Gaffer

Is Barker injured? I suspect his pace up front will be useful. Ojo has the pace but is not as reliable at defending and I suspect we will have a lot of that to do this evening. Morelos and Kent need to be on fire tonight formus to have a chance. And of course our defence (including Jack and Davis) need to be rock solid. I suspect they will score at least one goal which is why our front three need to put in the biggest performance of the season.

I agree we need other wealthy contributors, but I will always be suspicious of anyone (never mind corporate investors) putting money into Rangers as an investment. If you really are interested in an investment, you'd never put your money in a football club, never mind one with the lofty expectations of our club and it's fans. We will always rely on a business model of buying and selling players for profit. Of course we will also benefit from wealthy individuals like King who want to financially support the club too. I saw Club 1872 as an important part of this process because it could provide the vehicle for fans like me to put money into the c,I believe without expectation of a return on that investment. For many reasons our support seem unwilling to participate in that scheme. It's for that reason that we need King to hang around at least five more years to get us to the stage where we have a stable business model. The problem is though that Celtic are operating a successful similar model and it will be very difficult to ever catch up unless they have serious consequences arising from two years of lack of success in European competitions.

Ten in a row is a complete red herring. It has absolutely nothing to do with the strategy of our board. Winning the league is more of a status thing rather than a financial thing. Yes, if we qualify for the Champions League group stages it can be lucrative but our finances are not based on winning the league this season or next. They're not even based on qualifying for the Europa league every year. Our strategy is clearly to grow the club to a point where it can become self sufficient with player sales. This takes investment, which King has said since day one. He was ridiculed by some commentators for suggesting he'd put in at least £50m, but that's exactly what he's doing. King is successful and knows what it takes to get a business off the ground. The worst case scenario for us before was losing our club. Now the worst case scenario is that we have a club that operates as the second best club in Scotland, unable to compete with the financial strength of Celtic. However, already these accounts show that we could operate on a break even basis if we chose to do so. I'm just delIghted we have a board that's willing to fund our development, meaning we can live beyond our means for as long as they're prepared to fund it. I think we should by all means scrutinise, but let's also celebrate the fortunate position we enjoy at the moment.

Jack, Morelos and Davis were all in contention but it gives me great pleasure to see Kent back in business and terrorising defences and after that performance I had to pick him. I've made no secret of the fact that I just love watching this guy play. There's a heightened sense of excitement and anticipation when he has the ball and I'm thrilled to see him getting back to where he left off in May. I fully expect these four players to battle it out for player of the season.

I read the accounts, but I didn't post anything because I didn't see anything particularly surprising or worrying about them. Others may be the same. I have an issue with your point about selling a player. Of course selling a player will have a big impact on the team, which is why I hope King will be around for long enough to help us build a conveyor belt of talent to allow the club to fund itself. However we can't have it both ways. Either we don't want the club to require funding from King and in which case take much longer to return to winning ways, or we are happy with it for a period of time. How can anyone be surprised in the slightest with these results, given the outlay we've had on players and upgrades? I think it's all very well being concerned that the club suffers losses, but what would anyone here propose we do differently? How can we build our revenue streams quickly without incurring significant losses? I've never known any medium sized business (such as our club) being able to do that. I'd be more concerned if these losses were debts but they're not. These losses have been converted to equity at each opportunity. Like everyone here, I'll continue to scrutinise the board's actions and the relevant accounts (and court judgements) because I don't want to leave that to other commentators again, but I will represent the information fairly. There can be nothing in here that is a surprise to anyone surely?

I've read the accounts and there's nothing in there that worries me at all. The debt is converted to equity so there's little to no debt funding required. Even if King decided to pack up and leave, all we need to do is cover that loss with the sale of a player and we are break even. Obviously, if King went we would need to either to continue to fund the gap with the sale of players or cut our cloth accordingly. However the main difference now is that we would continue to survive. I must admit that I am quite happy that the focus is on our board and our accounts because we need to maintain a healthy level of scrutiny. What that lot across the city will find (if they bother to scrutinise their own accounts rather than ours) is if they fail to qualify for the group stages in Europe, they will see their bank balance wiped out very quickly. Their spending is all balanced against an expectation of doing well in Europe. To be fair, this was a sensible model while they were given a crack at the Champions League each year (without any domestic challenge), but one season of failure can quickly result in their house of cards collapsing. That would be a shame!

