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Hey, Sorry, was alerted to some errors today. Just took site offline to repair. Should be good to go!

Jack’s back as Rangers put in five star performance. Ryan Jack made a scoring return to the Rangers first team today as the league leaders made another impressive statement on their title credentials with a 5-0 win over Ross County at Ibrox. The win takes Rangers 23 points clear with 13 games to play. Celtic still have three games in hand, but even the most optimistic of their supporters must now be approaching the point of accepting that the required winning run to claw back the difference is beyond Neil Lennon’s side. Steven Gerrard, taking charge of his 150th match as Rangers manager, named one change to the side which started last week at Fir Park with Filip Helander coming in for Leon Balogun. There was also a visible sign on the bench of the improving injury situation at Ibrox, where both Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe were named. It is widely accepted that Rangers have not been the in the free-flowing, high-scoring form that they displayed earlier in the season, with Ross County the last side to taka a battering from Steven Gerrard’s side in the 4-0 defeat in Dingwall in December. Today would be an even more chastening experience for the Staggies and recently appointed boss John Hughes, who went into the game today on the back of an impressive 4-1 win over Aberdeen last weekend. However Rangers looked up from it from the start and scored after six minutes thanks to Ryan Kent. James Tavernier sent a cross into the box, Morelos nodded it back across the face of goal for Kent to loop his header over Ross Laidlaw to give Rangers the early lead they craved. A couple of minutes later James Tavernier hit a free-kick just over the bar, giving Rangers the look of a side which wanted to get their business done early. In the 12th minute it looked like Rangers would do exactly that when they were awarded a penalty after Morelos robbed Callum Morris to run in on goal, only to be fouled before he could get his shot away. James Tavernier stepped up, but his effort was saved by Laidlaw – Tavernier’s second successive miss from the spot. Rangers continued to dominate possession and it didn’t take too much longer for them to double their lead, thanks to Filip Helander after 27 minutes. Borna Barisic sent in another great corner, Helander lost his man and rose to bullet home from just outside the six yard box. Barisic was involved again shortly after when he hit a free-kick which Laidlaw needed two attempts to gather. Then came the moment of the match from Joe Aribo. The Nigerian cut inside the box, beat Charlie Lakin and Connor Randall before curling a fantastic strike into the top corner, leaving Laidlaw helpless and all but confirming the three points for Rangers. Ianis Hagi was having an impressive game and had a couple of opportunities towards the end of the first-half. Firstly he hit a shot from just outside the area which flew narrowly over the bar. Then he was played in by Ryan Kent, but took a touch too many which allowed Morris the time he needed to block the Romanian's effort. As the teams went up the tunnel for half-time you would have been forgiven for suggesting the second-half was an effort in futility, however Ross County provided a reminder that there was still plenty to play for when Harry Paton struck the post seconds after the restart. The near miss provoked a response from Rangers with Alfredo Morelos coming close after a great turn and shot, then Ryan Kent came close with another header. Ross County struck the woodwork again after a header from Alex Iacovitti looped over Allan McGregor and hit the bar. Morelos then had another effort from outside the box go just wide. Joe Aribo then came really close to adding another outrageous act to his superb first-half goal when he audaciously flicked on a Tavernier corner, forcing a save from Laidlaw. Steven Gerrard then made four substitutions, including Ryan Jack who came on with Bongani Zungu, Jermain Defoe and Cedric Itten, in place of Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo and Alfredo Morelos. It didn't take Jack long to make an impact with a goal four minutes after being introduced to proceedings. Jack started the move, playing a ball to Cedric Itten who laid the ball out wide to Hagi. Hagi sent the ball across the face of goal for Jack to come in and hammer home the fourth. Jack came close to scoring again after Nathan Patterson, who had replaced James Tavernier, played a ball to him on the edge of the box. Jack’s right foot shot looked like it was goal-bound until Laidlaw got a hand to it to put it wide. The fifth came with ten minutes to go thanks to Connor Goldson. Barisic sent in yet another great corner for Goldson to send it past Laidlaw with a well-placed header, which dinked off the post on its way in. Steven Gerrard was delighted with performance saying: “There's no such thing as a perfect performance for a manager, you're always looking for little things to improve on. “But we asked the players for a 90 minute performance and they delivered that today. We looked dangerous from start to finish. “We played with real urgency. We did all the right things and in possession we played some lovely football.” RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Kamara, Davis, Aribo. Kent, Hagi, Morelos. SUBS: McLaughlin, Bassey, Balogun, Defoe, Itten, Zungu, Patterson, Roofe, Jack. ROSS COUNTY: Laidlaw, Randall, Hjelde, Morris, Iacovitti, Naismith, Lakin, Paton, Draper, Vigurs, Shaw. SUBS: Gardyne, Mckay, Hylton, Watson, Charles-Cooke, Tillson, Donaldson, Andreu, Munro. REFEREE: Euan Anderson

