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It's committing heresy I know but I'm going to risk ridicule and say something positive. The second half was much better - not great but much better. Cantwell came to life, McCausland shone, Butland dominated, central defence was largely untroubled, Lundstram's distribution improved immeasurably. Lawrence started to exert some control, Sima rediscovered some aggression at last and Barisic went off. Three points, clean sheet, no obvious injuries - what's not to like. Sorry about the above. I wanted to conform to the new doctrine of Sykesean Gloom by saying everything and everyone was shite ... I just couldn't manage it. On the other side of the ledger, Dessers was his usual dreadful self and the appearance of Lammers put the mockers on a decent second half.

I always wondered what would happen when our resident ego met another similarly-sized ego...

Excellent addition, I dream of the day where the majority of fans in Broomie have a drum of their own.

The selection of Dessers casts doubt on the invitation to leave.

Good. And now …. the drum.

At this rate, I'll be able to get a game with the amount of players you want moved on

I always think 4-4-2, with a midfield diamond, is the best formation. But I'm a bit of a fuddy duddy. Playing two deep midfielders at home to St Mirren and the like just feels like a waste of a player.

Two pieces of quality and two goals. Not the best of performances, but 3 points a clean sheet. Is it worth giving Sima a run at centre forward?

Better in the second, thought McCausland was at the heart of most of what we did well. Cantwell did enough to warrant a start at 10 in the next game too imo. Butland as solid as ever. Lovely clean sheet. I'd take that performance and result at Hearts right now.

Yes he’s been good today. Very direct and hard working.

Hic Rhodus, hic salta

Can you not post it for us all to see?

He's a good option, but as PC said, he can't play 90 minutes every three days; he's not ready.

Lammers is not a #10. I don't understand why he's continually played there. He's a forward, and - if we're to get anything out of him - must be played there. Although, he's behind Danilo and a fit Roofe, for me.

