JohnMc

That's good news about Curtis, nice to see it happening quite quickly and without much fuss. With regards Lovelace isn't there some clause that if we don't offer him a contract he can leave without compensation, but if he is offered a contract, but turns it down, then we are due a fee when he signs for someone else? I might have that all wrong.

Oh, he's far from the finished article, completely agree. Ironically the tricks might get coached out of him, apparently they don't go down well with professional players and while he's a big strong boy some thug defender might take retribution having been humiliated live on TV. But for spectators watching someone beat a man with skill is still spell binding. The deftness of touch, the speed of thought and the appreciation of the ability required to execute it. Watching that thug Gallagher being sent for the messages late in the second half was a delight, no humiliation is too great for him.

I've not seen it mentioned but for the Dundee Utd goal watch the foul on Diomande as the ball comes in. As everyone else is saying delighted with that result. Our vulnerability at crosses will remain until Balogun or Souttar return, in the meantime we just need to get on with it. He didn't take the headlines but Igamane is a joy to watch. His touches and turns are sublime and he almost guarantees at least one nutmeg a game. Winning is the most important thing but it's nice to be entertained too, to admire skill for skill's sake. What a finish from Dessers, 5 goals in 3 games, happy for him to shut up critics like me. As for the sending off, it's hard to look at it and not see bias. The hand ball too, deliberate or not he's bouncing the ball with his hand and yet that's not a penalty it seems.

I went for Tav. He was roasted twice early on by their wide player who had an excellent match (and I learn is subject to a £50 million bid from Chelsea currently) but grew into the game as the first half went on. His cross for Ridvan's chance was vintage Tav. But my vote is based on his second half performance. Playing centre half he barely put a foot wrong despite having a midfield in front of him made up of children. His searching ball for Desser's goal was literally inch perfect. It was a captain's performance. He's been criticised this season, rightly at times, but he did everything he could last night. Propper had an excellent game as well.

I think you can purchase TNT for a month then cancel, that won't be too expensive.

Getting Matondo off the wage bill is decent work by whoever is responsible, even if it turns out to just be until the summer. I assume Lampard remembers him from his time at Man City and when you saw how Diallo played in the Championship you can kinda see a player like Matondo doing ok there. However, the problem will continue to be his fitness, I do worry he'll be back at Ibrox simply because he can't stay fit.

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.

This. The sport's science team will be urging more regular rotation and longer rest periods between matches for players. The manager will be looking at that and agreeing but then saying 'if I give that player a rest because of the amount of games he's played our side is weakened and we might lose, so I'm playing him'. At any specific time a good number of our players will be carrying knocks and strains, which they can play through, but which can lead to other injuries. It's rare a player is ever 100% fit. The older a player gets the higher the likelihood of them succumbing to injury. The challenge we currently have is shallowness of our squad. When every single player is fit we're still lacking adequate alternatives in central midfield and centre forward. On Thursday we'll be playing a makeshift defence and weakened midfield against Dundee, we've no alternative. Sterling seems to be a player who struggles to play 2 games a week, I imagine the sport's science people know this, I suspect Clement knows this, but he took a chance as we we're significantly weakened if he didn't play. It's a dilemma. In a perfect world we could rotate and bring in players of equal ability, but we're far from a perfect world just now.

How much do you think naming rights for Ibrox would bring in? It's reported Scottish Gas pay slightly over £2 million a year for Murrayfield. I don't think we'd get as much as that, for various reasons. I'd be surprised if this hasn't been looked at already. I don't think I'd be happy knowing the ground was now known as the BetFred Stadium or similar, because that's the type of company who'd be interested. Criticism of the board is fair enough, mistakes have been made. Stepping back and trying to be dispassionate, if that's possible, then I think we have a good manager in charge, as good as our budget will allow. I'm comfortable with the Chairman appointment and we've brought in a CEO with extensive football experience and an understanding of the peculiarities of Scotland. I'm also relatively happy with our most recent recruitment, it's been better than previous seasons. So I'm willing to see how this plays out now. We're not going to challenge for the league this season, we don't have the players, that's clear to anyone who has watched us. We can give them a bloody nose though, so the Scottish Cup and Europe remain for us. Similar recruitment next summer and things might look very different next season. I'm willing to wait and see on that, accepting the frustrations this season is bringing. Lastly, Celtic have spent big recently, yet are still relying on 3 Japanese players their old manager knew of and Callum McGregor who has been at the club forever. There recent signiongs have been expensive and average. This talk of Tierney signing for them doesn't worry me. He's a good player but his injury record makes Tom Lawrence look like the Incredible Hulk, he'll command a very big salary and he'll have zero value when his contract is up. Perhaps they can afford that type of player, time will tell.

It's worth pointing out that only 2 players who started the 3-3 draw last season, Clement's only other match against them at Ibrox, started yesterday (Sterling and Diomande). While it's likely Butland, Tav and Soutter would have started if fit, even that underlines the amount of change our squad has gone through in 12 months. Change does take time, whether we like it or not. Also worth remembering that Celtic brought on Engles and Idah yesterday, who they purchased for a combined fee of £20 million in the summer. That's more than our entire starting 11 cost. Lastly Jefte, Bajrami, Kelly, Cerny, Igamane and the much maligned Propper all started yesterday, all summer signings, plus Diomande. We criticise our recruitment, but it looked good yesterday. One swallow and all that, I accept there's little point in beating Celtic if we lose to St Mirren. Our away form isn't good and we're really struggling to breakdown very defensive sides, something we need to to do if we're to compete over a season. But i've seen enough to believe that Clement knows what he's doing and given time, and a bit of luck, he can create a squad that will put in a serious challenge, not just lift themselves for the glamorous matches.

You could make a credible case for 7 or 8 of yesterday's side. Hagi had his best match for us I thought, fair play to him as i'm not his biggest fan, but he was excellent. I thought both centre halves were immaculate, Sterling playing another unfamiliar position looked like he could make that berth his own. Both full backs were pivotal to our game plan and both were very good, our keeper had a strong match, his distribution was eye-catching and saving what needed saved. Bajrami and Igamane did the secret work, ensuring both McGregor and the Japanese midfielder weren't options for Celtic when they had possession, ensuring it was their centre backs who had to try and start their moves. Cerny worked hard all match, he could have had 2 goals with a bit more luck, I was celebrating the one that hit the post for a while before I realised it hadn't gone in. But for me the game was won in midfield. Diomande was elegant in possession, spinning and turning away from danger, supporting the attack and protecting the defence, always available for a pass. Raskin though was my man of the match. Controlled energy, aggression when needed, wonderful anticipation, tenacity and his run and back heel for our first was sublime. A captain's performance.