Good old BBC...just read their report. Honourable mentions of County's high press, our goals basically down to poor defending, them hitting the bar, Motherwell ending our 6 game winning streak last week...they really are hurting

Because it’s the only way they can stop us, and nothing is beneath that morally corrupt cabal. I agree I don’t see it happening either but I’m running out of ways to not start celebrating!

The biggest plus from this game was to have Ryan Jack back playing

Can't argue with that other than a wee bit of slackness once or twice but generally we played very, very well and 5-0 didn't flatter us at all. Some good performances throughout the team: centre halves were very good, Barisic had a good game and I thought Kent and Hagi both worked hard through the game. Delighted to see Jack back playing and looking to sharp and I also felt Patterson slotted in very well. That's another one in the bag!

Hmmm....thought Hagi played very well today. Each to our own opinion I suppose ?

Good shout compo ?.

An excellent first half. Good to see Kent and Aribo took my advice I gave them before the game on this forum ?

Great 1st half, should be more than 3, we are at it today which is very pleasing

Which was scripted of course. Maybe I should moan before ANY game ...

Also happy to see big Fil back as well - I've been impressed by Balogun but do prefer the big Swede.

This. If I was SG I would say to all players to go out and win the game by half time. If we are not in that position, you're not meeting the required standards and you will be hooked. We need a better tempo to the way we start games IMO

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We're only three weeks into 2021 and already it seems a lot longer since we beat Celtic on the 2nd January at Ibrox. It's fair to say we weren't at our best in that match and, although Celtic's supposed dominance actually petered out midway through the first half, the red card for Nir Bitton was a big help, as was the rather fortunate winning goal that came off Calum McGregor. However, after various pieces of misfortune in recent times, one doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth. That Old Firm topped off what had been an excellent December results-wise for Rangers. To win all our matches in the Premiership through that month and win our Europa League Group really was impressive with only a defeat against St Mirren in the League Cup by way of disappointment. Therefore, to start the New Year with the win over Celtic then go onto comfortably beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie the following week really helped minimise any worries about repeating recent years' poor post-winter break form. Unfortunately, these wins were followed up by a frustrating 1-1 draw last weekend at Fir Park. A slow start followed by the concession of an avoidable opener left us with work to do for the second match in succession against Motherwell and this time, despite pushing our opponents back for 70mins, we couldn't grab more than a deserved equaliser and didn't create a huge amount outwith that, even if we did have one or two good chances to win. Although we dominated, especially in the second half, our distribution and crossing was poor, we took too many touches and, Itten aside, lacked composure when chances did appear. As such, the post-match reaction to dropping points was rather harsh but not altogether unexpected. Although we remain unbeaten in the league which really is extraordinary, and results very positive for the most part, it's difficult not to point to some indifferent form of late. Of course, the loss of experienced players like Jack, Arfield and Roofe hasn't helped and whilst others have stepped up in their absence, some constructive and balanced criticism is also agreeable. To that end the inconsistent contribution of key players like Morelos and Kent is frustrating and it's fair to say Joe Aribo doesn't seem quite as effective in the unavoidably deeper role he's occupied recently. Moreover, player of the year elect James Tavernier hasn't quite offered the same threat as earlier in the campaign and other fringe players like Zungu, Barker, Jones and Stewart don't appear to be trusted as much as we'd all like. On the other hand, after such a busy December, it's hardly a surprise to see some fist choice players appear a wee bit jaded (though with no less effort) and it's simply unrealistic to expect great results and performances week after week. Let's not forget we've now played 35 games this season and we're not yet into February! With that in mind, recent weeks has seen our schedule open up somewhat with next Wednesday's trip to Hibernian our first midweek match since beating St Mirren late last month. We also have a free weekend next week and the manager has said in today's press conference that Ryan Jack will return to the squad for Ross County with Roofe also very close to joining him. He's also expecting an early February recovery for Arfield and I suspect we'll see at least one new player (one being Scott Wright) by the close of the transfer window. If we can have a fully fit squad by the resumption of our Europa League travels, then what a boost that would be for our intentions of success at home and abroad. Taking one game at a time though as the manager likes to repeat, we have another tricky match at Ibrox tomorrow against a Ross County side who have had some very positive results since John Hughes became manager last month. There's no doubt that with wins against Hibs, Aberdeen and Celtic this season, County are a very capable side and usually tough to beat with a stubborn defence. Indeed in our last fixture against them at Ibrox, it took a penalty and an 88th minute late clincher to deliver the points and although our 0-4 win in Dingwall last month looks easy now, they made it difficult for us for long spells and could easily have taken the lead themselves. As such anything less than full attention and application from the opening whistle could cause problems. Consequently, although I can't see a Jack or Roofe starting tomorrow, I believe Gerrard may well make one or two changes. Ryan Kent's obvious lack of consistent form means Cedric Itten may be given a deserved opportunity in attack with the big Swiss forward giving us a different option should we be forced wide and into crosses again. Meanwhile it wouldn't surprise me to see Ianis Hagi and Joe Aribo swap positions in the XI with both struggling to affect the game last week. It could also be more likely we move from our more usual 4-3-2-1 to more of a 4-2-3-1. The inclusion of someone like Barker or Defoe in the starting XI would be more of a surprise but the manager may also have one eye on Wednesday's match in Edinburgh. Certainy, the more players we can get involved in the coming weeks, the better in terms of maintaining a freshness through a period that is always tough on the legs. Finally, it's obviously very easy right now to look across the Clyde when examining our chances of winning our 55th title. Their "elite training camp" in Dubai (see, I can use quotation marks too) and resulting poor results means our 20 point lead at the top of the table looks even wider than that fine river. However, it would be foolhardy to become complacent and one has to hope our December defeat in the League Cup, along with last week's draw, has allowed the manager to refocus the minds of all our players when it comes to achieving success. Undoubtedly there will be more twists and turns as we move through the rest of this season but if we play it straight in terms of attitude then this title should finally be within our grasp. We must not let this opportunity go so getting back to winning ways tomorrow is the ideal chance to show our credentials. Unlike last week, let's hope we're raring to go! Possible team (4-3-3):

