buster.

Morelos out Two in (Lafferty + first team pick) Obviously depends on getting a club who'll pay a reasonable price and sourcing a decent replacement for 'Morelos cash'. Might be too late, who knows !

Suspected that we'd go down to 10 today in the first half. I pointed out before the game that bet365 saw our game as high risk for a red card (very short price offer) and so it proved. I was going to have a bet on it but the price was so short, not to be of value (11/5). Thing is I thought it would be us to go down to 10 because we have players they can more easily wind-up and it's via this that red cards tend to get shown in this game opposed to bad tackles that seem to be allowed. We can't depend on Morelos and for me that has tipped the balance. We have nearly a month to go in the transfer window, sell him and get somebody else in.

Maribor have just conceded their first competitive goal this season (7th match). 1-3 up away from home in a Slovenian league match.

- I'd have taken a draw if offered after Morelos was sent off. The lateness of equaliser is what makes it feel worse. - We need to sort out middle to front or we will draw too many games we should be winning. - If linesman witnessed the provocation and retaliation then we should have had a free-kick at edge of their box. - Morelos has to be told in no uncertain terms about his discipline and I tend to think, if possible we could do with shipping him out and getting someone else in. For every positive with Alfie, there is a negative coming down the road. They knew he was one of two they'd look to wind-up (along with Ryan Jack). Regardless of soft decision, it was Morelos who cost us. - If Jack is out of European game, it's a fairly important blow

Solid performance against adversity. Shouldn't have had both Ejaria and Windass on the park for the last 10 minutes. Goal against became much more probable when Jack went off for the Liverpool youngster.

Bet Details Date/Time Stake Return James Tavernier @ 11/1 €2.00 Single 05/08/2018 13:51:30 2.00 0.00 becomes......... James Tavernier @ 11/1 €2.00 Single 05/08/2018 13:51:30 2.00 24.00

Suggests that no deal is imminent or clubs hovering that closely. He has a chance to stake a first team claim, it's up to him. Let's hope we see his good side, he's capable of occasion.

Solid back to middle We don't know our best combination middle to front yet.

Yes, I'd agree. Would love to see Barsic at Rangers but we have other priorities. One to keep an eye on. #FinancialReality

Yesterdays 4 top flight games saw a unifom 4 yellow cards in each match. I'd guess our game today will see more. Bet365 aren't generous with their price for a Red card to be shown, 11/5. Contrast that with the price they offer for a red in the Leeds v Stoke match, 4/1.

I think they'll want considerably more than 2M unless in the last year of contract. He's the type of player that could hack the phsyicality of the EPL and have enough talent to do a decent job. IF we could somehow do a deal, he's the type who we'd almost certainly make a profit on in re-sale. Unfortunately, doubtful due to budget constraints.

Express have been reading this thread...........

Thing about todays game is if we can get it together in the final third and take chances. So far, we've been solid without much punch up front. (Aberdeen have been similar) Whatever happens in todays game won't mean we are champions elect or our season has ended but it's the game on Thursday that we really could do with having our attack firing given how much money the EL group stages would bring in.....and the thing about Maribor is that they appear to be very difficult to score goals against. It'll be interesting to see how much SG varies the starting XI for today, I'd like to see Arfield start in place of Ejaria. I think his drive would be a big plus for this type of game. It would also tell us more about what he is capable of offering us. Ryan Jack needs to stay calm because they'll be targetting him and wanting him to do something silly.

Yes, but most teams in pot 4 will be thinking similar, including Maribor. I really didn' think we had much of a chance of making the group stages but we managed to find a way to get past Osijek and thus far, the draw couldn't have been much kinder. Onwards we go.............

UEFA have put up a page with what looks like the pots for Mondays draw. https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2019/draws/round=2000989/ We (and Maribor) are in pot 4 and the first 4 on the list are seeded so I presume it's the 4 unseeded teams we could draw..... Apollen or Dinamo Brest Haifa or Atlanta Ufa or Progress Slovan Bratislava or Rapid Vienna So it's Maribor and one of the above that stand between us and the group stages. POT 4 - MAIN P. Vitesse (NED) - Basel (SUI) ( ) CSKA-Sofia (BUL) - København (DEN) ( ) Rangers (SCO) - Maribor (SVN) ( ) Hajduk Split (CRO) - FCSB (ROU) ( ) Apollon (CYP) - Dinamo Brest (BLR) ( ) H. Haifa (ISR) - Atalanta (ITA) ( ) Ufa (RUS) - Progrès (LUX) ( ) ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) / SK Rapid Wi ( )

Bates was taken off in 57mins, a minute after Hamburg went 0-1 down. Shite / tactical / both..........I don't know why.

Sometimes predicting things can be very easy.......... Miller will begin the task of keeping Livingston in the top flight today when he leads his team out to face the Champions as an seventh successive league flag is unfurled. But, in an exclusive interview with Record Sport, he has revealed how he knew his time at Ibrox was coming to and end months before he was accused of being involved in a Hampden bust-up with caretaker boss Graeme Murty - a charge which he has consistently denied. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kenny-miller-admits-rangers-anguish-13027956 ---------------------- The newspaper that got a lot of the leaks from Ibrox gets the Miller exclusive..........surprise, surprise ! This on the day his new team play their first league fixture. To further disrespect the Livingston support he talks about going further in the game before he's even took charge of a league match with his current club. I hope he has an excellent start today but they get relegated and his managerial career stops before it really starts.

