JFK-1

In my view King is as much of a fan as any of us are and has delivered what he promised. Remember the mockery when he took over and made a comment about a "£30 million warchest" ? Initially the spending was relatively frugal such as the 200K or so spent on Tav which cranked the mockery up no end but then when he began to spend that 'warchest' in the millions over the next few seasons the mockery became outrage despite the fact he had stated exactly what he intended. We all know the lines. They're skint. Admin 2 blah blah. One of the first things he said was we need to get out of the Championship as champions not through the playoffs. Check. We need to get back into Europe probably initially in the Europa League. Check. We need to be challenging for the title. Check. While I have no problem with anyone questioning his decisions actual criticism to the extent that I have seen 'King oot' cries here and there along the way when we don't know all the underlying detail behind his decisions is over the top. I fear to think where we would have been without him as the Whytes and his ilk circled like vultures waiting to pick the bones clean.

Almost like the slaughter of the sheep aside from the fact Russia only got in 18 shots to Rangers 27 and the sheep only got 1 shot on target to Scotland's 2.

And another. The floodgates are opened now.

Great goal for Russia.

Well this might be interesting Shankland comes on for the second half though I don't see how he can score from the Scotland half.

Russia thrashing Scotland 0-0 with 72% possession 10 shots at goal to 0 for Scotland though not a single Russian shot on target. For the Russians it's like playing Clarkes Kilmarnock though with even less forward penetration than Kille.

I don't see them dropping any home points anytime soon either. But they do seem to have problems breaking down the low block away from home and that's the sheep specialty. Surely they can get it right just once.

As the manager himself has stated it's far too early to say which way it will go but it's definitely different from previous seasons. It was inconsistent results against lesser lights that killed it last season while this season the evidence suggests that will be less frequent. We're digging out results against the low blocks. I think we're more of an attacking force than they are and think they're too dependent on Edouard. He has a relatively spotted injury list for such a young guy missing 2 games here and there with injuries. From season 17/18 till now he has missed 16 matches through injury while our own iron man Alfie has missed 1 game in that same period and was only out for 5 days from Nov 27th to December 2nd 2017. And aside from the Edouard injuries he isn't all that consistent. It might be the season when they fail more against lesser lights than we do.

Can't remember where I got that from but it came from memory not some link so you may be right.

That could have been a bad one if he had taken him on the planted leg. I don't think he went in with intent to take him out but it was a case of studs showing and reckless.

I hope we have as good a lead as possible come January to the extent that them splashing the cash would be too little to late. With a good enough lead It doesn't matter how much cash they splash because that wont help the others beat us. If we had beaten them at Ibrox the lead would currently be 8 points and i'm glad the manager has pretty much taken responsibility for that due to team selection and strategy on the day. But I still trust him to get us there if anybody can. Last night I got around to watching the Gerrard documentary 'make us dream' and saw another side of him. Was amused to see him cursing on a number of occasions and could see him doing that to effect in the dressing room when he's not happy at halftime. This man is driven and has an implicit understanding of the yearning within a club like Rangers to get a title. He's lived that his entire career and grasps that at Rangers right now there's this extra edge to it given the situation of them going for 9. Didn't know Mourinho tried to sign him 3 times while at Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. Came close to signing for Chelsea after agreeing a deal but when it came to actually signing he just couldn't do it despite the fact there was more money and the title he so craved on the table.

I think given his age though exceptional fitness for a 37 year old that Gerrard has been learning how to use him sparingly. And hopefully learned which I have no doubt he has that Morelos should have been the starter in our only league loss. Despite his exceptional fitness for his age no 37 year old can play 90 minutes on a regular basis. He's a key player and one of those we wouldn't have had a sniff at if not for Gerrard. Might even be that he's been a factor in the improvement of Morelos discipline. You get the feeling Morelos is hero worshiping him.

