der Berliner

Wee look to the Northeast ... Aberdeen did the unthinkable and beat Eintracht Frankfurt (who slaughtered Bayern 5-1 last weekend) 2-0 at home, effectively treating this game like any against us: parking the bus and waiting for the counter-attack. No football Eintracht is used to and they couldn't break the well-trained red curtain. So their tails might be up as well, hoping to frustrate us as best as they can and sneak the odd goal. German highlights:

You can just take a bow. Defense held, strikers scored, maybe, just maybe ...

First thing: bring Hagi back. We have next to no creativity left in midfield, and Cantwell being in and out of the team.

Referee - Srdjan Jovanović (SRB) Assistants - Uroš Stojković (SRB) and Milan Mihajlović (SRB) Fourth Official - Novak Simović (SRB) Video Assistant Referee - Pol van Boekel (NED) Assistant Video Assistant Referee - Clan Ruperti (NED) Missing - Steven Davis (knee), Zak Lovelace (muscle), Nicolas Raskin (ankle), Ryan Jack (muscle), Tom Lawrence (calf), Danilo Pereira (knee), Todd Cantwell (family reasons); Ridvan Yilmaz, Kieran Dowell, Leon Balogun (not in EL squad)

Added a few to the OP now ... IN - Connor Barron (21) - CM, Aberdeen, contract till 2024 - TM - LINK IN - Lennon Miller (17) - MF, Motherwell, contract till 2025 - TM - LINK IN - Noah Mbamba (18) - DM, Belgium, Bayer Leverkusen, contract till 2028 - TM - LINK (NB: signed for them for 100k, Jan 2023) ... and Santos has apparently released Morelos. 😱

Not sure which market Clement will look at, the Belgium one for out of contract players looks like this.

Lovelace only signed in summer 2022 and for some reason I doubt it was but a 2-year deal. Who knows ... Sima ... is getting serious game time and shows what he can do. Not just to us, but also Brighton. The better he develops, the less likely is it that he will go a) on the cheap and b) at all. That said, I have no idea how Brighton is set up right now.

Rumours doing the rounds in SM space ... Mason Holgate* (27) - Everton, CB, currently on loan to Soton - one of the LINKS Connor Barron (21) - Aberdeen, CM, contract till 2024, pre-contract rumoured Zach Lovelace and Archie Stevens want to go back to England and both not signing new deals, both expire end of this season. * re Holgate That should be affordable ...

Armstrong would be a decent addition to the squad. We do need solid, down-to-earth footballers who are physical and direct. We have quality people, but too many of them try the fancy rather than the simple/practical stuff. A few blow hot and cold performance-wise as well. Getting someone who performs week in and week out on a decent level would be good for our strength in depth. IMHO, Wright is not too dissimilar to Armstrong, physical and quality-wise. In physical and rain-wrecked games like those at the weekend, you need these type of footballers, not the Matondos, Lammers and the like.

Credit to Killie, they gave them a fight today and the highlights also don't show (for obvious reasons) the penalty they should have had ... (Nice weather) ... but it was fully unintentional: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0rF-OQsyqo/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again

SPFL Highlights Still unconvinced that it was intentional or unintentional "serious foul play" by Cifuentes.

Games like today's remind me of a commentary I heard in the mid-1990s, when we beat Dundee United 3-0 (HT 3-0) away and co-commentator Simon Stainrod said at the end: "Well, Rangers' defenders played as admirably in the second half as their attackers did in the first."

No sleep lost on players not coming or being signed. Bologna paid Aberdeen Euro 2m for Ferguson, but make that 4m if we had tried to sign him. He's away, so that's that.

Kirkland at the screen called it a possible serious foul play. Heck, Maeda wrecked Cantwell and it wasn't even a foul, never mind a penalty. But truth be told, going by the circus that is called Scottish refereeing, you have to be content that not more is being fiddled in the games ...

As I wrote in the transfer thread, I doubt he will fare much better as previous strikers, if we play him alone up front. Hearts usually do not face brickwall-style football.

All quiet right now, only Leon King's exit on loan seems on the cards. Saw people swoon over Shankland, but truth be told, if he's asked to play for Rangers in the lone-striker rule, he'll be as ineffective as many before him. Danilo out again, so maybe a return of Roofe in games to come. I'd put him alongside Dessers, as Roofe is more a predator type of striker. Dundee might be a perfect game to try that.

Thank the heavens for Butland, who essentially kept us getting these three points (again). Can't, for the love of the game, understand, why we keep to this lone striker thing that failed us time and again. Saviour this season so far is Sima, but what happens if he's injured ... Difficult ground, three points, clean sheet, grab and run!

Tonight will be the return of Roofe, no doubt! (No laughing at the back!) We need a goalscorer up there. Is Lawrence our midfield version of Roofe? Lawrence's last 5 years with Derby has seen him play 39, 33, 37, 23, and 38 games respectively. And we replace him today with Cifuentes? How's that supposed to work out? Ach well ...

See, that's how you bait people to do your job 😜

You missed Cyrell though, hence, just 2 out of 3.

