. Worth noting we are 20 points clear despite having played the next 4 best teams in the league twice away and only once at home, with the opposite of course true for the deposed 8.5 times champions. All randomly done of course.

The only possible sensible decision. Jack needs to get himself fit and ready to push for a place in our remaining league & cup games.

Who did the report come from, a certain M Stewart?

What a game that was! 2 up in 5 minutes, it was wild in the Rangers end that day. Jingle bells...... I would love an absolute mauling of that mob, it’s the only thing missing from our return. While our 2-0 win there earlier this season was comfortable and never in doubt, the only thing missing is we didn’t score more and give them a proper thumping. Tomorrow hopefully we put that right, although with everything going on, I will gladly take a draw to keep our unbeaten record.

Bheasts 0 Champions 2 Goldson

Cheers @DMAA I was afraid that might be the case. RTV has always had quite a lag behind real time so I wondered how they could pull this off. A real pity. Just CT asking KT what he thought of an incident that Sky showed 30 secs before isn’t going to replace comms, even bad comms like the bheasts loving duo we will be subjected to tomorrow.

I see the club are doing their online watch party thing again tomorrow, did anyone buy that for the Antwerp game? I see it is Clive Tylsdley & Kevin Thomson, does anyone know if they do actual comms (i.e. we could watch on sky on mute and listen to CT & KT instead) or do they just discuss the talking points without actual commentary? Would be worth a few quid to get better live commentary than what Crocker & co will provide!

I don’t think we play as well on a full week between games, and the title hangover seems to be a long one, which makes me doubt we will find our form sufficiently to remain unbeaten domestically for the remaining games. Our “not half of anything” opponents on Sunday have had a full fortnight to focus on this one game to try to give their fans something back after a monumental balls up of a season , so they should really start as strong favourites for this one. The added hurt going through our club for the racism suffered by Kamara, and the huge media attention it has brought, can only add to our difficulties in preparing for what would normally be one of our biggest and most looked forward to games of the season. Will our minds really be on the job? Will our players have recovered mentally and physically from last night? Will we be able to raise our game for what is effectively a dead rubber match? I would grab a draw with both hands, but I fail to see the bheasts ever getting a better chance to beat us than on Sunday.

Patterson for me was our best performer, just ahead of Kent and Kamara. Goldson had his worst game in over a year, Balogun, Arfield, Davis had off nights, and collectively we picked a big night to stink the place out, although some credit has to go to our opponents tactics and a dreadful referee.

This isn’t the kangaroo court of Scottish football though, this is the (probably still kangaroo)court of UEFA who talk tough on racism.