DMAA

As much as I don’t want to see any Rangers player getting injured, that has strengthened us.

And says he is glad to have them back in the top flight, given they are the 7th biggest side in Scotland ?

No

Their centre back Connolly had a howler against Kilmarnock, stuck with the ball at his feet. For context, he was signed from Crawley Town. Their other centre back is Mark Reynolds who is obviously very experienced and can be trusted at this level. At left back they have a kid and a new signing from Argentina so I think we could target that area. At right back they have Liam Smith (ex Rangers youth) who has a lot of experience for his age (24), contributes a lot going forward but I've no idea what he's like defensively.

Rangers 3-0 Dundee United Roofe

Haha, checking that my expectation of kits being in stock at this stage of the season are fair.

I have followed the threads on Follow Follow and the sheer volume of complaints is hard to argue with. And it is from reputable people on the forum too including the admins, some of whom bought the most expensive gear on the website and still had to return it all due to quality issues. I am a bit skeptical of the 3% figure to be honest. The biggest complaint I have is stock. Every time I check, they don't have anything in stock that wouldn't fit the incredible hulk, unless you buy from Ashley. Celtic on the other hand have everything in stock all the way from infants to adults in their own online shop as well as JD Sports. The stock issue will cost the club and Celtic will make very good money out of the service they are getting from Adidas. The appetite for the new kits wanes quickly as the season goes on.

Introduction Well, the much dreaded international break didn't disappoint. It was every bit as tediously boring and excruciatingly long as feared. Tragically, some would eventually succumb to madness as everyone from Paddy Roberts to Alan Power were "linked" with sensational switches to Ibrox as the prospect of even a crumb of a genuine rumour became less and less likely before the end of the break. Fortunately, there was a welcome relief from the deafening silence around Ibrox in the scintillating football played by Steve Clarke's dynamos as Israel were bravely thwarted at Hampden and Czechia's C team were effortlessly brushed aside in Olomouc. But for now, the only thing that matters is that our players came back injury-free. The visit of Dundee United to Ibrox is the first in eight and half years and promises to be an entertaining occasion. On the way back from demotion, a United side very strong at the time put Rangers to the sword twice in the cups and there will be just a little bit of a sense of revenge in mind on this occasion as the balance of power has reverted to the norm. On to this season, both sides will be happy with the start they have made. Rangers have gone six games without conceding and top the league. In early August, spirits were high as the red carpet was rolled out for long term target Kemar Roofe and Swiss striker Cedric Itten. Unfortunately, the green carpet of the Toni Maccaroni put a premature end to their honeymoon period as Rangers toiled to a no-score draw and the usual debates began to rage among the support (Jack and Kamara anyone?). Dundee United may sit in eighth place but they have given their support reason for optimism in the season ahead. The Opposition Tough opening fixtures have perhaps masked the fact that Dundee United have made a comfortable return to the top flight. They have picked up wins at Fir Park and Dingwall and have been very unlucky not to take all three points from hosting St Johnstone and not to take any from the visit of Hibs. The young side took plaudits for holding off Celtic for 83 minutes before cruelly losing the game to a jammy Ajeti strike. But while they have held their own against several top half sides and showcased some good football, their soft underbelly was exposed in a 4-0 humbling at the hands of an experienced, physical and clinical Kilmarnock side. What has not yet been tested is how they can cope with the particular pressures of an away tie in Glasgow. Unlike many Premiership sides, they do not have experience of playing with their backs to the wall and it doesn't seem they have recruited the players to play that kind of system. They normally line up in a 4-1-4-1 with two attack-minded centre midfielders in front of a holding midfielder, but the signing of six foot five centre back Ryan Edwards has given them the option of switching to a 3-5-2 which might give them more of a chance of holding out at Ibrox. Dangermen Despite currently looking like a bottom half side, the Arabs have not one but two strikers who have made a name for themselves as prolific goalscorers. Lawrence Shankland has scored an incredible 89 goals in 106 games and often only needs one chance to score. Nicky Clark has never quite rediscovered the form that saw him score 41 goals in the 12/13 season, but showed his worth last season when he scored or assisted a goal in all but one of the last 12 games of the season and has carried that form into this season. On the creative side, Manchester City youngster Luke Bolton is on loan for the season and possesses devastating pace on the right wing. In a game where the Tangerines' strategy will be all about the counter attack, any chances created are likely to come from the ball being played into space behind Barisic for Bolton to run onto before trying to find Clark or Shankland with a hard and low cross. Rangers Rangers will be looking to pick up where they left off after bouncing back from the disappointment at Livingston to pick up two 2-0 wins. The loss of Aribo to injury for another month is a big blow, and all but confirms that the team will remain unchanged in the middle of the park for the time being. McGregor's injury confirms that Jon McLaughlin will keep his place in goals too. The experienced keeper perhaps hasn't had the praise he deserves for his role in our new clean sheet record and former Hearts boss Craig Levein was keen to point out that Jon McLaughlin broke a 100 year clean sheet record in his time at Hearts too. Further up the park, the returns of Defoe and Itten are a big boost to Gerrard in terms of the options available to him but the two big talking points are likely to be whether Morelos will return and whether Barker will retain his place. Morelos has been training well and, according to Gerrard, is looking sharper. Both questions may be answered in one change with Kemar Roofe dropping into Barker's position behind Morelos, but I think it is more likely that Gerrard will go with the same team. Whatever the line-up, it is of course essential that Rangers pick up three points, but fans will be hoping to see the forwards being far more clinical in front of goal too and taking the opportunity to send a message to Celtic that this season we aren't going to give up the top spot so easily. Verdict Dundee United possess much more danger on the counter attack than St Mirren, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock, but their dismantling at Rugby Park has rung some alarm bells among the Arab support and their first visit to Ibrox after promotion is likely to be one they will want to forget. Rangers 3-0 Dundee United Predicted Line-up

