BlackSocksRedTops

I edging towards this way of thinking tbh. The money we spend on Lammars might have been better spent on a wide player or dare I say it Shankland.

I'm very fearful about the PSV tie(s) to be honest. Not because they might beat us as they are a very good team. I'm more fearful about the backlash a defeat would bring from the fans. Our primary aim this season is to win the league. Europe is a great financial bonus for us and now that we've secured EL group stage football and nearly 5 million pounds, I think we've done well. If we get negative knee jerk reactions to the PSV games, it could really derail our league challenge IMO.

I wouldn't start Lammars or Hagi on tuesday. Cantwell in that free role. Jack, Ruskington, Cifu in the middle. Danilo and Dessers up top.

Didn't expect too much today as its the League Cup. Let's be honest, if we looked at the last 20 or so years, we could count good LC/SC cup performances at Ibrox on one finger. These games are always dire IMO and especially the LC. A few positives... Dessers looks like he is slowly getting there. He definitely has something (first half volley was nicely worked) so I'm remaining patient. Still a stick on to score against the Dhims IMO. Matondo looked lively again and if he starts to calm down a bit and use his head he could be useful. Sterling, Dowell, Balogun, Hagi, Roofe got minutes in the tank. The negatives... As much as I am willing to be patient with Dessers, my patience is fading fast with Lammars. I'm still unsure what he is going to bring? Granted, he's regarded as a "technical" player but in old fashioned money he looks like a fan dancer. A luxury player who needs too many touches and forgets that football is a simple game. Crossing...In the absence of Pinky and Perky today, I was hoping that we might abandon the aimless tactic of lobbing in cross after cross. Alas, it turned out that we other players that excell in the pointless tactic.

Every day is a school day...🤣🤣🤣

Cool. Got Jim Denny as my first scorer now...

Can we amend? I had Danilo...

He looks like an impressive specimen. Built like a tank. On that front, does anyone else think Tav dip in form and pace has coincided with him bulking up. He looks larger than he did before in terms of muscle.

Let's see how the game unfolds. I genuinely feel that much of the issues we are facing are merely compounded by the minute by minute microscopic analysis of everything before, during and after games. Fans need to calm down (including me!!) and see how the team gets on today. I think I've listened to 7 different podcasts this week about Servette/Morton/PSV and its information overload. I didn't do this before!! 🤨

Win the game early to allow for a good rotation of the players that need games.

Parkhead is a total shithole IMO. Went there during the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and was shocked at how shabby it was. Celtic would be doing Rangers fans a favour by not making tickets available. Play hard ball Rangers. They are just used to getting their own way with everything.

How is that defensive? See this as Lundstram as holding DM and then moving back to be part of a three. Everyone else attacking.

Rangers 4 Morton 0 FGS Matondo

Whit? Do you register a squad of 90 players?

Hagi seems to have become 3 times the player during his time off through injury.

That's why I put Souttar in the middle. Not seen much of Sterling but Souttar is strong at moving the ball out of the back IMO.

As this new season has slowly progressed, much has been made of this current squad of players and what formation we should be playing to ensure we get the best out of them. Despite the influx of new blood, much of the debate has unsurprisingly focused on two senior members of the squad, Tavernier and Barasic, due to their Jekyll and Hyde starts to the season. Further questions about our narrow shape and lack of width have have also been reinforced by Tuesdays events in Geneva. This has got me thinking of how to get the best qualities of Tav and Borna working to our advantage whilst ensuring that we are providing cover for our central defenders. It seems Beale is curious about the possibilities of a playing a back 3 as he has utilised a deep lying midfielder dropping in there on occasions. He has also further teased this idea with Sterling's recent cameos appearances against Livingston and Servette. Does anyone see this as a long term concern? I could see this working for games against Celtic and games in Europe. On the graphic attached players could be swapped like for like (Roofe for Dessers, Ridvan for Borna etc.) IMO it provides cover for our back line and would ask less of Tav and Borna during games. Both are at the stage of their career where they cannot do both jobs to a good enough level. A 3 also gives Souttar more licence to step forward and use the ball. I know they are on a different level but look at what Stones does for Man City. It also allow us to play a higher press which (I feel we will have to do against PSV and Celtic). Thoughts?

Cheers Gonzo. I did think it was strange that a CL game was on a weekend.

Was the game not in Zagreb?

Not too many wholesale changes for me. We need this team playing together as much as possible. Start strong and then make the relevant changes when the game is done.

I am also torn. With regards to potential money earned, I've seen 25 million mention. Is that overall prize money for the tournament or what we could potentially earn? I'll email Gianni Infantino...

Just a wee correction WBD. Zagreb actually lost their 2-1 in the first leg at home so might struggle to qualify.

Cheers Thinker. I thought it was it something like this. With regards to Dinamo Zagreb, they lost 2-1 at home in the 1st league of their CL qualifier and randomly play the 2nd leg in Greece on Saturday.

Brugge are in the Conference League so I'm not sure if you get less points for that?