DMAA

1 hour ago, the gunslinger said:

Gerrard was injured a lot when he was young.

An injury prone manager is no use, we need to cut out losses

15 minutes ago, Darthter said:

that might be a big IF.....

 

I would like to see someone that can offer more than just a direct strike on goal, and that can also be utilised at corners etc.  We certain have players like Tav, Candeias & Alves that have a good shot on them, but sometimes a more subtle, creative touch is required.

I agree. We’re not dangerous enough from set pieces.

Colombia will be blunt up front without Morelos. And England won’t go far without Windass. So I predict 0-0. 

£7m for Armstrong is a very strong argument for Hibs to hold out for more. However it’s  crucial there are bids from down south. Hibs can’t afford to turn down good money. 

9 hours ago, buster. said:

Celtic seem to have made a move for McGinn.

 

Was always going to happen.

 

 

 

Apparently made a bid of £1.5m. Looking forward to Kris Boyd’s column on “the one club” who are unsettling everyone with low bids. 

The guy is 60k a week it’s a non-story. If he is leaving Liverpool I can guarantee you he’s not coming to Rangers he’ll be staying in the EPL. 

Would have liked to have seen movement on McBurnie but we’re probably priced out of that one too. 

7 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I'm not saying they shouldn't have strong aerial ability -- it's patently preferable -- just that they don't have to be a target man. 

 

Lukaku, Lewandowski, Aguero, Higuain, Rooney (for like a season...) are/were all target men -- amongst other things -- that are/were not particularly great in the air, or it's not their strength -- we are talking about high level players, so they're deficient in few things.  

 

Going back to Laffterty and Sadiq, they are used as target men. Sadiq's video's show a lot of runs in behind, but he's also the focal point of the attack. Hearts used Lafferty as a target man too: that goal against Celtic came as a result of a long pass into him, which he laid off. They are a physical presence, and a focal point for their teams. That's a target man to me. 

 

I agree they're not Prso level quality in the air -- that would cost a few bob!  

It probably hinges on style of play. With the modern styles of play out there today the target man role is probably less and less reliant on aerial ability. In a side who play a direct style of football I’d say aerial ability would be as important an attribute as any for him to have.

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

I think Target man is right, to be honest -- I don't think you need strong aerial ability to be a target man. 

Well from a quick google of “football target man” all the articles that come up refer to strong aerial ability. I’d say the likes of Lafferty are semi-target men, or poor men’s target men who can do the link up play side of things but aren’t going to win as many knock-downs, flick ons etc as you would expect from a quality target man like Prso. 

51 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

You don't have to be good aerially to be a target man. They are both target men, IMO. Or, perhaps link-up men is more appropriate, but it's the same role.

Fair enough it’s just a matter of definition. I have always thought strong aerial ability is essential to being a target man. Whereas a link up man is a bit different, more like a Stephen Dobbie (at Swansea at least). 

57 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

How so? 

 

They're big target-men, with the ability to run (more so with Sadiq). I think they'd both be fairly useful. 

Neither are target men. They are tall but both poor aerially from what I’ve seen. 

I’m not sure, I don’t mind the sound of either player but I can’t help but feel you have guaranteed goals with Cummings which is what you need alongside Morelos arguably. 

If true Sadiq is done and we’re looking for another striker it sounds like Gerrard plans to play 2 up front. Presumably in a 3-5-2 with Goldson, Katic and Alves at the back. 

Genuinely amazed at how many Celtic nutjobs are manufacturing stories out of nothing almost every day about Rangers. 

A season in the top flight as a main striker is great for Hardie and great for Rangers imo. He can test himself at the top level. Best outcome would be he does really well and gets an extension and plays for us next season. It would also be good if he does well and fetches us a few of some sort. 

4 hours ago, buster. said:

 

 

Choosing Nemane over Barker absolutely sums the guy up. I wonder who he chose Dalcio over. 

Encouraged to hear we’re shifting Cardoso and Herrera. It will be another embarrassment to see them leaving for a fraction of what they were signed for, but the more deadwood we get shifted for Gerrard the better. 

1 minute ago, Rousseau said:

£2.5M is still laughable. 

 

Maddison -- on loan at Aberdeen two seasons ago -- has just signed for Leicester for £23M.

 

I'm not saying they are worth that, but we need to be holding out for more. 