I think by the time Sunday comes around, both teams will be ready for what'll be a bit of a battle. We've now got a team that won't be intimidated but we need to stay calm and not do anything silly that has a player sent off. edit. Kevin Clancy is ref

I've always had in head that we bought Bobby Russell for 200 quid. I think I read it in the 'Playing for Rangers No.X' book for that year in a chapter about the on-field understanding between him and Sandy Jardine. It was a longtime ago and I might be completely wrong !

Crossy Shapes

She'll be thinking about getting some new sausage in for the BBQ next Thursday night.

Can't play another team from same country rule will see Molde/Hibs put into a different grouping for draw. Bert Kassie says......For the draw of the 4th round the 26 teams are probably divided into 2 groups of 8 teams and 1 groups of 10 teams. As per other draws this summer Rangers/Maribor will have a list of 4 or 5 possibile opponents allocated on the morning of the draw. It'll be Partizan

Notable In the last 3 seasons (including this one) Maribor have played 8 Summer qualifiers at Home and conceded one goal in the 720 minutes. In the 8 corresponding away matches, Maribor have scored in 7, the only one they failed to score was 8 days ago. Without being brilliant, they seem to have developed an effective way of getting through qualifiers. Will be a big test. We could really do with a clean sheet at Ibrox in the first leg, I'd take 1-0 now.

From Macedonia in the South to Slovenia in the North, via Croatia........... ....and it just happens that a potential play-off round has the possibility of 2 Serbian teams being in the other half of the draw. There is a 'T-Shirt' design in this. ---------------------------------------------------------- Draw or the 4th round is on Monday. For the draw of the 4th round the 26 teams are probably divided into 2 groups of 8 teams and 1 groups of 10 teams. https://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/seedel2018.html The list below presumes the highest seed of the 3rd round ties will get through. eg. Maribor, who have a high enough co-ff. to be in the seeded part of 4th round draw. This means if we get through, we will already have benefitted from being seeded in 4th round draw. Potential opponents in 4th round for Rangers/Maribor would come from 3rd round ties played by teams on the right hand side of graphic below. The teams listed being higher seeded than 3rd round opponents but with no guarantee of getting through. 4th Qualifying Round (26 teams) Seeded teams coef. Unseeded teams coef. ------------------------ --- ---------------- ------------------------ --- ---------------- Sevilla ** Esp 113.000 Rapid Wien *3 Aut 21.500 Zenit St. Petersburg *3 Rus 78.000 RB Leipzig ** Ger 17.000 FC Basel @2 Sui 71.000 Partizan Belgrade * Srb 17.000 Besiktas ** Tur 57.000 Burnley FC ** Eng 15.921 Olympiakos Piraeus *3 Gre 54.000 NK Rijeka *3 Cro 15.500 FC København * Den 34.000 Atalanta ** Ita 15.249 Sporting Braga *3 Por 30.500 Molde FK * Nor 12.500 FCSB ** Rom 27.500 Girondins Bordeaux ** Fra 11.283 AA Gent *3 Bel 27.000 FC Ufa ** Rus 10.676 Racing Genk ** Bel 27.000 Apollon Limassol * Cyp 10.000 NK Maribor * Slo 22.500 Sturm Graz @2 Aut 6.570 Maccabi Tel-Aviv * Isr 22.500 Spartak Subotica * Srb 3.750 Feyenoord *3 Ned 21.500 Kairat Almaty * Kaz 3.625 NK Maribor Home record in Europa League since 2016 Thu 14/07/16 UEL Maribor 0 - 0 Levski Sofia More info Thu 04/08/16 UEL Maribor 1 - 0 Aberdeen View events More info Thu 25/08/16 UEL Maribor 1 - 0 Qəbələ View events More info Thu 19/07/18 UEL Maribor 2 - 0 Partizani Tirana View events More info Thu 02/08/18 UEL Maribor 2 - 0 Chikhura View events More info Thu 16/08/18 UEL Maribor - Rangers Away record in Europa League since 2016 Thu 21/07/16 UEL Levski Sofia 1 - 1 Maribor View events More info Thu 28/07/16 UEL Aberdeen 1 - 1 Maribor View events More info Thu 18/08/16 UEL Qəbələ 3 - 1 Maribor View events More info Thu 12/07/18 UEL Partizani Tirana 0 - 1 Maribor View events More info Thu 26/07/18 UEL Chikhura 0 - 0 Maribor More info Thu 09/08/18 UEL Rangers 20 : 45 Maribor CL Group 2017/18 # Team MP W D L F A D P Last 5 H2H 1 Liverpool 6 3 3 0 23 6 +17 12 WDWWD 2 Sevilla 6 2 3 1 12 12 +0 9 DDWLW 3 Spartak Moskva 6 1 3 2 9 13 -4 6 LDLWD 4 Maribor 6 0 3 3 3 16 -13 3 DDLLL 3 September 20171 Maribor 1–1 Spartak Moscow showMaribor, Slovenia 26 September 20172 Sevilla 3–0 Maribor showSeville, Spain 17 October 20173 Maribor 0–7 Liverpool showMaribor, Slovenia 1 November 20174 Liverpool 3–0 Maribor showLiverpool, England 21 November 20175 Spartak Moscow 1–1 Maribor showMoscow, Russia 6 December 20176 Maribor 1–1 Sevilla CL Qualifying 17/18 Wed 12/07/17 UCL Zrinjski 1 - 2 Maribor View events More info More info Wed 19/07/17 UCL Maribor 1 - 1 Zrinjski View events More info More info Wed 26/07/17 UCL Maribor 1 - 0 FH View events More info More info Wed 02/08/17 UCL FH 0 - 1 Maribor View events More info More info Wed 16/08/17 UCL Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2 - 1 Maribor View events More info More info Tue 22/08/17 UCL Maribor 1 - 0 Hapoel Be'er Sheva