DMAA

Introduction After a whirlwind set of opening fixtures which began on the 12th of July against little known Shkupi and ended in disappointment against somewhat more familiar opposition on the 2nd of September, Gerrard and his team have finally had a chance to take a breather, regroup and prepare for this next set of crucial fixtures ahead of the October international break. This group of fixtures will include a much-coveted return to the glamour of Europe with Ibrox set to welcome visitors from Spain and Austria in the shape of Villarreal and Rapid Vienna. However, before then we host more humble opposition managed by a former Gers star with an attack spearheaded by a former Gers star. The Opposition Neil McCann brings his side to Ibrox under immense pressure and with a point to prove. The Dees have endured a horrendous run of five straight losses - including a humbling on their own patch in the cup at the hands of Championship side Ayr United – which sees them languishing at the bottom of the table without a point. A series of listless performances has caused many of their fans to question the instability brought about by the high turnover of players at the club which has seen last season’s mainstays Bain, Hendry, Caulker, Holt, O’Hara, Allan, El Bakhtaoui and Murray all depart the club. Free transfer arrivals from the likes of Woking and Kidderminster Harriers rather than re-investing the Hendry fee signals a club in decline. Having said that, a wounded animal can be a dangerous one and there is some quality in McCann’s side. A certain Kenny Miller seems to age like a fine malt whisky and will be ready to pounce in the box given half a chance. On-loan youngster Kallman is another one to watch after breaking his duck in the 3-1 defeat to Motherwell. Calvin Miller, on loan from Celtic, provides a threat from left back with the ability to get forward and get crosses into the box. However, the most interesting thing to see when the line-ups are announced will be whether Glen Kamara passes a late fitness test. Kamara was linked to Rangers over the summer and some in the summer transfer rumours thread were keen to see him signed. If he returns, there is no doubt he will make Dundee more competitive in the middle of the park. Rangers A passive performance against Celtic gave much cause for concern and raised a number of questions. Some sections of the media were quick to use phrases like “reality check” and many of our own fans were not sure themselves if that is what it was or how great a role the many mitigating factors were playing. What is sure is that the fans are desperate to see a well-rested, well drilled and rejuvenated team put on a show on Saturday and show that it’s back to business as usual. Morale has improved over the international break with Barisic playing the full game against Portugal and Morelos grabbing what we will graciously call an assist in his Colombia debut, followed by high praise from his idol Radamel Falcao. The sight of quartet Coulibaly, Grezda, Dorrans and Rossiter in training was a further boost but the fans will be anxious to see whether Coulibaly in particular returns to the starting line-up. The clash with bottom of the table Dundee at home is the first fixture of its kind since St Mirren, a home game in which we are expected to go all-out attack and win comfortably. Gerrard will want to see a return to the high pressing, high intensity aggressive display which so impressed the fans against Maribor and in the opening half hour against St Mirren and hopefully that’s what we’ll get. Line-up The signing of the highly rated Worrall on loan from Nottingham Forest followed by the capture of Northern Ireland international Gareth McAuley has given many reason to believe that Gerrard plans to utilise 3-5-2 on a more regular basis going forward. Wingers Candeias, Kent and Grezda would be the losers in this formation with Lafferty and Worrall being the primary benefactors. However I’m going to predict a familiar looking 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 with Lafferty paving the way for Candeias and Coulibaly making a return in the place of Ovie Ejaria.

No problem I’ll post it then

Preview is ready to go. Let me know when you want it up. Also can the line-up be done with the graphic after the preview is the posted?

A bit of a storm in a teacup. You can tell he just loves to show off. It's a huge part of who he is. He's that guy who would do anything if you dared him. Alcohol doesn't do someone with that personality any favours. It's a tabloid story and no more, move on.

One thing you can't take away from Naismith is that he is and always has been a very clinical finisher. There is no doubt Naismith would score plenty from Barisic, Candeias and Tavernier's crosses. For me we still badly lack a forward who will consistently score from crosses despite the fact we've got better crossers than we've had in a long time.

Having said that, I would have thought Wallace as back up left back would be far more of a priority than two centre back backups (not including McCrorie). If Barisic isn't available we're stuck with Flanagan who is decent but is not a better left back than Wallace, especially when you consider he'll have a right footed player in front of him. If 3-5-2 was in their plans at all it would be even more important to have Wallace as a backup.

