DMAA

2 hours ago, buster. said:

Why is the supposedly 5th best centre back at Nottingham Forrest currently such an important and sought after target ?

 

I could understand it more if it wasn't a proposed loan.

Have you read much about him? Captain of England U21s. Gerrard says he’s followed his England youth career and says he’s fantastic. Big guy at 6ft 4 has 1 and a half full seasons starting in the Championship with NF. Performances drew a £12m bid from Burnley. Karanka came in as manager and brought in his own players rather than relying on someone so young. Tbh Karanka reminds me a bit of Caixinha and I don’t think he’ll last. NF fans like Worrall and want him back, they seem to think he’s very unlucky to be out of the picture. 

13 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

Is he left-footed? Because I think SG had stated he wants that balance.

Unfortunately not. A left footed CB is a good thing to have. Noticed Katic often having to use the outside of his right foot when under pressure. 

21 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

can't get a half day on Thursday.  I doubt I'll be very productive from 3-5.

Tell me about it! So annoying it's on at that time.

31 minutes ago, buster. said:

Tav and Barisic supplying Laff and Alfie.

I'd sooner go 4-4-2 and be accused of being a prehistoric dinosaur to accomodate Lafferty and Morelos

Anyway before we get chastened by @der Berliner for digressing, Jak Alnwick is apparently off to Scunthorpe on loan. So that's another wage shifted.

1 hour ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

I still don't see your point?

I don't know how you don't.

The home-away order has been needlessly interrupted giving us a tougher start to the season than anyone else in the league, and that is despite the SPFL knowing when they made up the fixtures that we were one of only 4 teams with European games during that time period.

Contrast this to another Scottish side we know who are playing in Europe who only have 1 away game in this period. History tells us that a European game prior to an away game is the most likely indicator that points will be dropped. That has happened countless times for both sides of the old firm over the years, and so it has proved for us already.

The bullishness of some of the folk on here is naive. Of course we have to play all these games at some point, but a good start does matter (more so with the new manager obviously) and there was no reason or excuse given for us having to play an extra away game in our pre-international break games. If there was a reason for it like a postponed game there would be no complaints.

30 minutes ago, buster. said:

Don't be scared of the 3-5-2.

 

Once we get it drilled better, it will be an excellent option.

Personal preference maybe but I don’t get the hype around 3-5-2, I’ve never liked it from playing experience. It was a decent option when you were up against far superior opponents and suited long ball, but always a poor option if you want to play good football. I thought England looked terrible playing it at the WC too. Just my opinion but I hope it won’t be used regularly. 

Rumours that Gerrard has spoken personally to NF making a case for Joe Worrall to come to Rangers and that Worrall himself is keen. Despite my reservations about doing a Celtic and spending too much money on a loan I think this guy would be a fantastic addition to the squad in our weakest spot in terms of depth. Although I'm a little worried we'll be playing 3-5-2 more often given the calibre of CB Worrall is ?

6 minutes ago, buster. said:

It's a fair point.

With Lafferty away with N.I. you have to hope they avoid injury.

We'll actually have as many internationals in our squad as we've had for a long time.

Internationals: McGregor, Lafferty, Arfield, Morelos, Barisic, Coulibaly, Grezda (pending work permit)

Possible call-ups: Katic, Jack, Murphy

Bottom line for Morelos though is that being in that squad is great news for his value and reputation. All their forwards have been transferred for big money in the past few years.

28 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

but likewise, one might have spread the difficult ties over the first quarter of the season, rather than pack them in the midst of our European campaign

This is a big part of what I find annoying about it. It's just a fact that no team had to play 3 away games in 4, we should all be playing home-away-home-away.

But even hypothetically if any team had to, why on earth should it be 1 of the 4 teams representing Scotland in Europe during this period? As you've said, brings back memories of 2008, other countries do whatever they can to help the teams representing them in Europe but in Scotland, if anything, they make it as hard as they can for us.

1 hour ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

Look at this way, if we had avoided the 2 late goals in our away games we be sitting on 9 pts and we wouldn't be talking about this.

And do you think we'd have been clinging on to 1 goal leads in those games if we were at Ibrox? I don't think so. If we were given home-away-home-away like everyone else we would have been facing Aberden at Ibrox.

5 minutes ago, buster. said:

I don't think SG should speak too much about it prior to the matches. Don't give the players readymade excuses.

Very much agree with that, you don't want the players thinking about it.

27 minutes ago, onevision said:

Has it not always been the case that the fixtures against THEM get reversed each year?

Who ever is at home last match of the season is at home first the following season.

That's not the point though, the problem isn't that we're playing them first. The problem is that home-away rhythm is being broken up resulting in us having had 3/4 games away and them 1/4.

If we were playing them first it should have been within the home-away order. A lot of people think we are invincible just now but 3 away games in 4 (never mind the venues we got) is a very tough start which nobody else has had to do, or normally would have to do.

