yuddie

The EFL play offs have been a good watch in terms of drama but it's true about the Wembley pitch, it's tough to play good football on it. On a side note, Josh Windass scored a last minute winner. Pleased for the boy, some won't be but it's good to see he's still in amongst the goals. Anyone else watch them? Only the domestic and European finals left now.

Seen that it's a 'nominal fee' by some and 'The Rangers Journal' have said it's 500k for Cifuentes, just a blog but I don't mind their content it seems pretty fair. If it is nominal then that's a coup.

I think the national teams would take them in and do there own fitness tests these days, or at least that's what I've read/heard in passing. Ryan Jack would prolong his career by a few years if he retired from intl duty. Examples being Scholes and Milner for England, both retired around 30 and kept playing at the top of the Premier League past 35. I think if it was 10 years ago he would but considering how it would be difficult for Scotland to not qualify for major tournaments with the nations league and tournament expansions he probably wants to be part of this renaissance for his country. Can't say I blame him.

Pretty sure Davis prefers the South Coast than Glasgow purely to live so I could see him working at Southampton's academy. It would be remiss of the club to punt a hall of famer (and in my opinion a bonified rangers great nevermind modern) when he's in rehab. That's not Rangers class or standards.

Went with Fashion for the flack he's had from some quarters but Souttar strolled it as well to be fair. Ridvan another standout.

So Sakala is worth 5m euros on transfermarkt which is about 4.3m pounds.... Would you sell for that to try and get better in the immediate and long term? To be honest I would trust the manager and recruitment team to get it right but right now we've got a player who's guaranteed Goals and Assists, is effective in 3 forward positions and is never injured. Tough one. I think if we sold Sakala for 4.3 and got Luis Palma for what he's valued at which is broadly the same, fans would be chuffed. Hypothetically. This would be the trading model working aswell, player comes in at a young age and for value (bosman) contributes positively for the team and gets sold for profit. I'd still try and get 5m+ though. If he stays I'd be just as happy.

CL first always for me. We got pumped this/last season but we're learning on that stage. There's no more prestige than being a regular in the UCL, look at how 4th has become a trophy down south. Plus with the revamp reaching the last 16 looks a bit more doable after next season. We're Rangers, original members of the first iteration of the UCL, people forget that but WE shouldn't.

Some of the discourse online about Fashion can be funny but pretty harsh at other times, glad he's got 2 today. Love the guy, even if he's as raw as it gets. Hopefully he has a few more seasons here chipping in like he has.

Agree with the lads above, there's a serious question to be had as to who starts in that right hand side berth. Captain material. Thought Ridvan and Fashion were the other standouts. Those St Mirren fans are absolutely miserable haha.

Booing a keeper for getting studded in the face, stay classy St Mirren fans. 3 in 4 and pretty much carrying this team with Cantwell and people still call Sakala minging, you just can't say no to his output as a squad option. Souttar strolling it.

If he played in a back 3 then I could get it but not in a 2.

Nah I'm sorry, stop f***ing around with Lundstram in defense. If he plays Curtis Main is going to have a field day.

Begs the question, how much more can we realistically score? Because it does seem like we miss sitters game in game out. Or maybe we're not seeing the wood for the trees with this team, might be that we just need to get back to the 55 'you shall not pass' attitude in defence and in goal. Don't think we're miles away from a title to be honest.

Could be worse, suppose Marseille/Braga/PSV would be tough to beat even if Van Nistlerooy has quit. Hopefully we get Ibrox second leg if we reach the play offs, if it's possible.

Did see an article including the possible teams that we could draw, if anyone could look into it and put the teams we could get in this thread that would be great, struggling to find the article to be honest. Also as an aside, the UCL is being revamped after next season I think so we need to really go for the ucl quali and the league next season (as if we weren't this ha!) and honestly, I don't mind the changes that much. Definitely seems like a bigger chance of reaching the last 16 + more match day revenue with the extra matches.

Sorry for being crass but thank f**k we're seeing the back of some of these.

Bit of a strange one, do you give McGregor and Morelos, Kent starts as a gesture of good will or do we want to build for next season? I'd possibly start McGregor and sub the other 2 on with Arfield to be honest. I know it's not for this thread but Morelos really should've had 200+ goals for us with the talent and attributes he had. Maybe he'll have a renaissance but more likely he'll be over the hill by 30. Not sure if it's a shame if the boy can't look after himself.

Best keeper in recent memory that comes for crosses is Emi Martinez at Villa. Definite comparisons between him becoming a no.1 late and McCrorie. People are talking as if signing Butland would be the end of McCrorie, if he really is as average as people make out and makes mistakes often then Robbie will be back in and will get his chance. There's nothing to lose with signing another experienced good level keeper on a free in line with the wage bill, we bloody should be imo. It's not a case of either or. And I'm not being funny, if being capped by your country and playing in the Premier League is having an 'ok' career then 99% of goalies are failures.

Souttar for me, depending on how he does between now and when Goldson comes back their might be questions as to who gets that right hand side starting berth, or if the manager will try 3 at the back. Thought Ridvan was solid again as well, looks a lot more switched on than Barisic.

Yeah agree but would switch them around, Sakala v good and Souttar MotM. Dare I say that was a captains performance from Souttar, especially next to young Leon and infront of the novice McCrorie. If we could just get 40 games out of him a season we'd be a better team for it.

Thought Sakala was pretty tidy with the balls that managed to actually find him that half. Hagi has been well off it, I'd give him another 10-15 mins and hook him, which is probably the plan anyway. Pleased that we're not just going down to the fullbacks and hitting the channels, we're actually trying to play on the deck except its round the edges mostly. Would like to see Raskin and Lundstram show more in that regard. Souttar best that half, good passing and solid defensively. We might be okay if Goldsons out and he stays fit. Mon lads!

Happy with that lineup, especially Souttar right hand side with young Leon.

Would try Raskin at the base again, thought he did well as a tempo setter in the second half v Celtic as well as ratting around disrupting. Other than that similar again really, Sakala is a must to start because he thrives in these games in Edinburgh when the opposition come at us. If McCrorie can show a bit more playing out the back in this game it would be good but so far he's mostly just been pumping it, we need to get away from that. One of the reasons why we lost in Seville.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12103935/amp/Crystal-Palace-keeper-Jack-Butland-closes-free-summer-Rangers.html Article mentioned, hopefully the links good. Not sure of the journos reputation.

Simon Jones from the Daily Mail reported he's willing to work within our wage structure. Followed Butland since his Birmingham City days as I know a few bluenoses and to be fair, he should've been England's no.1 if it wasn't for a crisis of confidence. He was brilliant for Stoke as well at times. I could see him being brilliant for us, could really nail down the gk position for the next 4 or 5 seasons. Put it this way, he had a higher ceiling than Hart imo.