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Nitpicking seems one of your favourite past-times. Ridvan ... I watched some videos about him when we signed him, and saw him in his few minutes in Scotland. Always active, always willing, always positive. If a chance arises, he'll have a pop at goal. That is the spark I saw and what our team needs if it wants to progress as a team. And yes, I think he is good enough for the Scottish league and will add enough quality in that respect. All about opinions, though. You can likewise have your opinion about Matondo, who has been thrown into the fray in a similar way as Wright, and given a few outings on the right. As I said, he will have to prove a bit still, yet, and that was my point, Kent on the other wing is a pick ahead of everyone else - no matter whether he produces or not. He hardly ever gets subbed off if he has dire games either. And that has been happening for ages. Countable impact on games? Kent - played 19 games (1,565 mins) - 1 goal, 5 assists Matondo - played 17 games (722 mins (SIC!) - 4 assists Now, you tell me, how one guy is supposedly not having it when he has just joined and having to come to terms with our game and setup, achiving 1 goal and 1 assist less in half his minutes should not be compared to "Mr. Stepover" Kent in a similar role and position? IMHO, one has every right to question Matondo for the time being, and only the future will tell how it works out for him. On the other hand, in the here and now, Kent is more often than not a passenger who delivers little for long spells, given the amount of time he is on the park. All about opinions, though.

Made a thing (Axis labels are wrong: it should be y-axis mins played, x-axis age):

This demonstrates the true brilliance of our players. They can appear to be completely rubbish while, in fact, being completely brilliant. I'm going to stop watching the matches and just start reading statistics instead.

I wouldnt say our players are too nice. I would say they are naive. A smart player, seeing an opponent breaking defence into attack, noticing an overload, would bring the player down and take a yellow ie taking one for the team. Our players dont do that. I dont think it is being too nice but it is a lack of footballing intelligence. In fairness... the one time that someone in our team DID do it this season he got sent off for a yellow card offense and we dropped two points (Lundstram at Easter Road)

As I said and I'm quoting your post after Ajax away: "I think we ALL could accept getting beat 4-0 by a more than decent Ajax team..... but to do so when they out-worked us should be a no-no. Effort, desire and application have nothing to do with finance...." is that not what we're talking about when we say compete? Make your mind up Craig.

I am enjoying a childhood favourite, a weekend at Eyemouth. The sea is a calm turquoise and the harbour buzzes with dormant strength. I lunched at DR Collins cobbled pen, they have their own boats and the produce arrives on one's plate courtesy of a crested wave. The fruits de mer was £35 for two, consisting of a Lobster, Crab, prawns and, half-a-dozen Lindisfarne oysters. A bottle of white Burgundy to accompany and you have a pig in the proverbial situation. I note Rangers B are due to play a Lowland League fixture tomorrow at Foresters Park against Tranent, some thirty-odd miles up the A1. I am looking forward immensely to a lazy Autumnal drive to the bountiful East Lothian. Finding a Chef-Patron Brasserie for lunch, a table d'hote menu offering local rustica - Lappin au Moutarde, Pol au Pot or, Cassoulet? I wonder does East Lothian with it's coastal boundary offer red wines similar to the Languedoc, mostly cabernet with a hint of merlot sweetner? The main course is Rangers Colts up against a side locally known as, 'the Belters'. I have no doubt the beef will be rare, the heart gently bleeding. The denizens refer to the town as, 'the BIG T' and are known to celebrate the burning of the traitor's effigy, Guido Fawkes with considerable relish. Is there value in bringing one's pre-prepared marinade, add a sizzle to the Big T Barbecue. Being Autumn, I hope the locals have been foraging with their truffle pigs and hounds in the local woodland. A half time treat of Tarte Flambee aux champignons is a favourite. A trencherman's match report tomorrow evening.

I don't know what is going on. All I can say is that it is very modern, very un-Struthian and that I am opposed to it.

We've got a group (4) of very old players. The majority of our players are in their peak, with a couple of years before they reach 30. Then we have a group of youngsters (unfortunately two well-used youngsters - Tillman and Sands - are not quite ours, yet). Let the old ones leave, get rid of Helander and Roofe, make Tillman and Sands permanent, and hopefully get Lowry and Hagi (I'd like to see more of McCann too) into the first-team picture and it looks ok. Obviously, we're still lacking certain positions. It's not a bad spread.

Ben Davies is better than both Balogun AND Katic.

