yuddie

Yano what.. For a laugh, let's stick with Borna. For the Culture. He's got Beale sweating with his connections I reckon, the Croatian mafia are balls deep into the hierarchy. Can't think of any other reason as to how he came out for the second half like. For the record, I've always rated Borna...

Is Balogun crocked by the way? If he is that's comical.

To be fair, some of them look spent. Dowell was towing trying to cover that left hand side. Cantwell the same for Tav.

I was always on the side of trying to qualify for the UCL but considering Olympiacos are probably 4th seeds and are passing us off the park it doesn't bode well. Albeit..it's a friendly.

Barisic is H O N K I N G.

Pffffft he's bought that.

I don't mind the setup and what they're trying to do but just need to commit to it 100%. And I'm sorry but Barisic is fucking mince, he could put in an absolute worldie of a ball but still look like a schoolboy unfamiliar with how his own body moves and the angles on a football pitch.

Feel for Dessers here, feeding off scraps is generous.

To be honest I don't think he's been great so far, they're clearly targeting his channel.

I can see what we're trying to do with the shape and style here and I like it defensively.

This is loads better lads, don't let them breathe!

Barisic man..jeez-o. Praying that I'm wrong but it looks like cross and inshallah is well and truly alive at ibrox this season.

Couple of reliable (?) Dutch sites saying it's done. Was skeptical about the signing but inevitably looking forward to seeing him now ha!

Isn't it the case that if we fail to get to the UCL group stages then we'd have to probably reach the quarters or semi's of the UEL to match that prize pot/revenue? Best case is qualify for UCL and get third spot and drop down, in terms of aspiring as a club and in terms of money surely. We'd probably be pot 3 seeds and the more campaigns we get under the belt the more acclimatised to it we will be. This talk of bombing against Genk/ Servette or whoever in the next round and entering the UEL is wild to me, financially, long term and simply as a fan of Rangers.

Aye it's been over a year now to reflect on that season and really, it should've been an all timer: League, SFA Cup and UEL. Especially when you look at the manner of our points dropped, the 5 sub rule and just the general quality of the spfl. It's been said before but if Morelos and Roofe are fit from February through to May we probably win a treble. Or even if Gio let Sakala out of the basement.

Still think a LCB is a bigger priority than Cifuentes or Danilo to be honest, look at our goals conceded last season. Still time of course.

RIP. I've got friends and family who are bluenoses (Birmingham City+Rangers) so it's pretty gutting, he was before my time but every child growing up in Brum who loved football knew who he was regardless of who you followed.

Well hopefully with no away goal rule we'll try and put 3 down in the first leg, pointless being cagey with Ibrox first up.

Fully agree, but my definition of squad player would be someone getting 2000 minutes a season e.g. 20 odd 90 minutes worth. I think that's ideal over 60 games but do other fans? I think more wouldn't than would. There's a wider point to trusting the squad in there somewhere.

If 'when it counts' is 4 out of 38 match days and he's contributing game in game out outside of that then I'll take it, we need players like that to build a squad capable of consistently winning titles. Strange really, Sakala is probably the only player we have in this current squad who actually causes Celtic trouble..his record against them is pretty decent overall. Compare that to Morelos.

Geniune question, would Danilo score or make anymore goals than Sakala would if he was first choice? If Sakala had been in the first team under Beale since the start of last season he'd be knocking on for 30 g/a in the league if I've got it right. My maths might be wrong but... His p90 in the league since Beale for g/a is 1.1. He played 18 games totalling 1,111 minutes. He was available for 13 games prior to Beale excluding injury so I multiplied the 1,111 minutes by 0.72 13/18 which would be 799minutes/8.8 games. Then 8.8 x 1.1 (his p90 for Beale) and it's 9.7. Add that to the 16 he got under Beale and you're looking at a hypothetical 26 g/a in 1,910 minutes I.e 21 full 90's. That's just in the league. People sleep on Fashion man, he was the difference yesterday but people are talking about Dowell and Ridvan who to be fair were good. I might be howling but I fully believe if you start with Sakala and a another striker this season, in the league at least, he'll get 20 goals no problem. Maths might be iffy, apologies if it is.

Watched the game back this morning because of how choppy the live coverage was and to be honest, for all of Gio's faults as a manager with us we could actually build through the middle of the park competently at home and even in Europe (Dortmund, PSV) under him whereas I still think we're obsessed with the edges when playing out under Beale, maybe it's necessary but I definitely think we were a better passing side under gio through the thirds, problem was we'd recycle and do it 2 or 3 times over and not get a shot off. Looking forward to the season regardless.

Pretty sure Sakala has 2 years left, didn't he sign a 4 year deal on a Bosman 2 seasons ago? If anything I'd be looking to give him another couple of years on top if he can supplement the attack this season with 20+ g/a in rotation. Invaluable.

I'll be honest if Souttar is better on the right side than the left I think there's a serious question as to who starts on that right side, Souttar is as just as good a passer and, imo, a better carrier and out and out defender. Goldson has credit in the bank but he isn't a stellar defender, just consistently solid. Souttar has a higher ceiling in terms of performance but might dip more than Goldson. Or is this all waffle?

Wasn't there a big chance that came from Butland through to Dowell in the box? I agree with @Frankie on Dowell btw, it's amazing what players with good fitness in their prime or coming up to it can do to a team. Early days but I think you can see the profiling that Beale has done is hopefully going to make an impact.