DMAA

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.

Correct, and we can have as many as we want.

I think he'll be fantastic addition to the squad, certainly as good as we could get for someone who won't be guaranteed a start every game.

Just to clarify I only listened to the Rangers section. However Steven Thompson and Billy Dodds are not Celtic fans, they were very positive and genuinely enthusiastic about Rangers. Seems to me it's the editors and people higher up who are to blame.

Only 2/6 are tough so I'd say that's pretty favourable. Celtic's games are very similar with one away game but slightly easier opposition. What will be interesting now is whether we get home or away games prior to those away Edinburgh games.

By the way, there is endless discussion about Morelos’s temper but Dembele has completely lost his head this morning in a way that Morelos would get crucified by the media for

In terms of how to deal with it, I think you could easily have a no tolerance penalty system in place for offences which are an automatic yellow such as; Kicking the ball away Taking off shirt Kicking a player off the ball That penalty would be known to everybody so there can be absolutely no complaints. I'm not sure how severe the penalty could be without being a player's union issue. You could possibly include stupid unnecessary professional fouls in there too like pulling a player back when he's not even in our half. If that doesn't stop those kind of easily avoidable yellows what will?

Yes I'd be Scandinavian teams like Copenhagen and Malmo. Quarabag are easily one of the easier teams in pot 3 despite their coefficient though. Will Morelos and Flanagan be suspended for the first game? Is it only yellow cards that are wiped? Amazing that we shouldn't even be badly affected anymore if they are such is the depth of the squad with Barisic and Lafferty coming in.