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We moved to zonal marking over the summer and, for me, we don't yet look comfortable with the transition. Goldson is used as the spare man but because both the scoring corners were towards the front post, there were too many bodies for Goldson to get to it whilst we lack height/physicality elsewhere at defensive (and offensive) set pieces. Souttar, Helander and Davies would help but all three are unavailable so we we can only play the hand we've got. PS: A word for McLaughlin who had two fine stops to keep us in the tie.

No matter who we eventually have to replace Tav with.... we will NOT get anything like his stats in ANY replacement. That is just one reason why, for me, Tav's status as a Rangers legend is absolutely assured !

The handball rule is a load of bollocks IMHO. This whole "below the sleeve" is pish - who is checking that sleeve lengths are consistently the same ? It is nonsense. Anything below the shoulder should be handball, makes things far more simplistic. I was screaming for a penalty last night and our group were pretty much unanimous that the ref had a good game... except I would chip in with "it was still a penalty" - VAR shouldnt have even asked him to look at it, it should have made the decision for him, it is that simple. But the ref, I felt, had a decent game - better than ANY of the dross we have to put up with in Scotland !

Just saw his stats for the game. They are excellent.

If you need to seek someone to blame then you can blame Goldson! for me the guy got a run on Goldson and was up before him!.

The second was a corner to the front post It wasnt De Jong that scored it, it was Obispo, a centre half

What on earth do you want them to do ? We have the following central defenders : Goldson Davies Souttar Helander King Goldson played, Souttar, Helander and Davies were injured, and King too raw We have 5 defenders for two positions. What do you want the management to do ? Go out and buy ANOTHER defender and have 6 players for 2 positions ? IN case you havent been paying attention, we don't have an endless supply of finance to go out and do that just for the sake of it. Davies and Souttar are short-term injuries too.....

I wouldnt blame any player - for me the blame lays on the system. A zonal system always favours attacking players making breaks on the ball. Goldson got caught underneath but the attacking player had a run and jump on it. Personally I dislike zonal for that reason.

I actually thought the ref had a good game

To the long game...

I think possibly the only reason Sands doesn't get the credit he deserves is because he is a right footer playing on the left side and so sometimes looks like things break down as he needs that extra split second to put the ball on his right.. He reads the game well, is very composed in possession and gives us something that none of the other defenders can, an incisive pass through the middle of the pitch.. Yes Goldson can play sweeping cross field balls and Tav and Borna can cross but Sands can play that direct ball through the midfield into the number 9, or number 10s feet

Not booking de jong for the pulled skirt, no booking for the foul on Lawrence yet booking Goldson for an identical foul. Ref pissed me off with his shoulder shrugs.

Nine out of 10 continental centre-halfs, when being jumped over by an attacking player, would have gone down screaming - probably conning the ref along the way. Credit that Goldson didn`t do this, but once more he was at the centre of a goal-conceeding incident in a CL play-off. While you can accept that no centre-half will go through games or seasons without errors, miss-judgements et al, he has a knack of choosing the worst possible games. Still, I can forget this, as opposed to this horrible kick-abouts in front of our goal. Time and again we allow being pressed by even the minor teams and loose the ball. In case of doubt, whip it up the park and see what happens there. No-one wants inch-perfect deliveries from a centre-half 24/7, just give the opposition and their defence something to do and cope with our attackers, rather than bring doom upon us with pressed passes. Barisic was rather annoyed with all that short needless passing to him back at his own corner flag. As for Sands ... he`s played as many games as a centre-half as he has as a DM. He is rather quick in pace and mind, even though not every ball from defence finds his own man. But that is normal for a defender, Amoruso, Gough, Brown et al were not better in that department - and we do not expect(ed) them to be. CLEAR THE DANGER. At 22, I reckon he can easily get better. What we fail time and again is the quick passing game, the one-touch stuff. PSV demonstrated it a few times and opened us up with ease. That should be the way we play, not least in the league, yet only very few players can do that, Roofe, Hagi, Lowry and Davis on occasion last season, Colak and Tillman this season. Most of the others, not least Kamara and Jack, always take the ball and run with it before making a pass that anyone can see coming. We have to start to be quicker in thinking and releasing the ball. Should we manage the CL group stage, this will be essential. Of course, it is still early in the season, but we`ve seen it last season many a time. While we get excited over super-passes from Jack at the weekend or Davis last night, this quick-thinking and acute passing should be the norm, not a highlight every now and then. (Moaning at a high level, I know ... but we`ve come a long way and should strife to improve.) EDIT: Just noted in the Amazon-Prime highlights that Goldson was also in the midst of the first goal, heading the ball down-ish almost straight onto the player`s feet. Some bad fate with him ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD2ERIYumm8

I liked the way the ref handled the game. Made some mistakes but he was confident and expressive in managing the players. That was a pen for the hand ball though and Lundstrum was fouled at their first. Neither though were huge errors.