Anyone who thinks we are in a position to compete at European level given circumstance and condition is either ignoring the situation or is hoodwinked by last season and getting to the Europa Final. Since 1993 (so in the last 30 years) we have had TWO seasons where we made European finals and both times we greatly punched above our weight. We have had another couple of decent forays in Europe which have been largely due to the unbelievable exploits of our previous manager and the legendary Walter. We should remember that for almost a decade of that time we were largely financially outspending English heavyweights and also financially competing with many of Europe's top clubs - yet still couldn't really make a dent in continental competition. Some of Europe's top clubs are spending well over 100 million in transfer fees and still find they can't compete at this level. With our paltry income neither should we be. Yes, we have a proud, storied history and are one of football's most successful clubs - but UEFA have seen to it that a handful of leagues and a handful of clubs within those leagues will continue to increase the chasm between the have and have-nots. Yet here we are, in a footballing, and financial, backwater - somehow thinking we should be competing at this level. We, myself, included - I actually felt we could finish 2nd in this group or, at worst, 3rd and drop to the Europa - I thought we could take points off both Ajax and Napoli home AND away.... how foolish I was - Napoli have such quality that they are my dark horses to go all the way. Throw in last season's beaten finalists and a Dutch club steeped in history and a knack of having technically wonderful players.... and zero points, and worst record in the competitions history, isnt as much of a surprise as we would otherwise think. Incredibly disappointing, yes. Surprising ? Shouldn't have been - though my blind faith had me believing. The team who finished 3rd in our group spent more money on one player than we spent on our whole squad in the summer..... and that one player so happened to be our player - so we are losing our best players but having to use those funds to revitalise a whole squad. The economics just don't stack up for us to be competitive at this level yet. The Europa last season, and even our runs in the previous couple of seasons before, appear to be the abhorration rather than the norm. For now, I am going to look back fondly on Manchester and Seville and recognise that I got to see my team in two finals that, realistically, I shouldnt have. Some will take the juxta position of that and be gutted/annoyed/frustrated that we have been very humbled in this season's CL, as is their prerogative. But a touch of realism should soon have most realizing that is where we are. Manchester and Seville should be cherished because they probably shouldnt have happened.

I sense GvB and the players are as relieved as the fans to have the CL season behind us. It will be interesting to see if the pressure comes off and our play improves.

I wonder if Bermuda will be represented in this, for good reasons, not corruption. The Bermuda General Secretary and President at the time played a fairly significant role in uncovering this. The General Secretary was "thrown a bung" by way of a brown envelope by one of Jack Warner's entourage at a concacaf meeting - General Secretary immediately gets the Bermuda FA President (an eminent lawyer in Bermuda) to come to his room and to inform him of what had just taken place. The two of them reported it up the chain and, I believe, is what kickstarted the investigation. The reason Warner wielded so much power is because Concacaf has 44 FIFA votes due to the caribbean islands and they always vote "en masse" which means Blatter could buy his way into remaining as FIFA President..... Trinidad & Tobago has a stadium which I believe is named after Jack Warner.... no big deal you would think... .until you dig in and find out that the stadium, financed by FIFA, is actually OWNED by Warner.... FIFA were so poor with contracts that Warner managed to use FIFA money to pay for the stadium, and put the ownership in his own name. This documentary will be a cracking watch hopefully.

That's trivia. I. WILL. NOT. TAKE. THE. BAIT.

He's away to find some stats that prove stats are worthwhile

Thanks - a fine example of where ignoring the noise at least gives you a chance to hear the music ..... or some such hodge-podge metaphorical near miss.

Good idea but not for me,probably will only watch fleetingly.

Yes, it will be more entertaining than the football

F*ck off! I'm not Alan Turing! I can only find this, but I think it only includes their 'current' injury: Name - Age - Injury - Since - Exp. Return - Matches Missed - Days Missed - Value Nnamdi Ofoborh Central Midfield 22 Heart Condition Jul 16, 2021 ? 92 476 €400k Ianis Hagi Attacking Midfield 24 Knee Surgery Jan 24, 2022 Nov 21, 2022 58 301 €7.00m Filip Helander Centre-Back 29 Foot Injury Apr 11, 2022 Dec 22, 2022 41 255 €3.50m John Souttar Centre-Back 26 Ankle Injury Aug 1, 2022 Dec 21, 2022 28 142 €1.50m Connor Goldson Centre-Back 29 Hamstring Injury Oct 12, 2022 Jan 31, 2023 18 111 €8.00m Ryan Jack Central Midfield 30 Calf Problems Oct 13, 2022 Jan 16, 2023 16 95 €4.00m Tom Lawrence Left Winger 28 Knee Injury Aug 29, 2022 ? 15 67 €5.00m Ridvan Yilmaz Left-Back 21 Hamstring Injury Oct 29, 2022 Dec 20, 2022 7 52 €6.50m Kemar Roofe Centre-Forward 29 Unknown Injury Oct 24, 2022 Nov 14, 2022 6 21 €5.50m Ben Davies Centre-Back 27 Unknown Injury Oct 29, 2022 ? 2 6 €2.50m

I'm down. Keep the joker Rousseau...cool concept.