I realise we all see the game differently, but I'm really surprised to see the stick that Ojo gets. He's a very young guy with bags of skill, pace and power. He's definitely one for the future and in my opinion he's one I would like us to buy soon before his price rockets. I thought Hearts looked terrified of him, Kent and Morelos yesterday, and if he develops some better decision making he will be a fantastic player. I liked Candeias but he WANTED to go because he couldn't be guaranteed a more regular place in the team. Let's not forget that. Candeias proved that he had a great workrate, but whenever we are up against packed defences he lacked the skill and guile to be effective. Gerrard had to improve the team so there's no way he could guarantee Candeias more starts. He acted as cover for Tav, which was fine, but we need someone with more skill than Candeias offered. Kent, Ojo, Arfield, Barker, Jones, etc are all more effective at breaking down packed defences than Candeias was. If we hadn't upgraded from Candeias we wouldn't have been much better than we were last season. He was a good servant to the club, but let's not make him out to be something he wasn't.

I'm looking forward to the MotM poll going up for the Hearts game. As the resident Kent fan boy it will give me great pleasure to give him his first vote of many this season. That front three of Kent, Ojo and Morelos is a nightmare for defences, especially if they open up. We need to really go for it against that other lot. If we do we will beat them comfortably I feel.

Take a bow Ryan Kent. Great performance! Aribo on in his place.

That's just brilliant play from Kent and Morelos. This partnership is exciting.

I was desperate for Kent to score. I just love watching him. He has all the skills and tricks. If he can add goals to his game (which he needs to), he will be up there with Morelos as one of our most dangerous players.

Helander was anticipating that from Morelos. Fantastic.

I think that will be our team too, although I'd prefer to replace Arfield with Ojo. We will need Jack, Kent, Aribo and Morelos in particular to perform so we can break down the Hearts defence this time.

There's no doubt our wingbacks are an important part of the way we play, but I don't see them as being any more important than other parts of the team. We can use the word "key" to describe an important player in the team, or we can use it to describe a player we rely on for the win, or one we can't replace easily. Either way, I don't think Tav has been key for us this season. If he was key, and yet performing so poorly (as he obviously has), I'd expect more detriment in the results we've had. In my opinion we only have three real key players and whose absence is sorely felt. McGregor, Jack and Morelos are the three players who seem to make the biggest difference to our performances and results. In my opinion the others could be changed and wouldn't have such a big impact on our results, but these three are at the moment irreplaceable. I would have dropped Tav. Gerrard obviously thinks that he's the type of player who needs to play his way into good form and that's obviously the gaffer's job to know how best to manage his players effectively. However I can't be convinced that a Pollster in that position this season would have performed any less than Tav has. At the very least he should have been given a chance. It must be utterly demoralising for the others to see poor performers retain their position (and this includes Arfield). Having said that, if they really are not good enough to step up to replace an under performing player, I'd hope Ross Wilson finds them a new club soon because they're a waste of money to us otherwise.

Not only is Jack performing well on the pitch, but he's also working miracles off it. Look at this poll result. Has he just single handedly achieved the impossible on Gersnet by getting us all to unanimously agree on something for the first time? I think so. This is a moment worth celebrating!

I understand your point that we need to offload some players who will never be likely to make it into the team now, but I just don't think any of these younger players are anywhere near good enough yet. If they were good enough, players like Grezda would be easily dislodged, but they're not. McCrorie has struggled to hold down a spot at Portsmouth so that tells me he's not ready for our first team yet. I am all for us developing our own but if they're not good enough for us we need to develop them even if it's purely to sell them on. I don't want us diluting the quality of our squad to accommodate average players just because they're from our academy. It's perhaps unfair in a way because the required standard has gone up enormously over the past two years in particular, but these young players need to now reach that level or move on. If they're good enough I'm sure the management team will play them. In Gerrard we trust.