There was from an absolutely s**t referee😏

Colak, Lundstram and McLaughlin had a good match but for me there was only one stand out James Sands. Thought he had his best 90mins in a Rangers jersey.

Started superb but tired and by the second half was giving the ball away left right and centre.

The blue night was a bit of failure, although the weather didn't help.

I thought Goldson was beaten in the air by a big powerful player. Goldson has never been particularly strong in the air for me, so he will lose aerial duels when he comes up against someone strong in that area. The issue is that without Helander we don’t have others in the team who are strong in the air either.

You appear to be emphasising Balogun's shortcomings. That is not how this works. Let me explain. Balogun does not play for us. This single fact means that we should diminish each one of his mistakes. We keep doing this until we all believe that he belongs in the Rangers hall of fame.

I must too old or an Alien, or both!😁, we played good but can play better, we were up against a good team(big physical team). We go again next week, nothing lost nothing won. Have faith in the team & Gio.

Oh and as an example of when Balogun was in defence , we lost 2 at home to Benfica , another 2 at home to liege, another 2 at home to Malmo , another 2 at home to slavia and lastly another 2 at home to lyon .

Just seen it is from the Record! file under shite!

Would be an absolute disaster of a signing. A throbber of a boy in the Glasgow goldfish bowl living life and can’t be arsed playing football. Has the IQ of a potato. I’m out.

Who?

Sands for me. Getting heaps of un warranted criticism but he put in a solid performance. Davis had a good first half but tired considerably in the second half.

VAR the saviour isn't really a saviour at all. It's just another layer of humans, who might also have differing opinions on what decision should be made. Still, it's fun at the match, waiting for a minute or two whilst wondering what on Earth is going on.

Time is rolling on. We have not renewed Kent or Morelos (officially anyway). Still a few teams looking for strikers in the EPL (Everton, Man U, Chelsea) that could make late moves for players which then knock on effect may spark interest in Morelos? Still not moved on Katic, Roofe, Helander (unlikley), Kelly. McRorie could go out on loan. Sakala doesnt look like part of the plans too. I have a feeling we still have some business to do.

Kamara was in front of the attacker at the second goal and didn't jump. Goldson was behind him and could do nothing.

Early days, you'll be up at the sharp end come next springtime.

Sands Davis or Colak for me. Went for Sands. If Davis had been able to play 90 mins I think we would have won the game. We went downhill once he went off

Lundstram for me. It's such a rarity to see a Rangers player put in a full blooded tackle these days. McLaughlin deserves a mention for a couple of good saves and Colak took his goal well too.

I'd go for a pacey line up and try to hit them on the break. The problem is, I don't expect our defence to be solid for 90 minutes, especially if we sit back.

Nothing to fear going over there. I still fancy us to win it. We can play better, can they?

Aye, not the worst result. All to play for.

Colak plays Colak scores

19 Christmas' running without fail. She's a definite keeper...

The direction of travel of the ball is not relevant. The position of the player when the ball is played is what matters. Colak is ahead of the ball and steps back. Well done for alertness. What I can’t discern from the highlights is whether his step is completed at the time the ball comes back off Matondo. Anybody with a fancy big telly enlighten me?

I took my granddaughter to see Rangers women in the sunshine today. It was the first time I'd seen them and I willingly take back anything I've previously said to disparage women's football. They are considerably better than I had imagined. They are also what I want to see from a Rangers team, on and off the park ... professional and committed. They rattled in 8 goals without reply. Marvellous entertainment. Edit: Kirsty McLean was superb in midfield. https://www.rangers.co.uk/article/report-aberdeen-0-8-rangers/7864MPWqg3hnqEl4CT9tWV