DMAA

Their big defender just took a bad bash in the face. Looks a top defender, they’ll miss him if they can’t get him back on.

Pressing well and a couple of spells of good play but largely scrappy and very blunt in the final third. Lack of threat on the left on the left a big problem for me, attack turns into defence when Kent turns back inside instead of running down the line. Just had a great chance there with a great cross from Kent after taking the man on.

Plot twist, the FARE guy is a Rangers fan who couldn’t afford the 3 match package?

Flanagan in for Barisic at home a bit of a head scratcher. Flanagan and Kent together at home when we are looking for goals doesn’t work well, it basically guarantees no crosses from the left.

I agree, especially when we're not blessed with possession maestros. Coulibaly is not a possession player, he's in there to win the ball back and occasionally burst forward. Arfield has good end product, good off the the ball, vocal and a battler but often wasteful in possession. I think if we go with three against sides like Livingston who surrender possesion to us, we only want one anchor midfielder and two more creative players like Dorrans and Ejaria. To be honest, like you, I'm not sure 3 in the middle is that effective in some of those games and we'd probably be better with a more direct approach with Morelos and Lafferty up top on the last man, Middleton and Candeias on the flanks for quick breakaways and crosses into the striekrs, and one ball winner and one ball player in centre mid. To advocate 4-4-2 is anathema these days it seems but I think there's at the very least a place for it now and again.

100%. I’m disappointed in the management for not realising they are two number 9s. Either go 4-4-2 or player a winger instead.

Hard not to get your hopes up here that we’re in with a decent chance of progressing if we keep improving.

The problem of how we get there aside, today was another day the current situation benefiting Celtic above anyone else was highlighted. Live commentary of their game and all the pre match lineups and previews being done with Celtic’s stadium music in the background. Just as an aside, I actually find Tom English the least reluctant to be negative about Celtic. He’s actually pretty forthright in doing so when necessary.

Again a bit harsh Bill. Especially conssidering this is a statement of fact and not opinion. Reinstate press privileges and the BBC end their boycott, that’s what they’ve said.

You're assuming that I think that exposing the bias and putting pressure on the BBC publicly will eradicate the bias. I don't of course, but I do think that regularly exposing indisputable bias on the BBCs part - in an organised and professional manner - will have an effect. The bottom line is that those who hate Rangers within the BBC are the winners right now because they have a free hand to regularly disrespect our club and we are receiving pretty much no coverage of our games. They are loving it. Re-instate press privileges for 2 people and I think they will be pretty gutted about it, and we have a less bad situation where hundreds of thousands of Rangers fans get access to coverage of our games, which is not always bias.

Why does this matter? It shows a disregard for the (as John said) probably hundreds of thousands who support the club from around the country but don't live near Glasgow or just have other commitments.

Not really, we've loaned out Rudden and Hardie. For me the wingers would give you pace and finishing. An alternative would be Arfield who I think would do very well as a link up man and is equally good at finishing, you just lose the pace. Arfield may be the better option but it's all down to how the game is going to be played.

With Morelos and Lafferty out I was relieved we drew Aberdeen because I do think the other two are better just now. I think we will manage with one of Middleton or Grezda up front, both have a record of good finishing and the pace to get in behind. What we might lack is the focal point that Morelos and Lafferty bring as natural strikers who've played on their own up front a lot.

Well that's the question and it's not possible to get to get consensus on it. I don't think the removal of press privileges achieves anything, it is a bit on the petty side. Bias should be exposed by the club in a professional and organised manner, and pressure should be put on the BBC publicly when and if we are not receiving a fair share of coverage. BBC have exclusive rights and they are the devil we have to work with just now, the status quo is disadvantaging ordinary bears (particularly elderly and less well off) all over the country as @JohnMc has explained well.

A very confusing signing. As soon as I saw the youtube footage of him I knew he was mince. Youtube makes Windass look like Ronaldo but they could hardly scrape a couple of decent goals together for Sadiq.

As I say I’m not watching the game but delighted to hear it. Everything we’ve seen of him So far has been the opposite of raw. He’s been consistently very effective and I hope that sooner rather than later we’ll have him on the left, Candeias on the right and Kent utilised as the impact player. Just hope Liverpool don’t have penalties in place.

I think we’ve been like that a lot this season tbh

Yes Middleton! I’m not able to watch the game, is Middleton on the left or right?

There's a lot of unnecessary ad-hominem on this thread. A lot of people on here don't realise that not every Rangers fan is a die hard who could recite all of the BBCs transgressions over the past decade. We need to have radio coverage of our games. And when we triumph in Europe we need to have some discussion of our games afterwards just like our rivals get. The BBC are a disgrace for how little they are covering us just now, going way beyond merely not coming to Ibrox. But something needs to be done get coverage resumed.

I actually think this tie is a potential banana skin. We will be ringing the changes and it will be a great test of how well we can cope with that. We have the strength in depth to, it's just a question of whether we can do it without disrupting our play. Here's hoping a number of our players get crucial minutes on the pitch under their belt but we still come away with a comfortable win.

I think it was Stevie who was commenting on how big a player Arfield is becoming. Have to say I totally agree and I think he's going to be a huge player for us. He's not always pretty on the eye as we saw againt Villareal, but he is a goalscorer. I am struggling not to get carried away with my expectations because I'm excited by how many goalscorers we have in the squad and how much depth we have. To have any chance of winning the league you need players who will score goals, regardless of how well they've played. Arfield made his finish against Villareal look easy, as did Lafferty his finish against Saints, but these are the kind of chances we haven't been scoring because we haven't had natural goalscorers. Grezda will be coming in to the squad over the coming weeks and months and is another player who has a record for not only doing his bit for the team as a winger, but scoring plenty of goals too. With Dorrans and hopefully Rossiter ready to strengthen the squad, and Middleton emerging as a real talent too, I think we are in for a great season.

But what the table shows is that the points total doesn't tell the whole story. Aberdeen and Celtic have no less than they deserve given their goals for and against, whilst we look unlucky (bad decisions at the sheep pen) to be in the position we are in.

The league table really emphasises how poor a start it's been for Celtic and Aberdeen. Their goals scored tallies are woeful! It's early days and we do have a tougher run of games coming up now, but you can't help but feel a little bit vindicated even at this stage after so many of the pundits writing us off as 3rd best even after our European run, and Chris McLaughlin saying we "look capable of competing for 2nd" after drawing with Aberdeen.

Kirk Broadfoot must be trying to get back into our good books. Did anyone see him running over to the Celtic fans to goad them after they scored instead of celebrating with his team mates?

Lafferty is already showing signs he’ll be an important player this season in terms of goals. Such finesse in that finish. And on the back of another instinctive striker’s finish on Thursday too, I think we’ll see plenty more of it.