DMAA

15 minutes ago, Uilleam said:

Any argument over MotM?

You’re quite right to ask the question but you could make the case for a few players in the end. You could argue Jack carried us through the dangerous spell of the game and maintained those standards throughout, that Kent set the tone when the game turned in our favour, that both centre halves were pretty much flawless. Morelos the clear man of the match of course because as I said at half time we needed him to produce a moment of quality to lift the pressure off us and he did just that. 

Corona has looked a real classy operator in both legs. He possesses very rare dribbling ability. 

On a more positive note I think Jack has been holding us together a bit. One of the only ones who doesn’t seem nervous. 

A poor all round performance so far, but the end product in the final third has been awful. Morelos, Kent and Barker all having very poor games so far. That can happen when the team as a whole aren’t playing well but my word we’ve needed one of those 3 to take the pressure off with a moment of quality. Every shot has gone into row Z.  

27 minutes ago, Bill said:

Ffs would someone else take the corners. 

Barisic would be brilliant at an inswinger, don’t understand why we’re persisting with Tavernier

Yeh a bit of a surprise. He did all right at Raith Rovers and 20 is still young. What I don't understand though is why he isn't on loan just now? How can he move forward without going out and showing what he can do at a decent level.

Last time we debated Tavernier I said we couldn't improve on him with our budget. Well Celtic picked up Jeremie Frimpong (18) for about 300k apparently and it's very early days but he looks outstanding and unfortunately it looks to me like they have another big asset on their hands. Why Man City gave him away for next to nothing should be investigated, Mark Lawwell pulling some strings I think.

Having said that, whilst I'd have no problem with Polster getting an opportunity in a lower risk game Tavernier needs the backing of the fans. Gerrard was right to call out the fans who were getting on his back unncessarily, that kind of thing is terrible for your confidence. 

I’ve only seen highlights again but we would all have taken that result when it was 3 days after a game in Portugal against a Chanpions League level team. Those games after European fixtures (especially away) are going to be a real challenge and that’s 3 wins out of 3 so far. 

2 hours ago, Gribz said:

Why though? Whats the point in having a squad when you dont utilise it? What does it say to the bench when players dont perform for lengthy periods but they dont sit out? If SG seen enough him to sign him then his judgement should be he can be brought in. 

 

We cant afford only 7 or 8 players turning up against a club as good as Porto. Others deserve a chance.

We've got a huge squad, too big in my opinion. I'm just being realistic, it would be a major surprise if Docherty was brought in from the cold against Ross County never mind Porto away.

On ‎23‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 09:04, Gribz said:

Id perhaps like to see one from Aribo or Arfield sit out for Docherty

The same Greg Docherty who hasn't played a minute of league football all season and only made the bench once (in August). I've seen a few people saying this but we need to get real the gaffer has clearly decided he isn't up to it.

33 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Hastie, Robby McCrorie and Kelly doing well.

Very well. Kelly has been said to be the best midfielder in the league by a distance. Though it might have been Ian McCall who said that now that I think of it.

34 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I was expecting more from Rudden and McPake, but they're still very young. 

I'm surprised too, especially by McPake. But I blame the club, Dundee are a shambles at the moment and young players don't often get a chance when clubs are desperate (remind you of anyone?). Ayr would have been perfect for him.

35 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

No mention of Ross McCrorie? Not going well? 

No, not getting a game apparently after being tried at right back. He's a likeable guy with qualities but he is way overrated by our fans, he's not technical enough to play centre mid for Rangers. He did us a turn and deserves praise for that but we just don't need a destroyer in centre mid very often.

42 minutes ago, Gaffer said:

We didn't play well against Hearts, but the simple fact is that they didn't threaten us other than those first few minutes.  If we hadn't gifted them that goal we would have cruised it, even with a 1-0 margin.  It was the same against Celtic.  We actually weren't in danger in that game despite not playing well.  Again, two gifted goals sealed our fate in that game.  And of course the only other game we've lost is in Europe with yet another gifted goal.  

That is true. I only got to watch some of the game in the second half but I actually found it very similar to watch to the game when we beat them 2-1 there last December to go top of the league. We were lauded for a great performance that day but actually all we did was get the goals we needed and then saw the game out, we hardly played any football.

We've only conceded 6 in the league and most haven't been down to bad defending per se.

• Kilmarnock - the only goal conceded which was plain old bad defending
• Hibs - a quality goal, hard to blame defence
• Celtic - 1 brainfreeze and 1 counter attack
• Livingston - just a silly penalty
• Hearts - bizarre brainfreeze again 

1 hour ago, Briton said:

I could do that in bygone days of yore.  We need quality output as well.  That run and shot he had reinforced why I was unexcited about his signing (at that price).  I just hope he proves me wrong.

Same, it really was a classic Kent moment that we saw very often last season. I hope he proves me wrong too but I think he may perform better in a slightly different role which takes emphasis off his weaknesses, maybe being played on the right instead of the left. 

18 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

I long for the day when we get Jones, Stewart and Kent as the threesome behind our main striker.

I don't know about that. Neither Kent or Jones are goalscorers. A title winning team needs real goalscorers in those positions. As I say all I saw was the highlights but Kent only featured in those to show that he still shoots like an injured centre back.

16 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

... which all leads to the assumption that the bucket stops with SG. As much as he can lament the lack of class, attitude and performance levels, he holds all the responsibility. Team selection, tactics and substitutions. Why have we got so many quality players and continue to stick to Plan A time and again?

