stewarty

Mike, cant believe you cant find room for our captain and talisman. He might not be on top form at the moment but by christ we miss him when he's not there. I dont mind the 4-5-1 formation away from home in Europe but I'm getting really fed up with it at home so it's a 4-4-2 for me. _________________McGregor_____________ Whittaker_____Cuellar____Webster____Papac Burke_____Thomson___Ferguson_____Beasley _________Boyd__________Naismith_________ Now, I know what your going to say.... Dont be crazy thinking we might play with two strikers but at least Boydy and Naisy have played regularly together for Killie and should know each others games. Gotta be worth a shot?

So it was only two boos then. Thats not too bad!

Dont think Ferguson was as poor as a four. A six perhaps but definitely not a four.

Agreed. If we get an early goal we could win this easily. It's a big if though!

I think it would be counter productive to play him tonight. The fans are generally not the happiest at the moment so if you have a guy like Cousin playing, he's going to have people on his back at the slightest mistake which will only make his attitude worse. This could play in to Panathinaikos' hands.

Are we really so bad? Or, are SPL teams getting better? I would argue that whilst we dont have the Laudrup's and the Gascoigne's any more, we still have a very good team. The fact that we're not scoring 4 and 5 goals per week probably indicates that other teams are playing to a higher standard. Failure to qualify for the Euro Championship this summer aside, Scottish football has been on a high in the last 12 months or so and we've had some cracking results so why not celebrate the renaissance of Scottish football and the fact that Rangers dont get so many easy games. Surely this is better preparation for European games which will in turn make our players better as they're getting more of them. And so the wheel turns- more European experience, more young players coming through domestically, confidence in the national team means more exposure to a higher standard of football meaning we get better. Bear in mind though that this will not happen overnight but, what will happen is that in the summer, Walter Smith will have something like �£10-�£13million (minimum) to spend if SDM loosens the purse strings (yes, I know it's a big if!) so we should be able to add some good quality signings to compliment a winning team. Also, we've got a young squad who are developing the winners mentality and habit and are only going to get better. This has been a bit rambling but the main thing I'm trying to say is that we've got plenty to be positive about and dont believe all the hype and pish your hearing/reading on the phone-ins and newspapers about Celtic

Signed from Athletico Madrid. Anyone heard of him? http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/News/0,,5,00.html

Or, are we being softened up for his potential arrival in July?

He deserves his chance on the European stage. How else are you meant to find out if he can really cut it at that level?

Thats why I said I'd heard it!!!

Have heard that Bomber has being putting them through double training sessions - looks like it's paid off today with two goals in the last minute!

Think Davis will play. Adam seems only to get a game because there are very few alternatives without changing the shape Walter wants.

Dont get carried away Calscot - Walter doesn't play creative attacking midfielders so Buffel's got no chance. You wouldn't want Walter to get a nosebleed at his age, would you?!

I'm led to believe it finished 1-0 with Furman getting the goal

To be honest I thought the decision was fair enough. Cant see the SFA overturning this one - it's not as if the ref blatantly got it wrong.

Making dangerous runs is all very well but it's creating goal scoring chances (that someone scores!) that will win games. His form has dipped slightly since his first few games back but as mentioned, wingers are, by definition, inconsistent - very few can turn it on every week.

Yup, Mcgregor was easily the best performer in an otherwise pretty poor performance. Credit to Hibs who fought hard but we should have had plenty in the locker to turn them over.

The temptation with McCulloch playing is to play lots of high balls. Against Hibs that just plays to their strength as this is meat and drink to Rob Jones. I would have preferred a front line of JCD and Novo/Naismith as the smaller pacier players would have caused more problems. I would have played McCulloch wide left because he is undoubtedly a threat with his power but it's more because he can be very clever at timing his runs so that they are at the most inconvenient times for the defending team and thus his power shines through. I agree re Davie Weir needing a rest but I would be reluctant to split him and Cuellar up right now as they play well together.

I'm getting annoyed with Walter's stubbornness too. It's like he's been taking notes from Mcleish at playing players out of position. Just look at the impact Chris Burke has had since returning to the team and ask yourself why he didn't get a shot earlier? I guarantee that Boyd will score a bucket full at some point in the near future and WS will trot out the usual pish about "We know what Boydy can do, he's a natural finisher, he comes alive in the box" etc etc. Just give him some f'n starts!!!!

He's playing wide left which badly exposes his lack of pace. When he plays well it's through the middle where he gets plenty of ball to his feet. He's shown on a few occasions in the last couple of games that he is adept at picking out players with dinked balls in behind the defensive lines.

Saw a wee bit. Hutton was solid enough. Plenty more to come methinks...

Aye, and they've made a whacking great loss on him too! Great piece of business Gordy!

I can actually picture him trying to take the goal kicks, free kicks, corner kicks, throw-ins from the dug out as well as moaning because nobody is passing to him.

Just had another thought. How much have Celtc lost around 2 or 3 million in selling Zurawski and Jarosik - that's only going to add fuel to the fire when you consider how many Tims cant stand WGS!

Well, I wouldn't exactly say unbiased but I'm just not convinced by Celtic's spending over the transfer window. They've released Jarosick and Zurawski too so I dont think they've strengthed much at all. They're a wee bit stronger in one or two areas but much the same in others.