Rousseau

I don't know how you can look? I expect them to get a lucky away goal that'll sneak them through. I won't revel until it's over.

The Challenge Cup has perhaps shown the way towards an Atlantic League -- although that would be a tad more complicated -- by bringing in teams from Wales and N. Ireland.

Even at our recent best we were never going to be competing with the teams mentioned (Ajax, PSV, Anderlecht, etc. -- Celtic only beat Anderlecht because they were in turmoil after a manager sacking). The point was to expose us to better, technical opposition and more money, to elevate us to a level where we could climb up the European ladder again. At the moment we are languishing in the doldrums; and it will only get worse as the CL spots dry up.

I am in favour of this route, but it won't be easy; and it certainly won't be any time soon.    

4 minutes ago, Bill said:

 

5 minutes ago, Bill said:

Gifs are like whores and personal number plates, their use is occasionally amusing but reveals a need to bolster an obvious character flaw 

 

 

It's not so much the Split, per se -- it works reasonably well in Belgium -- it's their desperation to have as many Old Firm games (and games against the Old Firm) as possible that's making it unfair and mental, in a League that has too few teams for it to work.  

12 hours ago, Uilleam said:

The Split is bananas.

That's not quite a GIf, though, is it...

2 hours ago, BEARGER said:

Don’t give up the day job.

6 minutes ago, Bill said:

Finally got round to trying this, only to end up more confused than ever. As far as I can see (and believe me I've looked) there is no "choose files" option in any text box. Perhaps someone can provide further help ... or confirm that posting images from anything other than url's is impossible.

When I click the text box, to post a comment/reply, there is an attachment section at the bottom; it says, "Drag files here to attach, or choose files...". 

This is on my laptop, so it may be different for an iPad?

9 minutes ago, DMAA said:

The disagreement is just over whether he fits into that first category of signing I outlined earlier, a young player who will develop with us and likely be sold on for a good profit. For me it's a no. He was already 23 and cost a hefty £1.3m without good reason to believe he was even worth that price with such poor defensive stats.

 

With regards to the comment about which position is more physically demanding, I didn't actually mean it like that I just meant stature and strength. The best centre backs Rangers have had have been tall and strong, Weir and Cuellar the best recent examples. Same for Celtic, Van Dijk most recently and Balde, Varga and Valgaeren going further back. All very big stong guys who could effortlessly defend set pieces all day. The best fullbacks can compete in the air but they don't need to be big strong bullies who win all their aerial battles.

I don't think £1.3m for a 23-year-old defender is excessive. I still think it's too early to say. He's only been here 6 months, with little football; and although he's not developed -- not surprising, really -- I think he's still got potential. We've not developed him yet. There's no doubt that was the intention, though; so he has to fit into that category. 

1 hour ago, DMAA said:

It’s true that many have become better at the physical side of the game here, but Cardoso doesn’t have anything like the physical potential of Wanyama and Van Dijk. Both were already big physical guys. In fact with Wanyama I initially thought it was the technical side of his game that needed work. Van Dijk is 6 foot 4 and would almost certainly have already had an impressive aerial duel record before being signed. Cardoso’s record was appalling. 

 

Papac was most most successful at left back, alongside the tough tackling 6 foot 3 pairing of Weir and Cuellar. He wouldn’t have excelled at centre back because the physical demands are far greater. 

It's all relative. To go back to the main point, he was still a young player with potential. Are you trying to say he had no potential? He had potential, therefore Caixinha was looking to unearth young gems. Hindsight's a wonderful thing. I would still say he has potential, although I doubt it'll be fulfilled here. 

Papac is an example of a player looking less physically imposing doing a good job for Rangers. 

Your claim that to be a successful CB you need to be a physical brute is quite subjective. And I certainly don't think a Centre-back has a more physically demanding job than a FB. 

16 minutes ago, DMAA said:

Yes it was wrong, I had in mind his personal signings from his network. I was more thinking of what he brought to the table in terms of signings. The likes of Jack and Dorrans would have been suggested to whoever was the manager at the time imo, and Morelos was a Johanssen find. But I was wrong to say he as manager didn't employ either tactic because he agreed to spending good money on Morelos and Dorrans.

 

From the outside, it seems as though Caixinha's personal signings were Pena, Herrera, Cardoso, Alves, Candeias and Dalcio.

 

The "gem unearthing" tactic is obviously very hard, but Cardoso was never going to be one whereas Morelos ticked all the boxes. Morelos was 2 years younger, and very much proven at a lower level.

 

I remember reading a wee scout report of Cardoso when he signed which said,

"He’s not particularly robust in the tackle or in the air. He won only 53.18 per cent of his aerial duels in Portugal’s top flight last season (61st among all defenders who spent time at centre-back)". Another british Portugeuse football pundit said he was "surprised" and said something like he had never really stood out.