 

£1.5M for a key player? Can we really replace him with £1.5M? I don't think so.

It’s a matter of opinion at the end of the day but I’d say we could get a better player for £2.5m. Regarding the fee disparity the fact is our players are only being tested in Scottish football and the amount clubs are willing to spend on them reflects the risk inherent in that. Spurs and Villa were arguably burned with Cuellar and Hutton for underestimating that. 

£1.5m for Windass is probably an opening bid. I’d take £2.5m. 

I’m pleased to see Barker linked. For me loans are fine as long as permanent transfers are likely after a successful spell. We lack pace and a proper dribbling winger and although his end product is very poor it should improve. 

3 hours ago, Darthter said:

Someone that can win headers & bring other players into the action - coz that's the reality of Scottish football (against us).

Exactly. A big tough target man (like Prso) would be brilliant. It’s the one thing that will make teams think twice about playing so deep too. And you’d see Tavernier and Candeias’s assists get even higher. 

Osijek is a tricky tie. On paper we should be beating a 4th placed Croatian league side. The worry for me is they appear to have a very competant manager. Excellent results across 6 games in Europe last year and he's turned them into a top 4 side having been finishing 8th every season for years before he joined. He's got a track record of playing against better teams and getting results.

Big test of Gerrard's tactical ability and his ability to gel his squad very fast!

There's more to being a quality forward than goals, but I'm not impressed by the youtube compilations at all. His finishing is worse than Morelos and despite being 6 foot 4 he's not good in the air.

For me in Scottish football you want at least one striker who's one of the best in the league in the air. It's a great option to have coming off the bench too when plan A has failed! The past few years our sub strikers have had no obvious strengths our starting players didn't have.

Anyway, if he signs then I'll back him and hope for the best. He's young and I'm sure there will be a good chance of signing permanently if all goes well. For me it's another gamble but we've got to trust Gerrard and the team. 

39 minutes ago, craig said:

Who are the better options you believe are out there with Premiership experience, out of contract and on reasonable wages ?

I thought Jason Naismith had done enough. He was signed for about 200k by Peterborough. Doubt he would have come here to be an understudy to Tavernier but he looked like a future Scottish international to me. 

Hopefully there will be a clause in his contract with respect to any future alcohol related problems. 

We need to back him and back Gerrard. We all know someone who changes into a different person when they’ve had too much to drink. No previous history of violence, genuine remorse and she has stuck by him. He’s been punished and now it’s time to move on. 

14 hours ago, Craigy1881 said:

what are you talking about?  he joined in feb and played a decent number of matches and was even getting praised towards the end of march

 

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/16104752.Whites_defender_Flanagan_showing_he_is_a_class_act/

I was just stating the facts. He didn’t hold down a starting place and wasn’t even on the bench some games towards the end of the season for a team who had the 3rd weakest defence in the championship. 

Im happy enough as long as he is on modest wages. At 25 and with his history  he clearly has the potential to improve. 

Not impressed with this one tbh. He couldn’t make the Bolton team last season who avoided relegation by 2 points and conceded the 3rd most in the league. He often didn’t make the bench. What more is there to be said?

8 minutes ago, buster. said:

It really depends on how Gerrard is thinking about setting his team up.

 

If it's one up top then Cummings becomes a bit of a luxury, when our money surely has to go towards necessities.

 

 

Agree with that. It's all down to budget and allocating it carefully so that it improves the starting line-up as much as possible. So far that appears to have been done with big money spent on 2 centre backs.

Watching England last night I couldn't help but think we lack pacey players to get in behind like Sterling, Lingard, Rashford, Alli. A player like that makes life easy for your creative midfielder because whether it's a quick incisive through ball or a chip over the top your man will get to it first 9 times out of 10 and suddenly you're in a really good attacking position. However our best chance of a player like that would probably be a loan.

I think it's very difficult for us to make a judgment on Cummings. I think we saw he had a goalscoring instinct that Morelos doesn't have in his short time with us, which would suggest he'd do well alongside a Morelos type of player. I think it was unfortunate we didn't get to see that.

The problem just now is that the fan's expectations are sky high so everyone is confident we can bring someone in who is better but at this stage don't know that. £1m doesn't get you much these days and on balance it still looks a decent price to me. Remember Garner cost £1.8m.