Soulsonic5791 408 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, buster. said: We need a goalscoring forward and the 'delay' points to it being a loan. I can't imagine much more money being spent without some coming in the other direction. Agreed. Possibly correct re a loan. Money being spent is likely to be reduced especially in light of the delay in shirt sales. Easy to be smart with the benefit of hindsight but when King announced that Ashley had been sidelined last summer, it seemed too clean and tidy to me. Most people had a good idea that Ashley wouldn't go quietly, but many, as is usually is the case, preferred to take comfort from 'Rangers' coming out on top and focused on the trees rather than the wood. Quote We also need creativity, again I think if we want a degree of quality then it'll have to be a loan. Is the lad from Liverpool already at Ibrox the player brought in to fill this position ? Surely Ejaria will be a squad player. SG can't be so naïve as to pin his creative hopes on him. Sunderland fans reckoned the boy to be murder. Different scenario of course but it points to the old adage, if someone can't cut it elsewhere, the chances of them doing the business at Ibrox are slim. As such, we should only countenance players on the way up (not that Ove is going in the opposite direction). To be fair to the manager, he's alluded to this notion in some of his interviews. Quote Early days We'll have a better idea where we are when the windows shuts and we've played our first four league games. Exactly. If we progress through the qualifiers to the group stage (fingers crossed) and players are added at each round, then that'll give us a feel as to realistic expectations for the first quarter of the league fixtures. Edited July 16, 2018 by Soulsonic5791 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsonic5791 408 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 N.B. With regard to my last post, I'm obviously preaching to the converted and not coming away with anything earth shattering. I am though, detecting the first murmurs of doubt within the support caused by people being distinctly underwhelmed by Thursday night. I don't subscribe to this querying notion. However, if people who are predicting that SG could be another experimental theorist are proved to be correct, then Stevie is, in all likelihood, in for a rude awakening. I'm firmly in the 'he'll get it right' camp. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 5,188 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Soulsonic5791 said: Agreed. Possibly correct re a loan. Money being spent is likely to be reduced especially in light of the delay in shirt sales. Easy to be smart with the benefit of hindsight but when King announced that Ashley had been sidelined last summer, it seemed too clean and tidy to me. Most people had a good idea that Ashley wouldn't go quietly, but many, as is usually is the case, preferred to take comfort from 'Rangers' coming out on top and focused on the trees rather than the wood. Surely Ejaria will be a squad player. SG can't be so naïve as to pin his creative hopes on him. Sunderland fans reckoned the boy to be murder. Different scenario of course but it points to the old adage, if someone can't cut it elsewhere, the chances of them doing the business at Ibrox are slim. As such, we should only countenance players on the way up. To be fair to the manager, he's alluded to this notion in some of his interviews. Exactly. If we progress through the qualifiers to the group stage (fingers crossed) and players are added at each round, then that'll give us a feel as to realistic expectations for the first quarter of the league fixtures. Only time will tell with the above but IMO it'll be a minor miracle to get to the EL group stages at this very early stage of the SG era. I think this season is all about the League, generally producing better levels of consistency, being able to compete in the games against Celtic and improvement in final League position. Upstairs, finance and revenue streams are somewhat up in the air and we need some 'consistency', certainty and improvement there aswell. Edited July 16, 2018 by buster. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaffer 1,665 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) I would never boo or jeer a Rangers player, and I just can't understand why anyone else would think that's acceptable for a 'supporter'. I am no great fan of Windass (as you know), but he does clearly have some obvious talent. Suggesting otherwise is mindless. Gerrard got to see the players in action during their training sessions and I'm sure he saw Windass' qualities and felt they deserved an opportunity. Im sure each of the previous managers saw those same qualities and hence why he was selected for the teams then too. He is quick, skilful and can score. That set of attributes would catch any coach's eye. However, what Windass lacks can only be experienced in high pressure matches. Gerrard will have to give many players the chance to demonstrate their ability (or otherwise) to wear the weight of the Rangers jersey and he can then do his weeding after that. The difference last season was that we didn't have enough alternative options, so Windass retained his spot in the team. This season we have a manager who appears willing to change his system, and many other players who can play in those attacking roles. I'm hoping that gives Windass the incentive (and support) to improve his effectiveness in games, because I'd like to see any Rangers player turn things around. If he can't though, he'll be away. Let us trust our manager to do his job, and in the meantime let us do our job in supporting the team. We have too many detractors outside the club without helping them by