Why Liverpool lead looks ominous for Man City - Alan Shearer analysis It is only the start of October, but Liverpool's eight-point lead at the top of the table already looks ominous for Manchester City. Yes, City's injuries have hurt them - they have been nowhere near as solid as usual defensively, and they lacked a creative spark in Sunday's shock home defeat by Wolves too. But, regardless of what their rivals are doing, to come out and win their first eight Premier League games of the season has been a fantastic response from the Reds after they went so close to winning the title last term. There has been no hint of a hangover from that near miss. Instead, Jurgen Klopp's side have thrown the gauntlet down to City, and now they are definitely the team to beat in the title race. It is still far too early to write City's challenge off, but there are several reasons why it is going to be very hard for Pep Guardiola's team to catch Liverpool. 'Another off day Man City could not afford' Nobody saw City's latest defeat coming - but it was no fluke, nor something they can blame on bad luck. Much like when they lost at Norwich in September, Guardiola's side made lots of errors and looked really poor defensively - Wolves missed three one-on-one chances against keeper Ederson in the first half when the score was 0-0. Without the injured Aymeric Laporte at the back, City have clearly got a big problem - and it is not going away. The strength of their attack means the defence is not always tested but, on Sunday, they lacked ideas going forward too. Wolves deserve a lot of credit for that, because they were set up perfectly to soak up pressure. They left no space behind their backline and forced City to come inside or hit crosses into the box where their three centre-halves were waiting to clear. I usually associate City with quick and slick passing in and around the opposition's 18-yard box, but there was not a lot of that on display on Sunday. The absence of Kevin de Bruyne, who has created so much for them this season, cannot have helped. Without him, City could not find a way through, or around, the Wolves defence - before Adama Traore's breakaway goals won it late on. 'Reds give themselves a cushion at the top' What made things worse for City this weekend was that Liverpool kept on winning while they dropped more points - Saturday's 2-1 victory over Leicester was the Reds 17th in a row in the league, a run stretching back to 10 March. By maintaining their level from last season, Liverpool have said "we are still here" to the defending champions, and to everyone else too. They fell just short last season, which will still be hurting them now. They might not go away this time. Liverpool only lost one league game in 2018-19, so we know how hard they are to beat. They have shown that same resolve to win games in the past few weeks when they have not been at their best. Like City, they have had to deal with losing a key player to injury too. It was a big blow when Brazil goalkeeper Alisson tore his calf muscle in the opening Premier League game of the season but they have still taken maximum points without him. The Reds have been here before, of course, and they did not exactly thrive when they were frontrunners last season. That experience will help them. But the real difference now is that, for the first time, they have a proper cushion at the top. Last season, the biggest lead they had over City when both sides had played the same number of games was seven points, and even that only lasted for four days at the turn of the year. From then on, they were under almost constant pressure in one of the tightest title races I can remember - but with the way the table looks now, the Liverpool players won't be feeling the same way. Of course, they still have to handle being top, but they go into the international break with the biggest lead any Premier League team have had after eight games, and they fully deserve it. 'Longstaff winner is what dreams are made of' Klopp's next test is a trip to fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 October, which is usually one of Liverpool's toughest away matches of the season. This time, Liverpool will not have any fears of going to Old Trafford, not just because of how well they are playing, but because of how badly United are struggling. They still look a million miles away from matching the Anfield side in every department. The defeat at Newcastle on Sunday was another example of that, but it also provided me with my favourite moment of an eventful weekend in the Premier League. Matty Longstaff made his Newcastle debut alongside his older brother Sean in midfield, was voted man of the match and scored the winning goal at St James' Park. I was off my feet in the Match of the Day 2 production office when his shot flew in, and it is what dreams are made of. Every kid who grows up in Newcastle wants to do exactly the same. It was a brilliant moment for both brothers and their family watching in the stands. Matty will remember it for the rest of his life. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49955828

Currently after 8 league games Rangers have scored 26 goals which is an average 3.25 goals per game. If that statistic continued throughout the season the end result is 123.5 Last season Rangers finished highest scorers in the league with 82 goals.

Surprisingly only the hubz contingent appear to be seeing the obvious though it grates on them to say it. Posts from their forum after today.

The yahoos are now pinning their hopes on us apparently having a tough run of away games upcoming while they have an easier run predominately at home. While not even knowing it they're conceding they're in a title race they're currently losing. Where are Rangers? Look above you. The team with 2 more points than you have while having scored 4 more than you have and conceded 2 fewer.

