UCF2008

Are you suggesting we should go back to the 4-5-1 Gribz? The main problem I see with that is who do we play up front? Miller is never going to score enough goals to win us the league and even the 'new improved' Boyd probably still isn't lone striker material. Or do you think we should drop Mendes, who IMO has been our best player so far this season?

Bougherra was brought in almost two weeks before Cuellar 'decided' to jump ship. The Cuellar money (and then some) was spent on Mendes, Davis and Edu. I agree with you that some areas of the team still need strengthening, especially left mid. As for LB & RB, we've had Whittaker and Smith (more so) left on the sidelines while 2 CB's have kept their places in the team. I think the 4 CB approach is mainly down to tactics, somewhat like the Italians did (still didn't work and they had better players) in the Euros IIRC. So we don't really need a replacement for Weir. I don't know who would be the best option from what we've got to replace him. I don't think Walter does either. Personally, I don't mind players playing out of position as long as they do a job. For the most part that's been the case and the players in question were brought in with that versatility in mind. At the moment we've got far too big a squad (plus wage bill) and trimming is what it really needs. If Darcheville is joined by Dailly, McCulloch, Gow and Hemdani in the January sales then that would be a good start.

I've got a lot of time for Nacho. I'd have loved to have seen the Boyd, Novo partnership given more time to develop in front of a quality midfield. Now it seems as though he's no more than backup for Miller up front, but even still I think he's been the most effective player by a mile in left mid for us this season when given the chance. He should have started on Saturday instead of being a last throw of the dice. Let's hope we hold on to him.

The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Imagine playing the likes of Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Ajax, PSV, Gothenburg, Brugges, Rosenburg & Copenhagen week in week out instead of the backwater drivel we're served up at the moment. A league with these clubs involved would generate a cash windfall in TV and sponsorship deals. The extra travelling for fans wouldn't be as much of an issue anyway because the away ticket allocations would probably be relatively small. When the Gers are playing away we could all either watch it on Sky (Setanta wouldn't get a sniff), turn up to watch the SPL reserve side or, when we can get a ticket, travel to the Atlantic league game. It's unlikely it'll ever happen though

Merry Christmas :cheers:

It appears someone might have spoke too soon... 'Tonel rubbishes Gers move talk'

As for Butcher... Like most footballers he's not the brightest of sparks. He's also not been shy of having a dig at Rangers despite being a former club captain. That said, I think he's a decent sort and did a reasonable job managing in the SPL with Motherwell. I couldn't care less that he's English. A fair share of our squad have spent a larger portion of their careers in England than Butcher. I do think the timing of this whole 'story' is amusing though - Especially when you look at the usual twisted take on events from Speirs - 'Scotland needs Boyd'. I wonder why you think that all of a sudden Graham. Pre - OF game jitters perhaps?

If he is then he seems to be going out of his way to prove otherwise. Compared to the previous 2 managers, the OF balance in the Scotland squad appears to have well and truly tipped. Burley has so far selected Celtic players by default, while ignoring Rangers players of similar or (mostly) better standard. His excuse has been that said players weren't getting a regular game. It's funny how when we've got more Scots playing 'regularly' for Rangers than at any point in the past 3 years (and beyond), all of a sudden they're not getting a regular game in the eyes of the Scotland manager.

Must be those pesky internet fans SDM was on about :devil:

As soon as we show any interest, no doubt Romanov will slap a �£4-5 million price tag on him .

Maybe that should read 'Gersnet members (who could be bothered to fill out the survey)'. Otherwise it does seem to draw some interesting conclusions. Didn't realise there were so many RST members on here. Maybe I shouldn't have been bad mouthing them so much

Unless your name's McGregor apparently. Don't get me wrong, I think Gordon's a decent keeper, but he's highly over-rated IMO.

Consistently letting goals in? When was the last time a team put 5 past McGregor?

How about a bucket load?

Makes perfect sense to me

He looks mortified. Poor lad.

Camouflage suit. Wouldn't be the first time he's gone AWOL :devil:.

