JohnMc

World class is a difficult term to quantify far less agree on. For me they have players that would be welcome at almost every other club in the world, that's what I mean by world class. Fernandes as you mention, but also Casemiro, Erikson and Martinez. Mainoo and de Ligt would get into most sides as well. In truth most of them aren't playing well just now, relatively speaking. I think even players like Maguire and Hojlund are significantly better than we face every week. As has been said the pressure will all be on Man Utd, so that's in our favour.

Sky are reporting that too. Are Motherwell really in a position to knock back £2.5 million? Udinese are sitting mid table, unlikely to be relegated, unlikely to challenge for Europe, so an Italian Motherwell. He's out of contract in 18 months so Motherwell will be moving him on in this window or the next I suspect. I'd take him at Rangers, I don't know if we can afford the fee but he fits the profile of player we're signing.

Aye, this outbreak of confidence among our support gives me the fear. Man Utd are having a poor season by their standards, but they've still got a hell of a squad, some genuinely world class players and they've shown recently they can compete with the very best when they concentrate. I'd take a draw right now without any hesitation.

How do you explain the crowd turning on Cerny a couple of months or so ago? Or on Tav? You're a bluenose, you know how it goes, the Ibrox crowd can turn on any player if they have a poor run, no matter what they might have done before that. You might not believe this, CammyF, but some of our support have it in for the manager and criticise him constantly, we're a hard audience to please, what can I tell you about the vagaries of our support... That said I didn't hear anyone booing Dessers yesterday. I did hear quite a few groans when he missed that chance in the first half. Anyway, home or away we score more with Igamane leading the line.

Since Dessers lost his place in the side to Igamane we've started scoring more goals as a team, I don't think that's a coincidence. In October, with Dessers our starting 'no. 9' we scored 10 goals in 6 games, so 1.66 goals a game, in November we scored 9 in 5 games, so 1.8 goals a game. In December, with Igamane leading the line, we scored 18 goals in 8 games, so 2.25 goals per game and in January, excluding yesterday because of the quality of opposition, we've scored 13 goals in 5 games, so 2.6 goals per game. I don't think there's a which hunt for Dessers, I don't think he's being hounded, in fact I think he remains popular with the support, even with those of us who recognise his limitations. Igamane is young, inexperienced, barely speaks English and is adapting to a new culture, country and league. Yet surely everyone agrees Rangers look a better side with him in it?

The issue most have with Dessers isn't just around his goalscoring. My biggest issue with Dessers is the rest of his game. He's really poor at holding the ball up, for a big, powerful man he seems easy to bully, he can't play with his back to goal and he's not fast so running the channels isn't an option. The biggest difference between him and Igamane is watching Igamane take the ball in when cleared from defence, he can hold it up, lay it off or create enough of a nuisance that he'll be fouled. The formation we play that's essential in our main forward. That's not something Dessers does well. Kris Boyd had similar deficiencies in his game, he guaranteed goals over a season, but only that.

The harsh truth is the B Team experiment hasn't worked. Ross McCausland is the sole player to emerge and he's a squad player at best. Players like King, Fraser, Devine, Lowry, Kennedy, McKinnon and Lovelace all showed promise but have not made the next step. If the B Team can't provide a pathway to our first team squad for a couple of players a season then what's the point of it. It's not just us, Celtic haven't seen anyone come through either, Hearts have a 17 year old forward who looks like me might be develop into something but I don't think he played much for the B team, rather he went straight into the first team. Young players need first team football, at the highest level they're ready for. The Lowland League isn't a good enough standard, I'm not sure the Championship is either.

Jefte was solid all match, defensively and going forward. One of those games where you could make a case for half a dozen but I voted for Nsiala. He played the whole match, did pretty well overall, showed some real composure and delivered the best cross of the match.

PS hat tip to the Union Bears, who not only sang for the entire 90 minutes while the rest of our support was quite subdued but the booing of the subway loyal was very funny. For me, if you want to protest, that's how to to do it.