During previous prediction leagues for international tournaments I took the whole matchday at a time, which would be 16 games for this WC. It requires predictions every 4 days, which is how long it takes to get through each matchday. Doable. (Might remove the Joker... meh--it's a bit of fun.)

Yep, that's Tamundo alright

Battle of Britain.

None of those require passion, they require a footballing brain, something a number of our players lack

Except that wee odd chin beard thing he has going on. Tav has one too. What is it with fullbacks.

Nah, not favourites mate as it's their first season after an unlikely promotion but there's doing well and are well funded at the moment. @26th of foot; we currently have just the eight takeaways (two chippies, four Chinese restaurants, a Turkish kebab joint and a Dominos) plus a couple of sandwich shops, a Greigs and a fantastic wee ice cream parlour to rival those of Eyemouth. None are yet Michelin standard but we'll keep trying again next year.... Young @ian1964will gladly bring the Merrydown Cider for you to enjoy a half-time refreshment in what is sure to be an exciting match.

My auld man's going to that tomorrow. I'm off to Paties Road (Colinton) to see my hometown team instead.

The title of this thread, "The Champions League has moved on; we haven’t", states that our club has been left behind by the Champions League regulars. This is undoubtedly true. How we want to see the club close that massive gap could be broken down into different categories such as finances (ultimately & unfortunately the deciding factor), transfer activity (linked to finances), quality of tactics and coaching (also linked to finances), willingness to cheat on the park (what moral depths are we willing to dive too, pun intended). There are no doubt other categories, but most stem from finances imo. That leaves us with two choices. Firstly, do we show patience with our current board or dream about a fantasy no strings Investor. Second, do we want to see cheating become our norm. I can only speak/type for myself when I say I hate the accepted level of cheating in modern football. Ballboys (children) being coached to cheat is disgusting. I still believe that given the proper level of support Gio & his staff are the correct team to keep The Gers moving forward. WATP

To be fair, the chart doesn't say they're brilliant, just less shit than the others in the list.

"Stats are like miniskirts - they give you good ideas but hide the most important parts.". Ebbe Skovdahl.

Anthony Ralston has won more SPFL titles than Tav.... a stat that must prove he is better.....

None of our wide players score enough though, not just Kent. And I am not defending Kent, just pointing out how poor our play is in terms of chance creation and goals. Our wide players are playing, well, too wide and offer little inside where you can take shots. But I would also throw in that our midfielders don't offer themselves up in the danger areas often enough either. Pffftttt, football..... stupid game

Stats cut through the sh*te. I'm fully on board with the 'Kent's been rubbish' narrative, but those numbers are quite startling. I would like to see the quality of the chances created, though. If he's just laying off a 5-yard pass for someone to hit a shot from 25-yards, then no wonder his assist numbers are low. If the xA is quite high, then we'd need to pass the blame on to the finishing. What's also clear is he doesn't score enough.

Bit of a whoosh moment for you I suggest. My point is that there has been more to be able to compare Kent to Matondo than Kent to Yilmaz. That post was about comparing Kent to Matondo, not Yilmaz to anyone (despite dB comparing the two) Yet you somehow tried to conflate the two and your suggestion looked, to me at least, to suggest that we havent seen enough of either to be able to make judgement (which is fair enough) but my point is that we have seen a fair bit more of Matondo than Yilmaz to be able to compare them to Kent - and that is before we get into the fact Yilmaz plays a different position to Kent whilst Matondo essentially is performing the same role on the opposite side. Anyway, again, veering off tangent in this thread so I will leave it at that.

Be that as it may, chances created doesn't win you any games. We had dozen/-s of chances even when we were in the Championship, yet for one reason or another converted less than 20 % whereas the opposition scored from 50 to 75 % of their chances per game. A record that holds true to this day, and same with possession per game. (PS If you don't play enough lethal people / strikers, you won't score that many goals. A fact that our recent manager/s simply didn't acknowledge.) Since I watch ice-hockey a lot too, I followed their habit and checked who was the player before the actual assist to the goal and dare I say it, Kent doesn't feature that often there either. I can do a quick check on that later on, but now I'm off to ... ice-hockey.