Subject: FINLAY SPEEDIE Remembering Finlay Speedie ---(found this on Google) Part 1 Finlay Ballantyne Speedie was born in Dumbarton on 18th August 1880, and the town would remain dear to his heart all his days. He was an excellent sportsman, and in particular a fine young footballer, starting his playing career at just 15 years old with Arniston Thistle in 1895. ---His teenage football career saw him move from club to club on a frequent basis.-- From Arniston he joined Clydebank Juniors the following year, and after another 12 months (aged 17) --he was on the move again, this time as an amateur player for his home town club Dumbarton.---- He never played for their first team in his short spell there, before signing for Duntocher Hibs in 1898.---- He finally turned professional the following year, signing a contract with Strathclyde.Juniors Speedie was a versatile player, most at home at inside forward, and several impressive displays at inside left for Strathclyde attracted the attention of William Wilton at Ibrox.- The Rangers manager had assembled the best team in the land at the turn of the 20th century, and in October 1900 --Wilton signed him for the Scottish champions.-- At just turned 20, Speedie may have thought it might take time to get his first team chance, but Wilton was convinced the player was ready for the first team, and on October 20th 1900--- Finlay Speediemade his Rangers debut at inside left against Dundee at Ibrox in the First Division.--- Rangers won the match 4-2 to maintain a 100% home record in the league for the season, So impressed was Wilton with his new signing, . In just his third appearance for the club, Speedie found himself playing in a cup final, and he took home a winners medal as Rangers defeated Partick 3-1 in the Glasgow Cup.--- The following Saturday he scored his first Rangers goal in a 3-1 victory at Morton in the league as Speedie’s dream introduction to life at Ibrox continued. ----He scored important goals against both Kilmarnock and Queens Park, which set up a potential title party against Celtic on New Years Day 1901.--- A win over their fiercest rivals would guarantee Rangers a third successive title. ----There were 30,000 at Ibrox to see young sensation Finlay Speedie open the scoring after an hour, before a second goal in the last few minutes settled any nerves.--- A late consolation by Celtic seemed irrelevant, as Speedie and his teammates celebrated being Kings of Scotland again. ---He started in 11 of the 20 league games that season, earning himself a first league medal. His debut season wasn’t perfect, however, as he had to endure 2 painful cup defeats by Celtic in the Scottish Cup and the Charity Cup.---- But by the close season in 1901, Finlay Speedie was now an established Rangers regular. Season 1901/02 saw Rangers retain their title,--- but it was a season overshadowed by tragedy in April 1902 when 25 spectators died at the stadium during a Scotland v England international match due to the collapse of a temporary stand. ---Speedie was now a virtual ever present, and he won a second Glasgow Cup medalin the strangest of circumstances when Celtic declined to take part in a final replay after it was ordered to be played at Ibrox after a drawn match at the same venue. Celtic pushed Rangers all the way in the title race, Speedie scoring an important goal against them at Ibrox in a 2-2 draw in October, and played his part in a vital 4-2 New Year win at Parkhead.-- Celtic took this defeat particularly badly, lodging a protest with the SFA over the referee’s handling of the match, which the SFA dismissed. ----Speedie then scored against both St Mirren and Dundee in the last 2 matches of the league season, which won the title by just 2 points. Rangers and Speedie failed to reach the Scottish Cup final again, this time it was a defeat to a very good Hibs team in the semi final that ended his hopes. ---And Hibs also knocked Rangers out the Charity Cup---- after extra teams were included in the competition to raise funds for the families of those affected by the disaster. Finlay Speedie played for Rangers for another 4 years, but he wouldn’t win another Scottish championship. ---The club were forced into selling many of their players and cutting costs to maximise money available to compensate families and to rebuild the stadium. ---Speedie played in 18 of the 22 league games in season 1902/03, . These included a double in a 2-1 win over Hearts, but it was Edinburgh rivals Hibs who won the league, with Rangers third. Speedie scored his first Rangers hat-trick in the 7-0 Scottish Cup first round win over Auchterarder Thistle, and also starred in a comfortable 3-0 win over Celtic at Parkhead in the third round. ----Rangers reached the final, where Hearts were the opponents. It took 3 games to find a winner, with Speedie playing in all 3 matches.---- On April 25th 1903, Finlay Speedie became a Scottish Cup winner . ---This was despite him being forced to play for more than half the match at left back due to J Drummond leaving the field with an injury, and the team playing with just 10 men. Speedie won 3 Scotland caps, all of them in 1903. He scored the only goal of the game on his international debut, a 1-0 win in Wales, and he then played in a 2-0 defeat to Ireland before his third and final Scotland cap in April 1903 against England. He scored Scotland’s first goal in an impressive 2-1 win at Bramall Lane, Sheffield.--He unfortunately missed a penalty kick-- the ball hitting the post He also played in a League international against England in 1903 Third Lanark were league champions in season 1903/04, with Rangers again ending the campaign in third. ---Speedie started in 23 league games in the now expanded First Division, and hit 16 goals in all competitions.--- These included a New Year’s Day derby goal at Parkhead in a highly entertaining 2-2 draw and a hat-trick against Port Glasgow in the Scottish Cup. ---But it was 2 cup finals at the end of the season against Celtic that lived longest in the memory, for very different reasons. On April 16th 1904, a crowd of 63,000 attended the Scottish Cup Final, and Finlay Speedie scored twice early on to give Rangers a healthy lead.--- But things unravelled and a Quinn hat-trick gave Celtic a 3-2 win. ---Then on May 14th, the teams met in the Charity Cup final, and Speedie was again on the scoresheet when he scored a 79th minutepenalty. This was Rangers’ 5th goal of another very eventful match, which saw Celtic down to 10 men for a lengthy period when Quinn had to leave the field injured. The final score of Rangers 5 Celtic 2 gave Speedie his first winners medal in the competition as well as some revenge for the Scottish Cup heartbreak. Speedie appeared in three more major finals in season 1904/05, but none provided him with a winners medal.--- Celtic would end the season as league champions, and they were his opponents in the Glasgow Cup final in early October 1904, a Hamilton goal not enough to prevent a 2-1 loss.