booing/jeering our own players. I can think of few things more embarrassing for a support to do. If he plays on Tuesday and beyond I'd like to think the real,supporters will get right behind him. Anyone in a Rangers jersey deserves that. Edited July 16, 2018 by Gaffer 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsonic5791 408 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, buster. said: Only time will tell with the above but IMO it'll be a minor miracle to get to the EL group stages at this very early stage of the SG era. I think this season is all about the League, generally producing better levels of consistency, being able to compete in the games against Celtic and improvement in final League position. Upstairs, finance and revenue streams are somewhat up in the air and we need some 'consistency', certainty and improvement there aswell. This is the crux though Buster. From a realist point of view, I agree wholeheartedly about the group stages possibly being unrealistic given how they huffed and puffed the other night. But if we keep going into a season settling for the mediocrity of EL Group Stage qualification as representing success, then following Rangers will inevitably change and such diminished ambition will have repercussions which many fans (such as myself) don't even want to contemplate. A difficult thing to achieve given the new financial reality, but the maintaining of standards which sets us apart is something we cannot and must not lose sight of. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 5,188 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Soulsonic5791 said: N.B. With regard to my last post, I'm obviously preaching to the converted and not coming away with anything earth shattering. I am though, detecting the first murmurs of doubt within the support caused by people being distinctly underwhelmed by Thursday night. I don't subscribe to this querying notion. However, if people who are predicting that SG could be another experimental theorist are proved to be correct, then Stevie is, in all likelihood, in for a rude awakening. I'm firmly in the 'he'll get it right' camp. When so much build-up goes into the SG era it creates a pressure and expectation that was hardly likely to be satisfied in the short-term. A 2-0 home win in Europe isn't to be sniffed at. The last-time we scored as many as two goals in a European match at Ibrox was more than a decade ago against Werder Bremen. . Edited July 16, 2018 by buster. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 5,188 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 1 minute ago, Soulsonic5791 said: This is the crux though Buster. From a realist point of view, I agree wholeheartedly about the group stages possibly being unrealistic given how they huffed and puffed the other night. But if we keep going into a season settling for the mediocrity of EL Group Stage qualification as representing success, then following Rangers will inevitably change and such diminished ambition will have repercussions which many fans (such as myself) don't even want to contemplate. A difficult thing to achieve given the new financial reality, but the maintaining of standards which sets us apart is something we cannot and must not lose sight of. You can't run before you walk, no matter how much you think you should. We have to build the football operation and Gerrard has to build a team. Unreasonable levels of expectation in the short-term are what will ensure we never get past first base. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsonic5791 408 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 1 minute ago, buster. said: When so much build-up goes into the SG era it creates a pressure and expectation that was hardly likely to be satisfied in the short-term. A 2-0 home win in Europe isn't to be sniffed at. The last-time we scored as many as two goals in a European match at Ibrox was a decade ago. Agreed. With the exception of the goalkeeper, it remains to be seen if the playing squad can handle that expectation. You could argue that the players on the books from last season that are still here struggle to handle it. I'm giving them all a fresh chance though. Four weeks is too short a timescale on which to base any judgement or predictions. If they show improvement tomorrow night, then we can collectively take comfort from things going in the right direction. Forza Gers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsonic5791 408 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, buster. said: You can't run before you walk, no matter how much you think you should. We have to build the football operation and Gerrard has to build a team. Unreasonable levels of expectation in the short-term are what will ensure we never get past first base. When then, do we stop building in allowances? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 5,188 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 1 minute ago, Soulsonic5791 said: Agreed. With the exception of the goalkeeper, it remains to be seen if the playing squad can handle that expectation. You could argue that the players on the books from last season that are still here struggle to handle it. I'm giving them all a fresh chance though. Four weeks is too short a timescale on which to base any judgement or predictions. If they show improvement tomorrow night, then we can collectively take comfort from things going in the right direction. Forza Gers. Players need gametime and whilst there was a lot of coaching, we haven't played many friendlies to give it a chance for things to be tried out and then further tweaked. Looking forward to watching the game tomorrow. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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