I am hoping @ian1964 can serve the community once more by finding and posting the tweet/clip from last night which shows Morelos' reaction to being subbed, but even funnier is Gerrard and Defoe laughing at the side of the pitch. That was pure comedy gold!!!! ???? For those that missed it, Morelos was looking delighted after scoring his second and obviously contemplating another hat trick. Just then however he looks up to see Defoe is coming on to replace him. His face is an absolute picture. The camera then returns back to Defoe and Gerrard standing together at the touchline. They are clearly laughing and Defoe even has to put his hands over his face to try to conceal it. I just laughed out loud when I saw it. Our football at the moment is quality entertainment on and off he pitch, for all the right reasons.

There is only one correct answer to this poll! Anyone who gets it wrong just didn't see the game. ?

Jack is just superb. He was already our best player along with Morelos this season, but if he keeps adding goals too he just further proves how valuable he is. The improvement in him and Morelos is quite astounding really and I love watching Jack stroll through these games. I also love watching his reaction at scoring, and that interaction with the gaffer after his second goal was great to see.

I would love to think that we will eventually get a player in my lifetime who can replace Laudrup as the best ever Rangers player. He's by far the best I've ever seen in a Rangers jersey. After him it's: Gazza, Souness, Negri (in my opinion the best goal scorer we've ever had), and Durrant. I'm sure Mols would have been in my top five if he hadn't suffered that injury, but other notable considerations include Trevor Steven, McCoist, Butcher and Goram.

Our academy isn't just there to develop players for the first team. It is also a source of revenue and many of our young players can be sold on. Traditionally we've regarded success as an academy player making it into our first team, but other clubs use their academies purely to raise funds (by selling them to lesser clubs) that can be used to buy the players they need. I have not seen evidence that our academy is doing either though at the moment.

Maybe I've misunderstood you, but are you saying you didn't envisage your contributions being spent on buying shares? I thought that was the key purpose of the formation of this Club 1872.

I went for Helander but I was hovering over the Barisic button too. Davis was really good but his game is severely affected when those around him fail to perform. I think his team mates helped make him look bad on three occasions when he lost possession thanks to some slack play from him, but mainly a lack of options. I am concerned because we don't seem to perform at all when Jack and Morelos are out of the team. Obviously we need our two best players (in my opinion), but I'm disappointed at just how fragile we become without them. Having said that, this was a huge three points for us. It's yet another example of a game we would have drawn or lost in previous seasons.

There were so many times in that match when our possession play (under pressure) was just a delight to watch. One particular moment stood out for me though. I think it was in the second half and Porto were closing us down in our own half. There was a passage of play involving one-twos from Davis, Jack and Barisic I think. They played it around so simply and then eventually passed it out wide towards Tav on the other side. The Porto players looked dejected that they didn't get a sniff, despite them pressing on every one of our players. I never thought I'd ever see my team play that standard of football. I was watching it alone in my hotel but I still clapped. We are now capable of playing some of the best football I've ever seen. In the past when our team was winning 9 in a row we never played great team football. We were effective at getting results, but the play was poor a lot of the time, including when we went to the UEFA final that year. I've always enjoyed watching teams like Barca, Liverpool, Man City and Dortmund so to see my own team perform like that is just awesome. We need to take that into the games against that other lot and if we do, we would wipe the floor with them.

I'm pleased with this team for this game, and even if we lose now at least we're going in with the right attitude. Aribo and Ojo don't work hard enough in defence but both could feature and be effective later in the game. Gerrard continues to trust Tav, but I'm glad to see him sending a message to Arfield, Ojo and Aribo that they've got some way to go before he trusts them in big games like these. Arfield will turn it around but he's been off the pace since he returned in the summer.