All keepers make their fair share of mistakes. Just like their teammates they're prone to the odd f**k up. Admittedly McGregor has made a few too many so far this season, but he's still our best keeper. The question should be, do the opposition see him as a weakness in our side?. Personally I doubt that. As much as Alexander is a (more than) capable deputy and has done well for us overall when called upon, talk about him never having put a foot wrong, is way off the mark. Was anyone watching Rangers at the end of last season?.

Like I said before in a previous thread, I don't agree that Walter's playing him out of position. In Kyles own words... Throughout this period the player established himself as an international and attracted interest from several 'bigger' clubs. My point is that he couldn't have been doing too bad a job out there on the left. So he prefers playing up front? I say we stick him back on the bench and bring him on for Boydy (who, let's face it, deserves more to be playing there) with 15-20 mins to go and see if he 'prefers' that to a starting berth.

TBH I don't accept that Lafferty is being played out of position. He may well have played most of his few games for NI as a striker, but he earned those call-ups by impressing as a winger at club level. The fact is that he is no stranger to the position WS has deployed him in and indeed played the majority of games for Burnley in that position. Scouting report: Kyle Lafferty, Burnley

I could have listed plenty more, but apparently performances against lesser opposition like Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Hibs, Motherwell etc. don't count for much these days. He has his off days or as Walter put it 'Charlie Adam moments' but personally I think he's really hard done by.

Charlie Adam - Age 22 Rangers debut - 14 Apr 2004 Appearances 73 (+ 13 as sub); Goals 18; Yellow cards 13; Red cards 0 Career Highlights: Livorno 2 - Rangers 3 Rangers 2 - Maccabi Haifa 0 Auxerre 2 - Rangers 2 Rangers 4 - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0 Celtic 0 - Rangers 1 Rangers 2 - Celtic 0 Rangers 2 - VfB Stuttgart 0 Rangers 0 - Barcelona 0 Rangers 1 - Celtic 0 Rangers 2 - Werder Bremen 0 Celtic 2 - Rangers 4

Apart from maybe MON and even he didn't have to break the bank to take Maloney off their hands. I don't think any of their players are worth much tbh. Even McGeady could be bought for �£2-3 million if a big enough club came in for him and he wanted to go. While we'll moan and groan about losing the likes of Cuellar, for them it's more a case of 'good riddance' if one of their better players leave having said he wants to go.

Whether or not it was appropriate for DM to make any comments on this, I think McCoist would be one of the best candidates for the job. He's got a good understanding of the game already and by the time Walter steps down he'll be well prepared to take over. He knows the SPL and more importantly knows Rangers and it's 'traditions' as well as anyone. He also has the respect of the players, who will no doubt give 100% not to let him down and (should have) the respect of the fans.

Apart from 20 minutes or so before half time, it was a really poor performance. The only positive you could take from the game was that we managed to limit Argentina to a few scoring opportunities, but even then if it was a competitive game we'd no doubt have been hammered. Could have done without as many substitutions ...Apart from Iwelumo. When you look at the team we finished the game with you realize just how much we were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Most of those guys, you'd be embarrassed to have in your reserve squad. Maloney was probably the best player we brought on and even he was shit. McGregor - Would be dissapointed to lose a goal so early. Made one good save. Didn't have much else to do. Hutton - Looked lively in the first half. Faded in the second. Caldwell - Shouldn't be getting a game. McManus - Not much better than Caldwell Broadfoot - Did well in the first half. Missed one of our better chances. Brown - Posted missing for the majority of the game. Hartley - Gave the ball away ...a lot. Ferguson - Had a good spell in the first half. Took a couple of knocks though which isn't the best for a friendly - even if it is Argentina. Commons - Had a decent game. One of our better players going forward. Iwelumo - Who? McFadden - Not one of his better games. Had one good effort, but straight at the keeper. Miller - Came on for Iwelumo in the 2nd half. Clarkson - Didn't get much service. Robertson - Why? Maloney - Played far too deep. Did nothing worthwhile. Berra - Came on for McManus. Should've been Caldwell. Alexander - Given ten minutes. Made one good run up the wing. So I guess he at least managed to do more than Brown. Them - Diving Bassas. Stopped playing after they scored. The Ref - Dreadful. Burley - GTF