How many of us truly believed this would be the season we might break the Celtic title stranglehold? I thought it was a possibility but then I always think that at the outset. Celtic started the season bookies favourites by a long way and still are bookies favourites but not by a long way anymore. I think they started the season around 1/8 while we were out around 5/1 or so but currently that stands at Celtic 8/11 with Rangers at 11/8 followed by Aberdeen at 250/1. Betting without Celtic Rangers 0/1 which I don't even know what that means Aberdeen 22/1 We currently have Jack, Aribo, and Kent all out injured but probably not long term with long term injury victim Murphy just coming back into the picture. This team the yahoo blip aside is more often than not looking formidable at home while grinding out wins away. And while it might be said the average SPL opposition isn't so impressive even Feyenoord looked out of their depth during an impressive first half Rangers performance at Ibrox where Feyenoord could easily have went in 3 or 4 down at halftime. We also have what we thought would be 'fringe' players like Greg Stewart beginning to turn in impressive performances even before our injured first picks return. While we were all unimpressed by the narrow win league cup win over Livi on their plastic today Celtic went there and came away with nothing which puts a little perspective on that result. I get the feeling this team still hasn't even peaked with the possibility that they will become even more impressive over the weeks and months ahead. Looking all over the pitch the strength in depth was illustrated once again with a start for Edmundson who really looks like a player who can scale the heights. We're more than well covered in the centre of defence while the riches in midfield options is almost embarrassing and that's even before mentioning the top class goalie standing behind them. And all that with what appears to be the two best strikers in Scotland. Jermain Defoe currently scoring a league goal every 39 minutes and two 5-0 league wins on the trot. If this were the yahoos all the talk would be about how awesome and unbeatable they are. It's all extremely promising provided we can maintain consistency which has been an issue over the past few years but this time I just don't see that being the issue it has been in recent seasons. With eight games gone we stand 2 points clear at the top with a GD 6 ahead of the nearest contender. In fact the only other contender. Not too shabby for an under 18's coach. Is it Graeme Spiers?

Early days but Liverpool now have a very useful cushion at the top. What a season for Gerrard if both Rangers and Liverpool took titles.

They need to do just a tiny bit of research.

Defoe now on 9 league goals with the nearest competition being Christie of Celtic on 6. And a further stat which has been mentioned before is his frequency of scoring. Last week it was 44 minutes per goal now it's 39 minutes per goal. Jermain Defoe 39 minutes per goal 353 minutes played The closest in the league to his 39 minutes is actually Alfie on 5 goals and 79 minutes per goal having played 40 minutes more. Alfredo Morelos 79 minutes per goal 393 minutes played. Christie has 6 goals at 95 minutes per goal having played 569 minutes. We have two free scoring strikers both of whom have played far fewer minutes than any of the opposition goal scoring competition.

Will get little to no credit for it against a side who last week defeated Livi, the conquerors of the yahoos this week. An example from a red top. When the yahoos get such a result well they're just so awesome. When Rangers do it the opposition were very poor and just didn't try very hard. A show of defiance? What the hell are they looking for? Drop their shorts and moon us?

Presumably they mean the first time this season but we all get the sly dig. We were also briefly top last December.

Wondering if Motherwell are capable of maintaining their start. Thye do appear capable of getting goals including 2 against the yahoos in a 2-5 loss and have hit 3 against both Hamilton and hubz while grabbing a couple as they did today isn't unusual for them. Contrast that to the rest below them who are often playing out narrow 1-0 wins or low scoring draws. And I would say it's more impressive than the turgid sheep 'grinding out' narrow wins for years of top 4 finishes. But can they maintain it? I have no idea of their squad depth though Hearts have greater depth and currently that depth has been plumbed in as severe a long term injury crisis as I can remember any Scottish club experiencing.

I'm beginning to think that outside the top two who themselves look relatively closely matched this is looking like as evenly matched a league as I can recall seeing certainly in the SPL era. I have a notion that this is linked to the fact everyone outside the OF is trading at a generally at best league one freebie level. This then results in a relatively closely matched league. These guys are in general freebies for a reason. No one at that league 1 level wants them or wants to pay them what they think they are worth. That kind of quality might get you a moment here and there but it's not going to be consistent since if it were likely to be they wouldn't have been a freebie in the first place. Due to this lack of a top quality edge they're all very defensive and regularly have a win lose or draw margin of just one odd nicked goal. And when you consider even Rangers and Celtic regularly do that away from home too you can imagine how difficult it is for the rest with their lesser quality against the current mastery of this stop them playing at all costs mentality. Celtic struggled to a 1-0 win at Hamilton, Rangers did the same at St Mirren, while the usually reliable sheep habit of grinding out results at lesser lights appears to have been interrupted. The sheep lost 1-0 away at St Mirren and drew 1-1 at home with current league whipping boys St Johnstone. I think the rest may be so closely matched this season that they're all going to be taking points off each other frequently. If that were indeed the case it may well produce a situation where for a significant part of the season the distance between say 3rd/4th and 9th/10 couldn't be almost completely reversed after just a couple of games or so. If Hearts could resolve their injury crisis tonight I think they might be a good bet for third but in the meanwhile it looks as if their season may be crippled by it.