 

Centre backs aren't successful at Rangers with those characteristics. It just doesn't happen. In fact with those characteristics your career as a centre back in general can only go so far. Nobody had any excuse for thinking they were unearthing a gem with Cardoso. £1.3m seems to be an inflated transfer fee and I think we'd be lucky to ever get it back.

Semantics. They were Caixinha signings; he had the final say. 

There were question marks around Cardoso, but most saw him as a good prospect; young, technical with a potential sell-on value. I think players come to this league all the time, lacking that physical presence and then develop it here to become better players. Wanyama is the perfect example -- and even Van Dijk to a lesser degree. Wanyama barely played initially because he could not deal with the physical nature of the league, but once he did, he became a superb defensive midfielder. 

It's a bit of a generalisation to state CB's "aren't successful at Rangers with those characteristics". Papac was pretty weak and poor physically when he arrived but developed into a superb LB. 

There may be more demanded of a CB initially, but I think the same applies: they become better as they become more muscular, more physical. That applies to Cardoso. Just because he's not physical now doesn't mean he can't in the future. I will concede he's not developing quickly enough, though. I think he has become stronger, but certainly not enough. On balance, I don't think he'll be good enough. Just because he's not developed, doesn't mean he didn't have the potential.

It doesn't matter. I agree with the two-pronged approach -- although I would like to see it supplemented with quality players now, regardless of nationality. I only disagreed with your claim that Caixinha didn't use the tactic; he did, although he didn't use it enough.   

9 hours ago, DMAA said:

I’ll revise that with he didn’t use either enough, and I wouldn’t give him credit for Morelos, Jack and Dorrans. And Cardoso is an example I could have added to Pena and Herrera. Inflated transfer fee and probably wages. 

I could get behind that statement. Your previous statement was just plain wrong.  

Of course he has to get credit for the above signings; they were signed when he was manager. Now you're just massaging the facts. 

At the time it looked like Cardoso was a good signing; young prospect, for not too much outlay. I don't think he'll be on that much, but he's certainly not at the quality we need. We were paying for potential there, though; which was one of your points. 

We did need experienced players too that could play to a good standard now. Candeias and Alves have fit that bill. 

1 hour ago, DMAA said:

I think there are two primary tactics Rangers can use in the transfer market to get back to competing with Celtic.

 

The first is scouting out young players who we can develop and sell on for a major profit (Morelos type signings, and what Celtic have done for years). The best thing about this is it can transform the financial picture in a short space of time.

 

The second tactic is taking advantage of the club's standing with many players, primarily players who support Rangers (Murphy, Docherty, James MacArthur, Scott Arfield etc) but also Scottish players who are particularly attracted to the prospect of being Rangers players (Cummings, Lee Wallace, Russell Martin etc). The primary benefit of this tactic is it allows you to sign a higher calibre of player than would otherwise be possible, and normaly on discounted wages.

 

Davis fits into the second category, and I think Mark Allen has been very clever to use this tactic so far with signings of much higher quality than Rangers would otherwise have been possible, and as long as it doesn't mean the first tactic is neglected (because making money fast is vital just now) I'd be happy with a signing like Davis.

 

Caixhinha abandoned common sense and didn't use either tactic, signing average players who knew nothing about Rangers on very inflated wages and for inflated fees, Herrera and Pena in particular.

 

 

Caixinha didn't use either? What about Morelos, Cardoso, Jack, Dorrans? 

We also need quality players that can play now, which is what Caixinha did with Alves and Candeias.

16 minutes ago, compo said:

Stubbing out a cigar in an apprentices eye 

That statement doesn't mean anything without the context. Barton was guilty of gross misconduct but wasn't solely responsible for that incident as the other guy was also guilty of gross misconduct by trying to set Barton's shirt on fire in the first place.

It wasn't even an apprentice. 

There's no comparison, IMO. You seem to have made up your mind, though, so I'll leave it with you.

17 minutes ago, compo said:

Put him in the same boat as Joey Barton nothing but a jumped up Ned 

Joey Barton is nothing like Lennon. 

That's just silly.

9 hours ago, Bill said:

Question - is it only possible to post images from a url address ... or can you post an image from, say, a photo file on your iPad?

You can click 'choose files' at the bottom of the text box, which opens up your files.

Congratulations!

I don't mind conceding the odd goal if we score 5 at the other end!

What a run from John! Shame he was tripped.

Bring out the Shush!

Hat-trick Windass.

Quality.

What was wrong with that? Docherty won the ball twice there.

Windass put it on a plate for Candeias, but he couldn't connect.