Week after week, month after month, the only place that have a home shirt in my size (Medium) are Mike Ashley’s shops; SD and House of Fraser. We are Castore’s guinea pigs and it has been a disaster so far.

Another target missed due to Liewell's biscuit tin. Good on this guy for having the guts to expose them too. Hope it hurts their reputation with owners down there.

The point is they are mostly experienced players who are much older and it’s always going to be hard to displace them when you are only on loan and a kid, it doesn’t mean you simply aren’t as talented. He was only really given 9 games. With Kamberi, as I said, Jack Ross froze him out the minute he came in. You can’t judge Middleton for that. Newell was a 26/27 year old Heckingbottom signing so obviously he was going to give him plenty game time. The conclusions being drawn from his time at Hibs are incredibly simplistic.

I forgot to mention that the primary reason for Middleton not succeeding at Hibs was Heckingbottom's sacking. He was signed by Heckingbottom and he was always in the matchday squad and making appearances under Heckingbottom. He didn't make a single matchday squad after Heckingbottom left. Jack Ross froze him out for reasons only he knows. There was every chance he would have come good once he had bedded in and injuries and suspensions gave him a run in the team. Very few young wingers can come in and immediately displace experienced players 6-7 years older than them (he was competing with Kamberi, Newell and Horgan for the left forward spot). I should be his agent.

Just to be clear, I agree that the sample size is small and that is a caveat on my comments. However, what I was primarily trying to get across is that he showed that he did have the ability to do things other than knocking the ball 10 yards ahead of him and getting round his man. I think of a Gregg Wylde when people say speed merchant and he never showed the ability that Middleton did.

Oh and just to annoy a few people, he barely featured at all for Hibs last season and he still managed an assist more than Kent did, in the only 90 minutes he got all season ?

I think this is the main reason he has been frozen out, Gerrard likes a certain type of player to play in his system. It would be easier to understand if he'd been on the fringe but he has been totally frozen out. It feels pointless debating Middleton because it's clear as day he has no future here, but he still gets a bad rap so I've been baited by the speed merchant label so I'm going to defend him one more time. He has shown time and time again he has a lot more than just pace to his game. We only saw glimpses of him in all honestly, but here are some examples. He is a very good crosser, his corners were consistently pinpoint. Do people not realise the technique involved in that? Far more consistent than Tavernier or Kent. His in-game crossing was very good too. One example that people will remember is his 90th minute assist for Morelos to clinch the game at St Johnstone. An excellent cross, and it was something he did often, not a one off. How often have we seen any of our attacking midfielders put a cross like that on Morelos's head in the 6 yard box? I can pretty confidently say almost never, they just don't do it and sometimes you need a conventional, quality cross instead of running into traffic over and over again. He showed at Villareal with a well weighted through ball to Barisic that he has the vision to play a good through ball. That was a "secondary assist" but he got praise for it at the time. He also consistently showed that he is actually a very good finisher and one of the best at shooting from range that we have. His finish at home against Motherwell was excellent and it was at the end of the box and even on his weak foot. For someone so one footed he has done something I don't think anyone in our current team has done (bar Morelos once at Aberdeen), score from outside the box on his weak foot. Surely most people have seen his rocket against Celtic youths in the final too. I don't think anyone in our current team is capable of scoring from 30-35 yards with that kind of power. He had another excellent finish from the edge of the box in that game too. I am not saying he should be starting, that ship has sailed, but he has been under-utilised and consistently underrated by some of our fans and I think he will go on to have a good career somewhere else.

