der Berliner

With regard to Cavanagh and any US investor. This is the Scottish league. As we have seen last season and in parts this season too, they are not that far ahead as people might think - even with their constant influx of CL money. They have a decent first and second row squad that is able to brush next to anything in Scotland aside. The investment needed to counter this is comparatively small for them (as opposed to e.g. Leeds United, their other purchase). Likewise, they are probably (going by what I read elsewhere) are not here for the "quick buck", asset stripping and whatnot. Give or take 10-20m (pending on the market) and/or some decent freebies should clearly be enough, alongside with a manager who knows where his priorities lie.

Three would suffice ... if we have that many fit and ready. Mind you, back in the day when we had enough strikers, even those how could play in a 4-3-3 either side of the central striker, we stuck to non-scoring dross. Alas, Barry tries it with 4-4-2, albeit the wrong two CM.

It was interesting to see that our VAR-spotter of the day managed to spot Danilo's knee somehow making contact with the ball before Dessers lobbed it over the goalie, a touch Danilo sure didn't notice himself. Then you get this foul which wasn't a foul, or, indeed, a penalty yesterday ... https://imgur.com/a/qn5da5R

... hey hey, nothing against den Berliner! When fit (no snickering!) he's one our best if not the best defender we have! NB: all we can hope for is that those with prospective buyers will show their strengths in our European games, so someone happens by and offers money. Given our luck, that will only be the case with Dessers ...

Fragile ... that was the most telling observation Barry made after the game. It encompasses the whole sorry affair the club find itself in. As has been observed at the start of the season and repeated time and again, this current squad is on many levels the most fargile in - dare I say it - living memory. They are physically fragile in terms of body strength, not least in midfield. Jefte much like Ridvan can be shoved of the ball with ease ... and usually no action being taken by the refs either. (Which is especially frutsrating as these fridge-throwers usually fall over at the lightest of touches themselves - like we saw yesterday.) Our central defence is fragile as soon as they get hit on the counter, something we never compensate with a change in system. I remember days when Sterling (if fit) or even King was played as DM to stop any such attempts. Back in the day, that job fell on Jack, Lundstram, or Davis, which we never replaced adequately. Barron tries his best, but is probably the smallest chap I have seen wearing a Rangers jersey. As soon as pressure is upon them, be it from the opposition or the circumstances, they get mentally fragile, which you can easily spot with these jittery actions around our penalty area, stray and over-hit passes, overdoing of the simple things, and playing others into trouble with needless touch and go passes, even if the recipient is covered. And there is no-one out there, even our 500-game captain, who takes control of matters. You can talk all day, but if there is no result, it's but empty words. Another clear signal is the brutal lack in one own's confidence in front of goal. Only Cerny, Dessers and Igamane (less so of late) try to hit the target at every opportunity. The rest tries to shift responsibility to the "next best positioned player", which in 9 out of 10 cases ends in nothing. Danilo was the prime example yesterday. Worst of all is the strengths in depth. We are fragile in manpower that it beggars belief. For the excuses with regard to injuries, which are another matter of concern, we simply haven't got any sort of adequate quality beyond the first 11 (or maybe 15). Our injury record, especially with central defenders is abysmal. How can that come to pass? People will turn their noses up on players like Gogic, but he's essentially another Katic or Petric, rock solid, no-nonsense and de facto injury free since 2021. Could have grabbed him on a free last summer. Right now we play a our wee leftback on the right side, have a physically weak Jefte on the left. And effectively no-one to replace either fullback. Sterling, looking like an ox, has probably too many muscles that he can twitch or tweak, so is rarely about for more than two or three games. Most Dundee, Motherwell and Kilmarnock youngsters are consistently fitter than than. Our current fit central midfield consists of Raskin, Diomande, and Rice, all not imposing figures and varying fits of form. Barron adds "a little" physique, but got the Auchenhowie bug. Wingers is another ongoing disaster. Cerny is doing his job, and one can probably not ask more from your normal winger, who goes hot and cold. Hagi tries his best on the left hand side, but it is clearly not his. Like Bajrami, he is shoe-horned in there because Matondo wasn't fit or deemed adequate enough. Cortes is essentially another Roofe-case. How we managed to acquire so many fragile people is truly beyond me. McCausland, who looked good early on in the season, has been (IMHO) mentally wrecked by Clement, so all his late cameos have been less than impressive. Lawrence is some sort of Rolls-Royce, who will have cool moments, but is sure not made for the environment of the Scottish game. That he, the left-winger, was used in the slot reserved for Bajmrani and Hagi is anyone's guess. We've got just three strikers, probably down to the sad fact that managers want to play with but one central striker these days. No matter that it is a terrible tactic against Scottish brick walls. 6m Danilo's is only slightly better in terms of injuries as Roofe, so the responsibilty fall on Dessers, who does admirably enough, and Igamane, who is raw but looks promising. The latter had obviously his wings cut by PC, who told him to fall deeper. Alas, he's build like an ox and has some fine ability on the ball. Beyond that there is emptiness. Lovelace was sold, other let go. There is effectively nothing that Barry can work properly with. And I doubt that he's a man of soothing words. From a team that essentially managed to throw a title away within two weeeks same time last season, we are down to a hollow body that threw away the title before christmas and is on record to provide them with another free run for silver even before the split. This has been some car crash of a(nother) project season. The utterly embarrassing winter transfer window surely raises the question about our financial fragility too. There has been so little influx of adequate personal (compared to those who left) in the summer too, you have to wonder what the board and management was thinking. Are our hands really bound that hard? And how could that happen, given European runs and - despite all the anger - full stadiums? Fragile is so adequate right now ...

