Gutting that it’s a clean sheet lost and goes down as a draw because it should have been 3-4 nil. 

Just now, Frankie said:

Possibly.

 

Kent and Ejaria are young guys but picked the wrong options too often.  They have to work on their first touch and final ball.

True about his decision making but I actually thought Ejaria was really impressive. Kent impressive in flashes but really frustrating. 

3 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Annoying to concede that goal as we did stroll the second half.

 

However, the wastage from good positions is an immense source of frustration.  The game should have been long gone by the time Osijek grabbed that goal.

Agree with that. A lot of positives in there, but a total lack of composure in the final third is a trend with these guys. Tbh I thought we could have done with Windass in some of these positions, I think he’d have scored a couple. 

5 hours ago, Frankie said:

 

He looks like exactly what we missed last season in those home games against the wee teams that cost us so many points. Very excited about his potential this season and I hope he’s more than a “super sub” or “impact player”

Will be interesting to get another look at Borna Barisic on Thursday. Given Allen has said we’ll be keeping an eye on the Croatian market surely he’s one we’ll be tracking. We’ve really lacked a natural left peg like that in our side in recent years. 

Good to see Maribor only draw 0-0 to the Georgia outfit. They’re clearly not as good as they can be just now. 

24 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Another annoyance was the long balls from McGregor. I appreciate it was probably needed in this game but I felt like we were just giving away possession, and would prefer us to build out from the back.  

This was probably tactical. Some teams at Osijek’s level will have a far higher chance of getting a goal from winning possession high up the pitch than from breaking us down with the ball. I think Gerrard deserves the benefit of the doubt on that one, a clever move that naive managers before him like Warburton and Caixinha didn’t understand. 

Anyone know anything about Bryan?

Seems a strange one because he was thought to be an option for 3rd choice centre back but appears to be much more of a centre mid than a centre back. For me our 3rd choice centre back should be a proper centre back and not someone who’s primarily a midfielder. 

Doesn’t bode well. Reminds me of Pena last season.  

2 hours ago, Tannochsidebear said:

If Derby buy Waggy for £8M, we should be getting at least £800K from that deal. If not, why not?

Either the Geranet or Heart & Hand podcast said there was no sell on clause. 

8 minutes ago, Dave M609 said:

but really wasn't impressed with Solanke at all, he had been pushed left on the front three, he might be better down the middle, he looked like a bit of a donkey tbh.

I wasn't impressed with the Youtube compilations of him. We need a natural goalscorer who's good in the air because Morelos and Umar Sadiq don't provide that.

51 minutes ago, Stevie - 4lads Blog said:

From the nonsense online with his contract & then leaking to press yesterday he is dropped for tomorrow, the lad has serious attitude issues

I'd missed that he'd leaked that he was dropped actually. I just worry we'll have another Waghorn situation on our hands if he's used better at his new team.

Anyway if we get £3m that could certainly be well used. I'm still adamant we lack a creative attacking midfielder who has a great touch, low centre of gravity and can unlock defences at will. Ejaria appears to be Gerrard's answer but I'm not so sure.

With regards to Windass I would have liked to see him tried up front before selling. Like Lovenkrands he just isn't natural as a midfielder, but has the pace and finishing to flourish up front. The irony is that Morelos is his perfect partner. Morelos can't finish and isn't that fast but he's strong and good at challenging in the air from long balls. I'd like to see us play two up front with Morelos doing the bullying and Windass always on the last man and making those off the ball runs which he's very good at.

9 minutes ago, buster. said:

And according to Steve (4LADS) we are desperate to move WesFod and won't be difficult to deal with.

 

When a club whose revenue streams are limited for various reasons are nearly always on the buttend of transfers in and out, the question is how long can that continue ?

The instability has been hugely damaging to the club, but Gerrard's 4 year contract is the sign that the board acknowledge that. For all the complaining about the lack of transfers in the east end, they've got real stability which allows them to take their time finding targets and sell their players for the highest possible price. You'd have thought we could have found a move for Foderingham before publicising that he's third choice.

Hibs seem to have got a pretty favourable draw with Asteras Tripolis followed by Molde. They'll be serious underdogs for both but they dodged Sevilla, Rapid Vienna and AZ Alkmaar. Won't be a popular opinion on here but I'd like to see us both go through.

I didn't realise that we had to play another round before the groups, though apparently we'll be seeded so should dodge the toughest teams.

Time to combine the transfer strategies of previous regimes. Go McCoist by bolstering the attack with Kris Boyd, go Warburton by announcing this Beever chap who's proven at League 1 level and combine Gerrard with Advocaat by snapping up Liverpool youngster Harry Wilson on a 5 year EBT.

8 hours ago, ian1964 said:

According to The Express, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers are eyeing a move for Bolton Wanderers defender, Mark Beevers.

The article from The Express states:

“Rangers are eyeing a move for Bolton defender Mark Beevers.

The Light Blues sent a scout down south to watch the 28-year-old centre-half in action during last weekend’s friendly against Girona, which finished goalless.

Beevers is in the final year of his contract and would be a much cheaper option than Millwall defender Jake Cooper, who was the subject of a failed £3million bid from Rangers last week.