It is a bit strange that almost no Rangers fan would have started Ojo ahead of Stewart yet we could all predict that it would happen. He seems to me anyway to be a much better player, and if there is a ground in the world where you can guarantee you won't get to use your pace very much it is Tynecastle.

I haven’t seen the game, only the highlights and the match stats to go on. But both of those were very concerning, 1 shot on target against that lot is pathetic and Hearts had their share of chances. I’m still a bit concerned with the lack of quality in the attacking midfield positions. A strange thing to say given our position in the league yes but often away games are the real tests and we have struggled away so far. 

On 27/08/2019 at 09:49, DMAA said:

I've been looking back at this game and thinking that it will look a much better result in a few months. St Mirren aren't the team they were last season, they have played 3 games against top 5 sides in their opening 3 matches and only conceded 3 goals. It was clear as day in our game that this is a team who should do pretty well this season, they didn't know how to set up like that under previous managers. And with new signings Durmus and McAllister on the wings they have the ability to counter attack.

 

I had a look at Goodwin's record and have to say it looks good too, got Alloa promoted and then kept them up despite being part time, finishing ahead of much bigger clubs in the process.

 

Their pre-season was terrible but Goodwin joined them late and consequently 6 of their starting 11 were signed late in the window. All in all I think we've done very well to come away from there with 3 points and I don't think Aberdeen will be the only side to get a bit of a shock and come away empty handed from Paisley this season.

Just in the way of an update on this, it has held up thus far. St Mirren have played 4 home league games not including us and haven’t conceded a single goal in those games, 2 wins and 2 draws. This makes this win seem more important and probably under appreciated at the time. 

2 hours ago, craig said:

It's actually 16 games before we play Celtic - they are the 17th game, unless the Premiership game against St Johnstone (which is postponed due to the League Cup) is rescheduled prior to the Celtic game, in which case it will be 17

Yes, I had assumed it would be

My problem personally hasn't been that he starts the game but that he has lasted the full game when he should have been one of the first players subbed. 

12 hours ago, Briton said:

I've been one of his biggest defenders but I don't think he has warranted the amount of game time he's had; particularly as we have other options.   Players like Jones and Barker have hardly had a sniff while has had a string of average/poor performances.  

That's not really accurate. Jones got plenty game time before his injury, and Barker wasn't fully fit when he joined and picked up an injury after that so has been eased in. There hasn't really been a lot of competition for the starting spot so far. There is now with Stewart up to speed.

I don't think it's out of the question but it's far too early to be talking about that game, we have 17 games between now and then. He might prove himself worthy in that time but I expect Gerrard's preference to be to play Arfield and someone with pace. 

3 hours ago, Briton said:

I'm beginning to suspect that we are committed to playing Ojo.  I hope not but it's looking a lot like the Zalalem situation.  Ojo may not be quite as useless as him  but it's still a situation that a club like Rangers should never be in.

I doubt it's a contractual requirement, however I definitely believe there will be pressure as there was with Ejaria and Kent. After all it's about maintaining the potential pipeline of future Liverpool loanees too. He's started every league game except St Mirren when he was injured. We've obviously had injury problems but I would prefer we played Arfield and Stewart more often tbh. Ojo has a role to play but it's clear to see he's struggling a bit, he looks every part the young academy player far too often.

It shows how far we've come when a player gets an excellent hattrick and there is a bit of debate over who the man of the match is. It's Defoe for me because those first 2 goals were outstanding wouldn't have been scored by most and his link up play is always first class. At times we were playing tika taka on the edge of the box and Defoe is key to that.

It's brilliant to see Stewart get his breakthrough and I think once he's been more regular and is more settled his finishing will get there because he is normally a very good finisher. He will only get better.

So good to go into this break top of the league and with 7 wins from 8 games.

A word of warning though, we have had 5 home games and 3 away and Celtic have had 3 home and 5 away. The league winner this season will be the team who manages to drop the least points away and/or the team who outperforms the other in Old Firm matches. Home games have been training matches for both sides but 2 of our 3 away games have been really tough games with 1 goal separating the sides.

Only 4 of our next 11 league games will be at home. The opposite for Celtic, only 4 away games in their next 11.  So we can not get carried away. We are only 2 points ahead so we need to prove we can avoid dropping points away from home. This is going to be a huge challenge considering we are going into a lot of those away games 3 days after European matches. We're going to Livingston after Porto at home, Tynecastle after Rotterdam, Motherwell at home after Porto away and Fir Park after Young Boys at home.

A massive test but one I'm cautiously optimistic about for a change. We have great depth in this team and I think we have every reason to hope that Celtic will drop some more points too. I've been particularly pleased to see Stewart get his chance, I was very surprised he wasn't getting a chance because he's the kind of player we've really been missing and our fans are finally seeing that now.

Edmundson is another one who was finally given his chance, I really really like him and for me he is your ideal centre back for home games because his possession play and distribution is far better than all the rest. Defoe I've spoken of before as our most underrated player, I still prefer him to Morelos (sorry). What an amazing player to be able to bring in to give Morelos a rest. And I think we can expect Morelos to perform better than last season now that we can rest him, not to mention the impact Defoe will be having on him. Could this even be contributing to his better discipline? Less pressure and stress knowing he's practically got the weekend off sometimes, he must be able to relax a lot more than when he was playing 90 every game and if he didn't score Rangers didn't score (very often).