DMAA

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.

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. 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.

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

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.

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.

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/

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.

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).

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.

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.

I love that centre midfield combination. All ball winners, something we missed so badly last season. And then you've got Rossiter and McCrorie on the bench. So much aggression and grit in this team now it's brilliant.

I suppose Gerrard will know who needs a rest and who doesn't, not everyone will. Candeias could play 7 games a week and he'd still be on the treadmill before bed. I'm wary of reducing the quality in the starting line-up with rotation because momentum is so important right now and I'd much rather take guys off early. Having said that, as well as Barisic, I'd like to see Middleton starting. I'd prefer to take Halliday on when we're winning but Arfield will probably need a rest.

Personally I think it would be a big bonus to have Coulibaly starting ahead of Ejaria there. The main priority there is to keep a clean sheet and Coulibaly's ability to win the ball back would be huge for us. It's no slight on Ejaria but old firm games are often battles and the more aggressive team often comes out on top.

Relevant quotes from the press conference, "Worrall is a fantastic player I've followed him for many years with England". The link to Worrall is a very exciting, another big 6 4 CB who is good on the ball and good at defending apparently. A centre back "could well be" all that is added to the squad before the transfer window closes. That would be good news for Middleton because it suggests he'd be Murphy's replacement. Raises a question of depth and variety in across the 3 AM positions though.

Definitely a conflict there. Being from South Uist he's definitely a Celtic fan, although Celtic fans from there don't hate Rangers the way Glaswegian Celtic fans do, they share a highschool with the Protestant North Uist.

I'm loving the way Gerrard is dealing with the media and these kind of issues. Doesn't mean Hartley shouldn't get a ban, but again Gerrard and Rangers rise above it rather than lowering ourselves to bickering about stuff like this. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45295844 By the way could someone tell me how to link articles/tweets properly?

It's actually more about decision making than ability. He consistently chooses to run inside in front of defenders rather than running to the byline and getting a ball in. But you can't compare the left footed open play crossing of a natural left footer to that of someone who's trained up their left foot. I haven't been overly impressed with Kent's left footed crossing from open play or corners, though he's had a couple of decent corners.