Championship club Bolton are aware of the interest in Beevers, who has a wealth of experience after racking up more than 100 appearances for both Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall.

Gers boss Steven Gerrard has bolstered his backline with the signings of Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic but remains in the hunt for a left-sided centre-half.”

Since his move to The Macron two years ago, Beevers, 28, has scored eight times for Wanderers in 98 appearances. He’s been virtually ever present as Bolton gained promotion to The Championship in 2017 & stayed up last season.

Whilst Marc Wilson is looking likely to sign alongside trialist Jack Hobbs, selling Beevers would leave Bolton lacking at centre back. Can Wanderers afford to let him go?

Would Beevers be interested in the prospect of playing for Steven Gerrard? Who knows.

What sort of bid would you sell Mark Beevers for? Let us know in the comments box below.

https://lionofviennasuite.sbnation.com/2018/7/23/17605204/transfer-gossip-steven-gerrards-rangers-linked-with-bolton-wanderers-defender

If true it would indicate a re-allocating of the remaining budget to the frontline, which I think most would support. I’m still skeptical of Katic as a starter though. 

2 hours ago, Rousseau said:

I'd have Olympiakos above both Feyenoord and Bordeaux.

 

Tough draw, either way.

I largely based my division on their transfer values over the past few years and transfermarket’s valuation of their squads. Bordeaux were well ahead but it’s not the most solid criteria. 

Anyway, fantastic draw, the ball is in our court!

IMO here's the order from easiest to hardest (and I've assumed some teams will go through);

Maribor (SVN)

København (DEN)

Olympiacos (GRE)

Feyenoord (NED)
Bordeaux (FRA)

It's a very tough draw. I'd say we'd only be slight favourites for Maribor and underdogs for the rest. And even then, Maribor's squad are far more experienced in Europe than us. 

I hadn't realised what a huge task qualifying for the group would be. Not to be presumtous, but fingers crossed for Maribor or Copenhagen because the other 3 present an enormous challenge for us just now. The fact we're a bit worried about Osijek is the proof of that.

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

I think Kent will bring that. 

 

Of course, Barker has done 'well' for Hibs and so has experience in this league, but then Kent has done 'well' for Barnsley in the Championship. 

 

I don't think they are risks in what they bring (pace, dribbling etc), but they are both a risk in whether they can do it for us, against the common opposition set-ups we face.  

I've only seen brief youtube videos of Kent but he seemed another cutting inside type. I was very impressed with the ease at which Barker could get past defenders use his pace and dribbling ability. I think we need to be using width and getting to the byline far more he'd bring that. Hopefully Kent will too but who knows.

20 hours ago, der Berliner said:

Rangers Sign Ryan Kent

RANGERS are today delighted to confirm Ryan Kent has joined the club from Liverpool.

The winger, a graduate of the Liverpool academy, joins on a season loan for the 2018/2019 season subject to international clearance.

 

More here: https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/rangers-sign-ryan-kent/

 

A Familiar Feel For Ryan

 

HE may only have just arrived at Rangers, but already, there’s a familiar feeling to life in Glasgow for new signing Ryan Kent.

The 21 year-old today signed on-loan until the end of the season from Liverpool, and joins up with a host of staff he worked alongside on the banks of the Mersey.

 

More here: https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/a-familiar-feel-for-ryan/

Disappointed if this ends Brandon Barker link because with Barker you know what you're getting. He has blistering pace and dribbling ability that simply doesn't exist in our current squad. Kent may offer this but he may not, it looks like another risk. Hope I'm wrong.

54 minutes ago, craig said:

Then we will agree to disagree - the argument that "they lost the only times they came up against decent opposition" is pointless because if it isn't your starting XI then it is futile using it in comparison

The point clearly applies whether you count the Belgium game or not, it’s not that important whether it was once or twice. And Belgium was still another drab performance in the system Southgate adopted so does add to the point of the sides performance in the tournament. Anyway we are off the topic of this thread. 

11 minutes ago, craig said:

You surely aren't counting that Belgium game ?  It was reserves v reserves.

That doesn’t matter I just listed all the games, of course it wasn’t an important game. 

1 minute ago, Bluedell said:

I don't see the pundits or the fans/public being any different from the way that we would react.

 

If pundits are gushing about Rangers, we would love it. I don't get it that it suddenly becomes wrong just because they're doing it about the England team.

I actually think the pundits were unbearable purely because of the repetition of the delusion that they had a fantastic world cup and they'd done everyone proud. You'd have thought they'd knocked out Argentina, Germany or Spain.

In the real world, they beat Tunisia (21st) (who were terrible) with a last gasp header, Panama (55th) who were the worst team in the competition, Sweden (24th) with their only 2 shots on target and scraped past Colombia (16th) on penalties who were far better than them for the last 50 minutes or so. And again with only 2 shots on target with the goal being a gift wrapped penalty.

They lost the only times they came up against decent opposition Croatia (20th) and Belgium (3rd). I'm not anti-England but the combination of their drab performances and the delusion of how great they'd been made me anti-England.