Sickened like we are ...

Ferguson can do FO about the horrendous defending that some of our players present. Granted, our first choice defence has hardly been seen this season, but more often than not it is others who do the damage. That's twice in a week that Jefte has been caught out, and it resulted in goals. The lad is but 22 and methinks he's hardly played so many games in these circumstance in a season. But there comes a point when the manager has to take action. Play him further ahead and Ridvan behind him (for lack of options). And FFS punish anyone who does this suicidal side- and back-passing in our third while the opposition press the ball. Time and again, people get caught out. Said it before, Raskin and Diomande are a dysfunctional unit. They stay in the same areas, too narrow to each other and/or too far away from the defence. Likewise, neither is regularly covering the free spaces in front of the penalty area, where balls are often picked up by a spare defender. It was plain to see time and again this season. Hopefully we get Barron back soonish, albeit he's no Jack or Davis just yet either.

Third home defeat on the trot ... some feat. 21-6 shots at goal. What a shambles. If Balogun was close to fitness, the Tav experiment should never have happened. Same with Ridvan (who almost had two assists Tav-style today (i.e. dragging himself out of a dire performance elsewhere)). Neither Hagi nor Bajrami are left wingers, Lawrence is. Why hook a striker instead of throwing on Danilo at HT in place of the blanks-firing Cerny? IMHO, some of these chaps can't cope with the demands and start reacting to it, hence all the stray and hasty passes.

That's about the 30th dire pass and touch by Cerny ...

Shocking shocking passes and decision-making ... all day long.

The VAR snapshot showed the wrong scene, no wonder there.

Whatever rode Danilo to pass the ball again ... Well done VAR ...

These freakish attempted short-passes in the area ... just take responsibility!!!!

No-one will be sent to the meat-grinder. BTW, typical Armed Forces Day - game at Ibrox, same trash on the pitch for years.

You may try as you might, if the defence is as bad as ours right now, you are always up against it. Ridvan's touch is worse than mine, Hagi's nearly as bad. The midfield is utterly disfunctional once more, just a little pressure on them and the defence, and we look desperate. The truly bad thing is: a Davis would have seen this, dropped back and took control. Raskin and Diomande don't, we lose the most of the midfield and our frail defence does the rest. The script can easily be read, all opposition managers read it, we don't. Add to this that Diomande and Cerny hold to the ball too long ... and lose it eventually. All rather dire.

Kick and hack for fun, now play-acting like chickens ... dreary me. The Ironmen just execute their few attacks (not least thanks to our inept defending), we don't.

Now the captains turn to bring us in trouble and Jefte loosing his man entirely ... some feat.

That was as clear a back-pass as you will ever see ...

Double-blunder by Butland ... third goal on the trot down to bad decisions ...

Sterling, Barron and Balogun all on the bench, some good news before the KO. And we're going 4-4-2 again ...

Cammy has his next best friend, it seems. Just for clarity, I am not Ready1314 in disguise ...

Before the start of the game I looked at the bench an thought: no King? Nothing against Fernandes, but he's even less tried than Nsiala, who looked good so far. King might be old school, but has seen lots of football at this level and against this opposition. A more solid choice. Wednesday was all about composure and calmness at the back. If you had asked me, I wouldn't exactly see that in Tavernier, but he did admirably and steadied the ship. Ridvan also slotted in well enough. Regarding the topical question, I'd have no problem with Tav on the right of a back 3, not least in games like these. Would free up a DM slot and allow the wing-players to operate further forward without having to think about defending. 3-4-3 or 3-5-2. We can switch to our defensive approach of 4-2-3-1 in European or games against them, but it is rarely required against Scottish teams ... which 10 out of 10 of our managers of the last decade didn't grasp.

... they were probably told some stern words at HT and feared what would happen at FT, so they turned it on. Truth be told, after the first goal, we never really looked back. Tav steadied the ship in the heart of the defence (credit where it is due), Ridvan did well enough in his usual slot. I might have changed things a little earlier with Igamane and Cerny looked quite tired and had some wayward play, but all ran out well. Onwards!

Time to replace Igamane, he's ran his race today.

These linesmen need an appointment with specsavers ...