The Winter 2023/24 Rangers Transfer Window Rumours and Deals - Thread LINK to a rumour source TM is the TransferMarkt stats side for that player SIGNED in Winter 2023/24: Fabio Silva (21) - ST, Wolverhampton Wanderers, contract till 2026 - LINK - TM - DONE DEAL loan till summer 2024 (29/12/2023) Mohamed Diomande (22) - CM, Ivory Coast, FC Nordsjaelland, contract till 12/2024 - TM - TM stats - LINK - DONE LOAN till end of season with obligation to buy GONE in Winter 2023/24 Sam Lammers - on-loan to Utrecht till end of season - LINK RETURN in Winter 2023/24 RUMOURS: IN – Ben Godfrey (25) - CH, Everton, contract till 2025 – LINK - TM IN - Connor Barron (21) - CM, Aberdeen, contract till 2024 - TM - LINK IN - Lennon Miller (17) - MF, Motherwell, contract till 2025 - TM - LINK IN - Noah Mbamba (18) - DM, Belgium, Bayer Leverkusen, contract till 2028 - TM - LINK (NB: signed for them for 100k, Jan 2023) IN - Frederik Oppgard (21) - LB, Norway, PSV Eindhoven, contract till 6/2025 - TM - LINK (see Wagner above) IN - Million Manhoef (21) - RW (LM/LB), Netherlands, Vitesse Arnhem, contract till 2025 - TM - LINK (various) IN - Emmanuel Dennis (24) -ST, Nigeria, Nottingham Forest, contract till 2025 - TM - TMstats - LINK IN - Scott McKenna (27) - CB, Scotland, Nottingham Forest, contract till 2024 - TM - TMstats - LINK (see Dennis above) IN - Gijs Smal (26) - LB, Netherlands, Twente Enschede, contract till 2024 - TM - TM-stats - LINK IN - Jefte (20) - LB, Brazil, Fluminense - on loan at APOEL Nicosia, contract till 2026 - TM - TM stats - LINK Oscar Cortes (21) - AM, RC Lens, Colombia, contract till 2028 - TM - TM Stats - LINK OUT - Ridvan Yilmaz - LINK - though Clement said that no decision has been taken on any player right now OUT - Cyrill Dessers - see Ridvan OUT - Kieran Dowell - see Ridvan OUT - Leon King - loan move in January - LINK OUT - Ridvan Yilmaz - Hellas Verona - LINK (see Smal above) Loan deal to permanent deal - Abdallah Sima - LINK CONTRACT EXTENSIONS NON-STARTERS: IN - Bojan Miovski (Aberdeen) IN - Kai Wagner (26) - LB, German, Philadelphia Union, contract till 12/2023 - TM - LINK - signed new deal in USAland OUT - SQUAD as of 24 / 05 / 2023 Squad listed in order of remaining length of contract & primary position Full squad list at Transfermarkt Squad by primary and optional position at Transfermarkt Goal: Robby McCrorie (25) - contract 6/2025 Jon McLaughlin (36) - contract 6/2024 Kieran Wright (23) – contract till 6/2023 Jack Butland (30) - contract till 2027 Defence James Tavernier (31) – RB - contract 6/2024 Borna Barisic (31) - LB - contract 6/2024 Leon Balogun (35) - CH - contract 6/2024 Leon King (19) - CH - contract 6/2024 Adam Devine (20) RB – contract 6/2025 Connor Goldson (30) - CH - contract 6/2026 John Souttar (27) - CH - contract 6/2026 Ben Davies (28) - CH - contract 6/2026 Ridvan Yilmaz (22) - LB - contract 6/2027 Dujon Sterling (24) - CB - contract till 2027 Midfield Steven Davis (38) – CM - contract 6/2023 - retired 25/01/2024 Mohamed Diomande (22) - contract till 2024+ Ryan Jack (31) – CM - contract 6/2024 John Lundstram (29) - CM - contract 6/2024 Abdallah Sima (22) - RW/ST - contract till 2024 (season long loan) Tom Lawrence (28) - LW - contract 2025 Thompson Ishaka (18) - LW - contract till 202x Scott Wright (26) - LW/AM - contract 6/2025 Alex Lowry (19) - AM - contract 6/2025 Rabbi Matondo (23) - RW - contract 2025 Nicolas Raskin (22) – CM – contract 202x Todd Cantwell (25) – AM – contract 6/202x Kieran Dowell (26) - AM - contract till 2027 Jose Cifuentes (24) - CM - contract till 6/2027 Ross McCausland (20) – RW – contract till 2027 Strikers Fabio Silva (21) - ST - contract till 2024 Kemar Roofe (30) - ST - contract 6/2024 Cyriel Dessers (28) - ST - contract till 2027 Danilo Pereira da Silva (24) - ST - contract till 2027 Coaching Staff Check out the club's home page Academy / B Side -> https://www.Rangers.co.uk/article/academy-restructure/4skGYIfqugwK1CvGZUHFH0 GONE - ... Women's Side -> https://rangers.co.uk/teams/ladies-senior/ OUT ON LOAN Sam Lammers (26) - ST - contract till 2027 -> Utrecht till end of season Alex Lowry () - AM - Hearts till end of season - loan cancelled January 2024 Iannis Hagi () - AM - Alaves till end of season (no January option)

Stop keeping me away from the upcoming transfer rumours thread! (Nope, I saw that they kept Bayern at bay last week, having more shot on target in Munich. There must be some potential over there.)

... well, a pre-arranged friendly to ease the way of a promising Kopenhagen player's move to Ibrox in January? Always the optimist!

Due to lack of a match thread ... Referee - William Collum Assistants - Calum Spence and Jonathan Bell Fourth Official - Euan Anderson Video Assistant Referee - Steven McLean Assistant Video Assistant Referee - Gary Hilland Missing - Steven Davis (knee), Zak Lovelace (muscle), Nicolas Raskin (ankle), Ryan Jack (muscle) Live on - Sports Football and Rangers TV

He was not alone that day ... and we've seen others doing the same. Still remember that blind backpass of our captain in the OF game that lead to a goal and killed any of our slim hopes that season. I'd take Sakala over Lammers every day of the week. (And I hope this means that Lammers will score a hatful in December now ... )