1-3 in the end. Mendy a hobbling shadow of the player he was when he started with City. Aguero irreplaceable. Foden a gem.

Stumbled on this beauty. Ladbrokes must rub their hands when Lambert walks through the door...

If we haven't stopped playing at the peak of the 3rd wave why would we suddenly stop now.

We have equalled our points total of the 16/17 season. 3 points and we will equal the 17/18 season total.

Not sure about that tbh, we need cover from the bench in every position and he is cover for Tav, although I agree with your thinking.

Excellent performance and another game ticked off , nice and steady , another positive was the subs looked very hungry to succeed , Jack especially and he deserved a quite beautiful goal

He really does look the part, very difficult for him to get into the team due to the excellent Tav.

[FT] 5-0. Pretty pleased with that. When can still play better.

Patterson has been quite good - apart from giving the ball away once.

Goaldson makes it 5 ?

“I’ve paid my dues, time after time........”

That's how football should be played - sensational goal

He will be in his cupboard under the stairs ?

Scripted ... ?

Worldie from Aribo

Like to see that again, Kent looked onside there

No such thing as coincidence, GS.

Joking aside I presume the fact that it has such an uninspiring name is mainly due to the fact that this place will have a sponsors name attached?

The Club has been hoovering up sponsorships and partnerships like nobody's business, so, perhaps, it should look, now, to sell 'naming rights' for the new facilty. In that regard, I am inclined to go for a beer Company, and would, respectfully, and humbly, suggest THE FAMOUS ORANJEBOOM HOUSE

Helander starts so I'm very happy. Happy that Hagi keeps his place too and a welcome return to the bench for Jack and Roofe. If I was being greedy I would have liked to see Itten start too but hopefully he gets more time than usual off the bench, it should be acknowledged that he bailed us out at Fir Park.

Could we not think of a more inspiring name than New Edminston House?

I’m surprised at the shot locations. I find that he takes quite a lot of speculative shots. I guess that would include shots that aren’t necessarily far out but are very unlikely to go in and are comfortably saved. It is notable to me that there aren’tmany passes near the 6 yard box at all, especially centrally (the location with the highest chance of scoring). I’m not seeing his assist for Arfield there in the 8-0 vs Hamilton though which is the closest to that kind of high-scoring-chance assist that I can remember.

Maybe we could appropriate the, "Squeal like a pig!" phrase from the film of the same name.