ian1964

Rangers 4 Boyd 2,Lafferty 2 Sheep 0

______________Alexander______________ _____Whittaker____Bougherra___Weir________ _________Edu_______Mendes__________ ___Novo_______Davis_______Lafferty____ _________Miller_____Boyd______________ Reply With Quote I'd go for this team

Do we need a back four at home to the sheep, when we need to score a shit load of goals?

Tom Boyd led Wim Jansen's side to the championship in 1998 to prevent Rangers completing a decade of dominance, but he is convinced that if Gordon Strachan's leaders claim the flag for the fourth successive season then they can consign their arch rivals to the wilderness for years to come. Richard Gough, who inspired Rangers to those nine successive titles between 1989-97, has argued that debt-free Celtic will go on to at least match that achievement if they retain the trophy. Rangers are around �£30 million in the red and desperately need the �£15 million which comes with the automatic qualification for next season's Champions League money. However, failure to win the championship and claim that revenue could leave them disappearing in Celtic's rear-view mirror. "Who am I to argue with Richard Gough?" said Boyd. "I certainly hope he's right. "If you believe the financial problems that Rangers have at this moment in time then this title is crucial to them. "Celtic are on this three-in-a-row run and if Rangers financial position is as bad as people say then they won't be able to afford the better quality players if they don't win the league this season. "The money that the Champions League brings in is colossal and it would be one of the most vital championship wins in Rangers' history for those reasons. "There was a lot of pressure on us in 1998 to win the title and stop 10-in-a-row and that was evident in some of our results. The financial position that Rangers are in now makes this title every bit as intense for them as it was for us then. "Rangers need the money to compete and automatic entry into the Champions League. We didn't have that back then as we had to negotiate the qualifiers and that money wasn't guaranteed. "There is an added pressure for Rangers because a lot could hinge on their success or failure in this title race." Murdo MacLeod won four championship medals with Celtic, including last-day successes in 1979 and 1986. Now an analyst for BBC Scotland, MacLeod believes that the current side surrendering their advantage would constitute capitulation. His main concern is that Hibernian's top scorer, Derek Riordan, signed and discarded by Strachan in seemingly arbitrary fashion, will have yet another say in this season's denoument. Riordan scored in the 1-1 draw against Rangers which handed Celtic an unlikely lifeline on Wednesday, and he will be out for revenge at Easter Road on Sunday. "If you're ahead with two games to play then I think you can only throw it away," said MacLeod. "You're at the stage with two games to go when you say: 'Let's win at Easter Road and then at Celtic Park'. That's a situation you would take all the time. "Derek won't hold back on Sunday, though. He'll look back on his time at Celtic and not be happy with the amount of games he played. "He felt he didn't get a chance. He's certainly capable of scoring and I'm sure that possibility is in the thoughts of a lot of Celtic fans just now. "I think he'll have a point to prove. Derek knows how tight it is in the title race but he has more affection for Hibs than anyone else. "He won't look at Celtic as one of his old teams that he has a soft spot for. He is a big Hibs man and, 100 per cent, he will be wanting them to win." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/scottishpremier/celtic/5325733/Title-outcome-could-affect-Rangers-Celtic-battle-for-years-to-come-says-Tom-Boyd.html

3-3-4.................formation for sheep game

One thing is for sure, we NEED to go into the DUTD game in front, which means a good few goals scored against the sheep, the MOPES will win their last two games, but not by much IMO

'Ball Was Over Line' By Andrew Dickson NACHO NOVO and David Weir voiced their disappointment at being denied a win at Hibs after referee Eddie Smith refused to let one of the Spaniard's efforts stand. With 21 minutes of tonight's game at Easter Road remaining and Rangers trailing, the former Dundee hitman appeared to force the ball into the net. Ross Chisholm hooks away as Rangers' players claim for a goalBut having apparently turned to run for the halfway line, linesman Martin Cryans did not flag to give a goal after Ross Chisholm hooked away. That decision prompted a furious reaction from a number of Light Blues stars and both Pedro Mendes and Kyle Lafferty were booked for their protests. Novo later levelled and the game finished 1-1 but it could and probably should have been a more positive result for Walter Smith's team. It was the third time this season that Gers weren't given a goal when they arguably should have. DaMarcus Beasley and Kris Boyd had strikes chalked off at Aberdeen and Motherwell in August and November when they were perfectly legal. Had those and Novo's effort stood, Rangers would potentially have been six points clear of Celtic and on the brink of the title tonight. Instead, they're level on 80 points with their Old Firm rivals and trailing on goal difference and goals scored. Pedro Mendes complains about Novo's effort not standingNovo said: "The ball was definitely in, even their players told me that. Their skipper (Rob Jones) and Ian Murray both said so. "They admitted the ball was over the line themselves but there's nothing else you can say. "Sometimes things go against you but you just need to keep going. It's one of those things but we have to move on now." Skipper Weir added: "We had one disallowed which was clearly a goal and that's hard to take. "We had other chances to win the game but didn't take them and that was disappointing too. At 1-0 down, Derek Riordan scored a great goal and we fought back well. "Nacho and Kyle Lafferty came on and gave us an added dimension in attack but unfortunately we couldn't get a winner."

You can't tell if the ball was over the line or not from the tv pictures, how can you expect the linesman to give it ??, inconclusive and we should not need to rely on that one incident,we were utter pish the first half, as were the HOBOS, they scored a cracking goal although I thought Bougherra should have closed Riordan down, we had enough chances the second half to easily have won the game, we didn't, so on to Saturday and shag the the sheep and hope the HOBOS take something off the MOPES, then it's game on again

And your point is ?

I'm being serious here, although we are up against it once again, let's just see what happens, if we give the sheep a right good humping, no pun intended, the pressure is back on the MOPES...............BELIEVE

'' My argument is quite simple ''................just like me

Agreed. Make no mistake Lafferty is/will be a big player for us next season, but excuse me for still thinking this league title is not finished yet

Na, it aint over yet my friend

If you change just a couple of ratings I'll agree, Davis shite, Mendes shite

Ok, all I'm trying to say is BF is not has not been our worst midfield player this season, I lost count of the amount of times Mendes was sitting on the CH toes to take the ball of them only to play a sideways pass, sound familiar ?

As I said, I am not defending BF, I just laugh when I hear everybody praise Mendes & Davis so much, the truth is they are decent players but I would not like to depend on these two to win us much when the going gets tough

We are all hurting tonight, but once again we need to point the finger of blame at an individual !!!, the whole team were to blame, no individual

I sort of agree with you Craig, but for me BF is still our best midfield player, even though he has never reproduced his best form............excuse me a minute while I go and get my hard hat on

We do still have a chance of winning the league, but I can't help smiling when I hear all the OTT praise that Mendes & Davis gets, and have got all season, yet BF gets slaughtered for.........sideways/backward passing, honestly it's quite pathetic, I'm not saying BF should be playing or that he would have made a difference, but BF has played no worse than any other midfield player this season or last, but typical Rangers fans prefer these two to BF. On the bright side we are still in with a shout of the title

In no way can anybody blame Walter Smith for tonights result, the players are to blame, when was the last time WS made two changes at half time ?, sorry you can blame whoever you want except WS

Shocking tackle http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/8048206.stm

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So you kept telling me on Saturday :cheers:, I've never been so bad as I was at th start of the second half, hope you're right again Johnny

Hope the fans are on form tonight to help ease the players nerves

Yes He is still our best bet to score, although I don't think anyone will give a shit who scores, as long as we score more than the HOBOS