Exactly, we don't have enough homegrown players so we're forced to register only 22 senior players (not including McCrorie to be fair). Goes to show again how important a signing McGregor was. It's nothing that is wrong with Wallace. The cover was more important in other positions that's all it is.

Sorry that doesn't include Grezda, but he didn't feature yesterday anyway

A few brief comments on the defeat; It was an away game. At this stage in our development a point is the aim there and a win would be a bonus. The home games are the really huge ones because we should be winning them. Playing 3 days after playing on the wrong side of Russia (with 9/10 men) was always going to be challenge. History shows us that even the best teams regularly drop points after away games in Europe (road to seville and road to manchester both prime examples). The boys were in no state to press the game for crying out loud they're not robots. Because of this the management had hardly any time to analyse the oppoisition and work on tactics Gerrard spent about £6.5m this summer. £6m was on defence. He did what he had to do but that will obviously impact on how we play in big games They had a lot of chances but that doesn't change the fact they needed a breakaway to score, and that was with our holding midfielder on the ground at the other end We have someone in the ranks already who would have improved us yesterday, Coulibaly. He'll be back and will help significantly with winning the ball back They have a well gelled team. 7-8 of their starting lineup have been there for 3+ years. Tavernier is our longest serving player and 1 of only 3 starting player who were here last season. That is obviously going to play a part in big derbies. All of that is not to say that ball retention in particular isn't an issue but we shouldn't be drawing big conclusions from that game. The management will have more time on the training field than they've had in past two months for the next two weeks and will be using it well.

Worth noting too that he had already agreed terms with Ipswich but called it off when Rangers came in because he's a boyhood fan. I imagine Katic, Worrall and even Goldson will learn from him and you have to wonder if there's the possibility of him becoming a defensive coach when he retires.

Gareth McAuley as 4th choice CB is remarkable. The guy has had an incredible career with last year the first year he didn’t play at least 30 games. Welcome to the squad!

So important to tie them down for the long term while the going is good. Morelos benefits from being backed too so it’s good man management from Gerrard to push for this.

Since there aren’t too many volunteers I’d be happy to give it a go, maybe Dundee at home?

Had a look at Dundee’s fans forum and didn’t find anyone who was too bothered Caulker has left. All said he was average despite a strong start. Rumours of continued off-field problems.

I don’t know her or her husband but that is what I would assume from a knowledge of her birthplace (Presbyterian Harris). It is very unlikely she’s become a committed catholic, it’s customary for the husband’s denomination to take precedent when a couple marry in the islands. I think she is probably a decent woman and that the problem is people who were brought up in places like Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen where you lots of people are brought up hating Rangers.

I don’t know about that but despite marrying a catholic Donalda MacKinnon’s background certainly doesn’t fit that profile.

We already have a thread on Morelos's discipline lads

It's starting to look that way but I'm not convinced. When you're playing against Hamilton and Livingston do you really need 3 centre backs? Who do you drop for Worrall; Jack, Ejaria or Arfield? Why would you swap any of them for a centre back when most of our games are about breaking teams down? We'll end up like England with 90% of the possession between the centre backs and play being dictated by Harry Maguire. 3-4-3 is too attacking, I don't think there's any chance of that happening. I'm hoping Worrall will be good enough that Gerrard can rest either Goldson or Katic whenever he wants and the three of them feature regularly.

Nothing gets the less engaged Rangers fans out there interested like European nights. There are loads out there who will probably only watch the European games this season. European football is huge for the club in so many ways. In a way it's a shame we didn't get a bigger pot 1 team. Having said all that there's no question that no Rangers fan right now would say Europe is more important than the league. Let's just hope this squad is good enough to do well in both.

It's worked out very well for us with home fixtures ahead of the two tough away games. Unfortunately it's worked out well for Celtic too.

The islands are different.

I think you're right actually. Her husband will have been raised catholic but she will have raised a presbyterian herself.

Given she was raised in a Presbyterian heartland it's surprising she's involved with a catholic school. Her husband seems to have roots in Lewis too which again is a Presbyterian heartland. Might just be they didn't consider religion important and chose the best fee paying school in their area. In any case it's not what it seems.

Why is Donalda MacKinnon part of the problem?

A favourable draw I would say. Villarreal and Vienna were two of the easier teams I their pots. Spartak Moscow not so much but there were plenty tougher teams in that pot. I can certainly see us getting a few wins.