Great news, every little helps. Along with the clearing out of fringe players and probably Alfredo soon, it all hopefully paves the way for a couple of quality signings in the coming weeks.

I can take Dundee United on the 12th and, touch wood, Willem II on the 24th.

I always backed him in the 18-19 season but I don't know what has happened. Loans can easily go wrong, especially at one of the better sides in the league, but why hasn't he gone anywhere this season. It is strange.

Shouldn't affect them too much though, he'll be replaced by Pavlidis who did well for them last season.

For anyone who cares, I've wasted 20 minutes of my life "scouting" Willem II. They are a club who are on the up. Promoted in 2014, they had a good first season in the Erevidisie before, as often happens, reverting to survival in their second season up and finishing 16th. From there they had two consecutive 13th place finishes. They improved on this again with a 10th place finish before finishing 5th last season, within touching distance of heavyweights PSV and Feyenoord. I don't know the story behind their gradual rise to the top table in Dutch football, but what is striking about their squad is how young it is. It seems as though they have perhaps adopted a Red Bull type transfer strategy. Last season, the ages of their front five (if you include the two more attacking centre mids) were 23, 21, 20, 20, 21. This season is largely the same although they have brought in a 26 year old striker who was prolific for Bayern Munich II in the 3rd tier in Germany. They play classic attacking Dutch football, they are quick and technically very decent and play a 4-3-3. From a quick look at their highlights, I think they will be a lot like Midtjylland. They move the ball well and all their goals come from playing the ball on the deck. Kohlert is a left footed attacking midfielder who can score from distance and will need to be watched. All in all though, I expect a similar result to Midtjylland. They are young, inexperienced and soft touch. They will not be used to the physical side of the game. Having said that, we will need to take our chances. This is a side with very fast forwards who will pose far more danger on the counter attack than we are used to in Scotland.

Entertaining read, thanks. Plenty to be positive about. I think there are one or two missing pieces to the jigsaw that the sale of Morelos can hopefully bring about. If we could bring in a quality attacking midfielder with proven end product we would be in a really good place.

We would go into each game as favourites. It's purely a matter of how likely an upset would be, and these are strong teams for this stage of the competition. We have a benchmark of sorts in that we've played against teams from these leagues last season. Rio Ave - 5 points behind Braga in 5th Willem II - 6 points behind Feyenoord having played 1 game more, in 5th Lech Poznan - 3 points behind Legia in 2nd Hammarby - No benchmark, but finished a point behind Djurgarden, who lost 2-0 to Ferencvaros. In 7th so far this season after 18 games Away from home the first three in particular would be tricky. Rio Ave the main team to avoid I think. But we are definintely favourites.

So Willem II, Rio Ave or Hammarby/Lech Poznań for us. Very tough draw when compared to the virtual bye Celtic got. Hopefully Hammarby upset the Poles and we get them. Rio Ave were marginally behind Braga last season in the league so would be very tough for this stage. Lech Poznań marginally behind Legia so again would be tough.

RangersProgrès or Willem IIBorac Banja Luka (BIH) or Rio Ave (POR)Hammarby (SWE) or Lech (POL)CELTICKuPS (Fin) or Slovan Bratislava (SVK)Riga (LVA) or Tre Fiori (SMR)Sileks (MKD) or Drita (KOS)ABERDEENBudapest Honved (HUN) or Malmo (SWE)Sport Lisbon (POR)PSV (NED)MOTHERWELLBacka Topoloa (SRB) FCSB (ROU)Osiejk (CRO) or Basel (SUI)Lac (ALB) or Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR)IFK Goteborg (SWE) or Copenhagen (DEN)