We need some of our olden days spirit of tackle hard FIRST.

and 99% of those chances created by Kent and Tavernier were from the crosses against Livingston....

yeah +1 to keep the joker

You havent seen much of that talent in a Rangers jersey so not sure how you can work out he has enough talent for a title winning team. He has played the equivalent of 4 games all season and less than a full game in the SPFL. Indeed half the game time he has seen since signing has been against lower tier opposition in the League Cup (against QotS and Dundee). So I am not sure, given he has lasted no more than 63 minutes in an SPFL game (2nd game of season at home to Killie) to determine he has title winning talent. You never disappoint dB. Always the Kent comparisons. How can you determine that Yilmaz has shown more spark in Scotland than Kent this season having played just 83 minutes in the league whilst Kent has scored in 4 different games, he played two games in the League Cup (Kent hasnt played in that at all yet) and in CL least said better for both. Matondo see Kent ? Seriously ? The ONLY thing Matondo has going for him is his pace. He is a very poor footballer (and I dont like saying that about our players) - his first touch is poor, his dribbling is poor, his decision-making is poor. He just hurts opponents with his pace. Trying to compare him to Kent is ridiculous - no matter how poor Kent's season may have been thus far, he is a far, far better player than Matondo.

Maybe a tackle every once in a while. Or taking one for the team. Breaking up play. Sticking with your man. Stuff like that.

The current situation is unacceptable and the ongoing silence emanating from the Blue Room compounds. Ra Sellik won the Premiership last season. Their automatic qualification for the Champions League group stages was facilitated by the national coefficient, largely established by Rangers efforts in the prevailing four seasons. We qualified for the group stages by playing four qualifying games, winning two, drawing and losing one apiece. I believe we have contributed 6.5 points to the coefficient this season, more than any other Scottish club? I drove to last night's game and heard BBC Radio Scotland's build up, they played a full ten minutes of commentary of all goals conceded by us in this season's CL group stages, interceded by clips of GVB saying, "we will learn", "we are in development" and, "we cannot compete". Big Dick introduced and Liam McLeod screamed with satisfaction. Truly, we are chastened. Currently, we hold the record for the worst performance ever in CL group stages. I am not looking for a sacrifice, I am not looking for pointless reaction that raises the whole tone of the campaign. Certainly, I am not looking for a repeat of November'69 - I stood as a 12 year old schoolboy with my Old Man in Edmiston Drive with 12,000 other Bears. We had just lost 1-3 to Gornik in the ECWC, a trophy we were favourites to win. Lubanski's goal would have won any cup buy Man City beat the unfancied Poles in the final. The Rangers Manager, Davie White was sacked that evening. I do NOT want a repeat. I want the Board to come out and accept responsibility and tell us the way ahead. I want leadership. Without leadership, others are allowed to seize the narrative.

I don't understand all this criticism of Qatar. It's an excellent place to visit, just maybe not if you're a bleeding heart snowflake with the weight of the world on your shaky shoulders or a boozed up thug looking for a fight. If you're the former no one will give you a moment's notice and if you're looking for a fight then the Doha police will certainly accommodate you. Otherwise, great hotels, great roads, great restaurants, great climate, great stadiums, green grass, the lot. I also don't understand why no one in the UK is capable of pronouncing the name of the country properly. The emphasis is all on the first 'a' not the second one. But most of all I don't understand all this fuss about Qatar being selected to host the tournament. It seems to me nothing took place in this selection process that hasn't also taken place in every previous World Cup hosting process. The umbrage taken because the host isn't one of us and still openly practices institutional bribery and slavery seems completely over the top.

Fintan O'Toole. I have long admired the writings of Fintan O'Toole. These days he is a columnist for the Irish Times. I recommend his book, 'After the Ball' - the story of what occurred in the Republic of Ireland after the the implosion of the Celtic Tiger. The Irish NHS went from 15,000 beds to under 4,000 as part of the cut backs brought about by Government austerity. There is a lesson for us in that tome. Today, he writes on the fall out of the Irish Ladies football side choosing to sing, 'the Celtic Symphony' in wake of their deserved victory at Hampden last week. I hope RAB Cosgrove reads the piece? Perhaps one of the Admin' could post the column?