DMAA

Anyone singing the word fen1an last night, after all warnings we've had of stadium closures, should be banned for the rest of the season. They have demonstrated to the club that they will not listen without consequences. 

Morelos’s headers were world class. I think hisbheading has come on in leaps and bounds. 

1 minute ago, Rousseau said:

Full time. 

 

2-2. 

 

Should have won that game. 

 

Other results go against us, too.

Yeh a good result that we would have taken but incredibly frustrating circumstances given the sucker punch counter attack when we were well on top

Arfield has struggled to get up to speed 

Our midfielders are aggressive in the tackle but the defence keep standing off players!

That’s a really strange one. Looked like Ojo had been taken out on the edge of the box but there was very little contact. Disappointing from Ojo as he should have stayed on his feet and he’d have been through. 

Jack has been outstanding 

Fantastic pass from Davis. Fantastic delivery from Kent and fantastic header from Morelos. 

YASSSS!

There’s a stark difference in the quality of set piece deliveries between the sides. 

Poor showing so far. Some signs of what we can do from the centre midfielders. Morelos has been guilty of repeatedly giving the ball away very cheaply and opting to go down easily rather than really trying to compete. 

Only on a Rangers forum could a thread showering praise on a Rangers player turn into a full blown debate on what constitutes being "slow"... 

Feyenoord haven't lost at home and Young Boys haven't won away. I think we're realistically aiming for an away draw and a home win here. 

25 minutes ago, buster. said:

Incidentally, talking about Arsenal youngsters, I see that Gedion Zelalem (now 22 years of age) has been sent on loan from Sporting Kansas to Swope Park Rangers. 

That is incredible. Swope Park Rangers finished rock bottom in the Eastern Conference in the 2nd tier in the US last season. He was a very talented player despite his slight frame so I'm shocked he's sunk that low.

1 minute ago, Bill said:

No it was Carlos Cuellar by a huge margin.

Who was also slow. My point obviously wasn't really about who was best and who was second best. David Weir was excellent for years but the point is our best centre back (or 2nd best if that is your view) was very slow and it wasn't that we just weren't very good, we dominated.

4 minutes ago, Uilleam said:

Not much competition, there, it has to be said...

He was a key member of a side who dominated domestically and took us to a European final so I don't think more competition would have changed much

8 minutes ago, BEARGER said:

He looks slow at times to me, makes up for it in experience/positioning  possibly.

1 minute ago, Uilleam said:

Yeah; a few times he seemed to me to have struggled for pace. 

 

Mind you, if he was a genuine speedster, it is unlikely he would be playing here. 

The best Rangers centre back of the last 12-13 years is David Weir

7 minutes ago, Frankie said:

I think if we can get in the region of £8m for Kamara then it would have to be seriously considered.

 

He's clearly a talented player but I also think he's more easily replaced than a few other players in the squad so it may be a more agreeable deal.

6 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Sidenote ... Kamara`s slot in midfield is one that Jack, Davis, King and Docherty play in, two of these players have virtually been on stand-by all season. Next season, Ross McCrorie is back too, even though he mostly plays right fullback while on loan, methinks.

I would be sad to see him go but if bids at that level came in I think Aribo would step in and what we would lose is a bit of quality on the bench. King, Docherty and Polster provide good cover but just that bit less quality than Aribo or Kamara.

20 hours ago, Bill said:

You could make a decent case for holding on to all our players but the reality is we MUST sell to stay afloat, so some of our best players MUST be sold. 
 

Just hopefully NOT in January. 

Absolutely right. In an ideal world we would be judging who is good enough to stay here long term and hold on to them, and sell the ones who haven't worked out.

In the real world we are going to be getting used to selling some very good players for prices lower than we expect. Every time a club is linked to our players the standard response from our fans seems to be "double it and we'll talk". That's not how it's going to work. 

With this financial model there is a huge onus on the recruitment team to pull a rabbit out of the hat time and time again. With Ross Wilson being added in this department I think we have invested heavily in recruitment as a club, on a scale way above what was seen at the club pre-2012. 

Just now, ian1964 said:

 

Not a surprise. If his deal was up in the summer it may be different but Aberdeen would demand a crazy fee to sell to us right now and it's far from clear he'd even add to our 18 man squad.

2 hours ago, Bill said:

Lewis Ferguson is a no brainier. Head and shoulders above the rest at Aberdeen Given his background I can’t see him being anything but keen on a move. ABerdeen will drive a hard bargain but with the new stadium I imagine they also have some pressure to raise what funds they can. 

It's a very interesting one. I haven't seen enough of him tbh, he can't be judged on games against us when Aberdeen have 11 men behind the ball. There's no question he is doing fantastically well for his age though. My concern would be the fee. He is on a 5 year deal, and remember this is the club that turned down £7m for McKenna. I think it's a non-starter on that basis.

22 hours ago, craig said:

Kevin Thomson told me a couple of weeks ago that if this Youth team has all of its players available then no other team in the country could live with them.

I thought last season would be their peak, they won the treble last season I think and have lost Mebude and McPake.

Another excellent win under our belt. This time last season we had just beaten Motherwell 7-1 but were already 7 points worse off than we are now. We have currenly only dropped 2 points against the "rest of the league". Last season we matched Celtic in Old Firm games but were dropping points elsewhere so this is a huge improvement.

Our last 4 games included away trips to Livingston and Ross County (both tricky grounds), a semi final at Hampden where we hadn't scored in ages and a home game against a Champions League level side in Porto. We've come through those games with an aggregate of 11-0. The international break really has come at a bad time this time ?

24 minutes ago, buster. said:

Very much so !

 

The previous two blocks were made up of 7 games each, the next is 10 games.

It's not only volume, the difficulty scale raises significantly with League trips away to Aberdeen, Hibs, Motherwell and Celtic. Not forgetting a National Cup Final and the business end of the EL group.

 

Sun	24/11/19	PRE	Hamilton Acade…	13 : 15	Rangers		More info
Thu	28/11/19	UEL	Feyenoord	18 : 55	Rangers		More info
Sun	01/12/19	PRE	Rangers	16 : 00	Hearts		More info
Wed	04/12/19	PRE	Aberdeen	20 : 45	Rangers		More info
Sun	08/12/19	LEC	Rangers	16 : 00	Celtic		More info
Thu	12/12/19	UEL	Rangers	21 : 00	Young Boys		More info
Sun	15/12/19	PRE	Motherwell	13 : 00	Rangers		More info
Fri	20/12/19	PRE	Hibernian	20 : 45	Rangers		More info
Thu	26/12/19	PRE	Rangers	16 : 00	Kilmarnock		More info
Sun	29/12/19	PRE	Celtic	13 : 30	Rangers

 

 

So far so good but this up and coming block will be pivotal. 

5 away games in our next 7. Celtic have 5 home and 3 away. Strangely they play one additonal league game before the 29th.

We would be wise not to get ahead of ourselves until we see where we are come the end of December. Away games like those are exactly the kind of games that will decide whether the title is won or not.