It seems as though the natural order of fixtures has been altered giving Gerrard a baptism of fire.

13 minutes ago, Bill said:

What I don't feel comfortable with is fans proposing a compromise or "settlement" that effectively gives credence to their conduct, because we somehow "need" the BBC. I don't think we do.

That's fair enough. I've given my opinion on that in this thread so I'm leaving it there. I thought when you mentioned whining you were suggesting there was no point in even recording their bias on here.

11 hours ago, Bill said:

Correct. Instead of whining about how badly we're treated

I understand your general point Bill but this thread has been used to record countless examples of biased and/or unfair coverage of Rangers. Only last week Tom English flatly denied there was any bias and asked for examples. Surely you see a benefit in having a record of some examples in a thread like this?

Only one team has 3 away games in their first 4 fixures, Rangers.

Only one team has 1 away game in their first 4 fixures, Celtic.

Location of first old firm game? Parkhead.

How is that even allowed? That game should be at Ibrox, they've broken the natural home-away rhythm in order to send us there first.

Our success thus far in Europe has compounded this issue, and particularly an away game a 9 and a half hour flight away 3 days before Parkhead.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/25/steven-gerrard-concerned-three-away-fixtures-week-may-take-toll/

42 minutes ago, ranger_syntax said:

 

That doesn't reassure me at all.

 

I want him to be signed as a result of a proper scouting process.

 

Not because his mate told us he was good.

You’re forgetting Allen has already confirmed the Croatian league has been scouted, and Gerrard confirmed Osijek were researched extensively before we played them, so it’s hardly just a recommendation from a pal in isolation. Of course it’s a benefit that one of our players has played with him for a year so knows his game inside out. 

Oh and James McFadden "fancies Dembele & Griffiths to cause our defence lots of problems" in a week's time. They haven't scored a single goal  between them in the league after 3 games or in the last 5 European ties against average to shockingly poor opposition of course, but what does that matter when our defence is so leaky?

Just listened to yesterday's Sportsound podcast. Since we had a 3-3 draw with lots of talking points we amazingly almost got as much airtime as Celtic after their bore 1-0 win over Hamilton (23min vs 27min). I'm not sure what it would take to get more time than them, maybe if both of us were beaten 5-0 there would be more incentive to talk about our game?

Richard Gordon and James McFadden started it off on high talking up Motherwell and how they dominated long spells and how Rangers still haven't fixed their defence. Lee McCulloch then pulled them back to reality and gave a much more measured analysis of the game, saying Rangers were by far the better team over the 90 minutes but did struggle at set plays despite doing so well with them all season.

Looks like Grezda is happening. Have to say I was more impressed with his youtube compilation than Bockaj's. Grezda seems a player with a lot of potential; pace, skill, power and an eye for goal. Not afraid to get stuck in either.

The most re-assuring thing here is that Barisic has played with Grezda for a year and if we're signing him it's because he knows he's good enough.

1 minute ago, buster. said:

Better off with Kent starting, he has more experience of playing within our European set-up.

 

Lafferty has more chance of a start than Middleton.

Maybe so, I'm just thinking of who's style is most suited to playing on the counter and for me it's Middleton.

Lafferty is a striker and should only play there imo.

Also reports that we've made an offer of a "subtantial loan fee" to secure Worrell, but NF not sure they want him to play up here.

Really hope we don't spend too much money on loan fees, much rather spend the money on permanent transfers because you've got an asset to develop and sell on (which seemed to be the idea with Cooper).

10 minutes ago, buster. said:

McGregor

Tav

Goldson

Katic

Flanagan

Jack

Ejaria

Arfield

Candeias

Morelos

Kent

Pretty much guaranteed. With us more likely to be playing on the counter I'd prefer Middleton to Kent because he'll break away faster up the wing and get more balls in the box, but little chance of him getting much more than a cameo I think.

Another loss for Ufa at the weekend to continue their poor form, albeit to a very good team in Zenit. Played 25 minutes with 10 men too. 4 players rested.

That leaves them with only 2 goals scored in their last 5 games, both against Progres. And 9 conceded.

Linked with Rolando Aarons of Newcastle too. From memory he's a fairly traditional run down the line left winger with lots of pace. However his injury history is terrible and I don't think we should be taking a risk on him.

I don’t think people are taking into account the fact the team get home late on the Friday with their body clock all over the place after going 4 hours forwards and then back again. 

We’ll see how it goes but don’t be surprised if we come away very happy with a draw on the day.  

2 hours ago, der Berliner said:

Lafferty added in the OP, as well as Burt being loaned to Alloa for a season.

 

That's 23 players sold, let go, or loaned from last season's side ... and 12 signed permanently or on loan.

From the outside, it seems Gerrard has been great for the wage bill.

Must be trying to find a club to loan Alnwick to now.