I enjoyed last night's game, thought we pretty much controlled it from start to finish. I also think we need to remember we again played with a makeshift defence, who I thought did well. The much maligned Propper once again had a solid match, so much so that his injury is now a concern when a few weeks ago some might have thought it a relief. Nsiala looked very composed with the ball at his feet, he's clearly a ball playing defender. Time will tell if he's up to the more rigorous aspects of defending but he's certainly not a dud as had been suggested. Ridvan has done his best at right back, but the lack of a right footed player there was evident at times last night. Having to come inside every time and his inability to play a pass down the line was a real weakness. That said he's out of position and has done a job for us, so criticism of him is unfair. Raskin, Igamane and Cerny are our most important players currently. Cerny always provides an out ball, Raskin is bossing midfield, short passes, winning 50/50s and breaking up opposition attacks sounds is made to look simple, when it's not. Cerny's movement is underrated, watch him when we're out of possession and then again when we win it, he's always available, he finds space and stretches their defence creating space for others. His final ball isn't always right, but he's become very dangerous player. Big Hamza is fun to watch. I don't think i've seen a Rangers player strike a ball as sweetly and has powerfully since Albertz, he had a shot in the first half that is still stinging the Aberdeen keeper's hands this morning. I also think he's got an interesting temperament. You have to assume by now he's getting noised up by defenders, that prick Shinnie will certainly have tried. I've yet to see him look even mildly annoyed far less angry. There are comparisons to made with Morelos in terms of his strength, presence and growing affection from our support, but he looks to have a very different mindset. Time will tell if that's a good thing or not, I think it is but I might be wrong. Our lack of squad depth is still a problem, a glance at our bench last night really underlined that. For all Rangers deserve criticism for some of our away performances they deserve praise for our home ones too. Six goals scored in two matches at home, one conceded, with a defence that probably gave many of us nightmares when we first saw it picked. Credit where credit is due.

C'mon Cammy, we get you're really unhappy just now but the club can't win with you. Do you really expect the CEO to announce he'd welcome bids for Raskin and Igamane in the coming days? Would that lift team morale, get the Union Bears back onside, increase a player's value? You know that if the right bid comes in for any of our players we'll sell. Stewart knows that, Clement knows that, the players know that and their agents know that. What the right amount might be is open to speculation. You're now taking up a contrary position on every subject, whatever the club say or do you oppose it. It's a shame and it makes this forum harder to read.

The players we have aren't good enough, is that up for debate? They can beat any Scottish side on their day, but they lack consistency and experience, on top of that the squad isn't deep enough. Whoever we bring in, and we need to be realistic about who that will be as our budget will be decreased further by paying off Clement and his backroom team, but whoever that is might get a bounce, might change our tactics a bit, make us harder to score against, but they're not taking this squad and going on a 20 match winning streak. When Paul Le Guen was sacked and Walter returned he signed Andy Webster, Davie Weir, Ugo Ehiogu and Kevin Thomson in the January window. The equivalent isn't happening in this window unless someone gives us £15 million for Igamane. We went 11 games unbeaten after Walter was reappointed, won the Scottish Cup, but we didn't win the league the following season either, despite us signing an almost entirely new side. We're not able to attract anyone of the calibre of Walter Smith currently. So while I understand the concept of a coach/DoF relationship, in reality a new manager will want some new players, I mean I imagine our current manager wants some new players.

The longest serving manager in the Scottish top flight is Derek McInness, he's been in his post for 3 years and 4 days. He's currently the only manager who has served more than 3 years in their job. Indeed only 2 managers, McInness and Robinson at St Mirren, have been in their jobs for more than 2 years, every other manager has spent less than 2 years in their job. The desire for instant success isn't just reserved for Rangers supporters. Willie Waddell never won a league title as Rangers manager, his successor, Jock Wallace, took 3 seasons to win his first. We live in different times now, Rangers managers were given time back then, a chance to build something, to fail, but learn and come back stronger. We gave Gerrard time, he made progress, but came up short twice, but we stuck by him and it paid off. As frustrating as last night, and many times this season, have been, I'm not convinced the answer is to rip it up and start again. At times we've been brilliant this season, at times we've been dire. Our domestic away form is very poor, unacceptably poor, we should be much closer to Celtic than we are. The manager deserves criticism for that. Personally, I'm giving him this season, despite results. I do think he's building something, I do think the basis of a good side is there. The thought of firing Clement, and all his backroom team, and then appointing someone else to manage players he didn't sign and with a very limited budget to change that depresses me. We've tried that already.

The move that surprised me was Robbie Fraser going to Livingston. Not because I think he has a long term future at Rangers, but because we've got 3 fit defenders, two of who are full backs, you'd have thought having another full back available just in case, even if just for the next few weeks, would have been sensible. I was surprised when we gave Fraser a new contract in summer, so I assumed he was here for cover. We need cover now and he leaves. Now, he has a career to consider and half a season in the Championship will probably be helpful both in terms of experience and a shop window, but the timing was still a surprise to me. If Ridvan or Jefte pick up a knock or a suspension tonight who plays full back at the weekend?

Yeah, 4 centre halves would be better, but I guess that's all part of building a squad. I suppose with King, Sterling and Kasanwirjo all capable of playing in that position and, I assume, they hoped Nsiala might develop into an option, maybe they felt they had cover. They were wrong.