--- Speedie scored against them in a fine 2-0 win in the semi final of the Scottish Cup,------- but a replay defeat to Third Lanark in the final meant a second successive runners-up medal for him. The third final he played in was a league championship playoff against Celtic, after both teams ended the season on level points. ---These days, Rangers would have been champions on goal difference, but the rules in 1905 demanded a playoff, which Celtic won 2-1. ---Despite winning no trophies, this was Finlay Speedie’s most productive season in Royal Blue, scoring 20 times in 41 appearances, 13 of these goals in league games. . He started the first game of season 1906/07 in the league against Falkirk then was dropped .--- Becoming increasingly frustrated, he made it clear to manager Wilton he saw his future away from Ibrox, and he played his last game for the club in a drawn Glasgow Cup match against Queens Park on 8th September 1906. ----Within a week, Newcastle United of the English First Division announced his signing for a fee of £600, ----(£100,000+ value today) --and at 26 years old Speedie moved south. ----His Rangers career saw him play 167 times for the club and score 65 goals. Last edited: Feb 9, Part 2 This was a Newcastle team among the favourites for the title, and Speedie enjoyed a dream debut scoring twice in a 5-1 home win over Sheffield Wednesday, the team who went on to win that season’s FA Cup. ----Speedie’s versatility saw him appear in every position across the forward line during his time at St James’ Park, his debut was at inside right.---- and soon Speedie was in a side vying for top spot.---- Speedie scored a vital opening goal in a mid-November win over reigning champions Liverpool, was on the scoresheet again a few weeks later when notching another crucial goal in a 7-goal thriller against Notts County and celebrated Christmas week with goals in wins over Bolton, Manchester United and Stoke City. ---When he also scored on New Years Day 1907 in a win over Derby County, his contribution was looking crucial in the league race. Speedie added an English league title to those he won at Ibrox as Newcastle held off a late challenge from Bristol City to claim the title by 3 points.---- For much of the run in, he filled in as an emergency defender during an injury crisis, winning plaudits for his performance in a hard-fought draw at Manchester City. ---On March 9th 1907, Speedie lined up as a defender in the Charity Shield against Corinthians at Craven Cottage, and added a winners medal in this competition to his collection in a 5-2 victory.----- Overall, Speedie scored 10 times in his debut season on Tyneside, despite spending much of the second half of it in the back line. His second season at Newcastle would also be his last. The league title defence ended in a 4th place finish, but Speedie and his teammates went on a good run in the FA Cup. Nottingham Forest and West Ham were beaten before a huge 3rd round clash at home to Liverpool. After falling behind early on in front of 46,000 spectators, Newcastle hit 3 second half goals with Speedie grabbing the crucial second. ---Grimsby were brushed aside in the next round, setting up a semi-final against Fulham at Anfield.--- Playing in his favourite inside left position, Speedie had an excellent match as Newcastle hammered in 6 goals without reply. ----This set up a final against unfancied Second Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Speedie a hot favourite to add an English Cup medal to his Scottish cup badge. ---But the final, played at the Crystal Palace on Saturday April 25th 1908, was to be a massive disappointment. Speedie, along with the rest of his teammates, never hit their stride and had a poor game. ---Wolves were 2 up at half time, and although Newcastle pulled one back with over quarter of an hour to play, the underdogs hit a decisive and deserved third goal near the end to carry off the trophy. This was to be Speedie’s 60th and last game for the club, scoring 14 times. Newcastle brought in new forwards in the summer, and they decided to ring the changes, with Speedie joining Oldham of the Second Division in June 1908. It proved difficult to argue with this, as Newcastle then won back the English title in season 1908/09, while Speedie scored 6 times in 17 league starts for Oldham,--- before a brief 2 month spell at Bradford Park Avenue from April 1909 where he scored once.---- In September 1909, Speedie decided to return home, and was delighted to sign for his hometown club Dumbarton. Part 3--Dumbarton were now a Second Division club, Speedie combining his football with them alongside a job as a Shipyard Engineer.--- He made his Dumbarton debut on September 25th 1909 in a league defeat at St Bernard’s and by New Years Day he had scored 5 times, most notably a double against Vale of Leven. His new club drew champions Celtic in the Scottish Cup first round, Speedie enjoying a fine match against his old rivals even though narrowly losing the game 2-1. ---The Sons ended the season in a respectable 4th place in the league, with signs they were capable of a higher finish the following season. ---And in season 1910/11 that is exactly what they achieved. Speedie was a key man in the Dumbarton title winning team, but a title that did not in those days earn automatic promotion to the First Division. He started in 18 of the 22 league matches, scoring 5 goals. --The title was won by 4 points, but Queens Park were not relegated despite finishing last in Division--- One, meaning no place for Dumbarton. Speedie was enjoying his football despite this apparent body blow, and was a regular starter again over the next 3 seasons. A 4th place finish in 1911/12 was followed by a 6th place. But, amazingly, Dumbarton were this time voted to Division One along with champions Ayr United, with the teams in 2nd to 5th all bypassed. ----The top league was being expanded from 18 to 20 teams for the following season, Dumbarton presumably getting the nodbased on their history. This would be the last season of “normal” Scottish football before the outbreak of the Great War, and Speedie at 33 years old was now back in the top league. He started in Dumbarton’s first game back among the big boys on August 16th 1913, and enjoyed a thumping 4-0 win at Boghead over Queens Park. He started 32 times in the league, scoring 4 times in games against Falkirk, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Raith Rovers.--- On November 8th 1913 he made an emotional return to play at Ibrox, and gave a good display in a slightly unfortunate 3-2 defeat.--- He was on the losing side in the return fixture at Boghead in March too, this time by 3-0. In a tough season for the newly promoted club, Dumbarton ended the season 19th, with just 10 wins from their 38 games. The August 1914 declaration of war changed football, and also marked another chapter in the life of Finlay Speedie. ---He became Private Finlay B. Speedie of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, representing them at football in December 1915 and seeing active service in France in the second half of the conflict. He returned home on leave in December 1917 and played two matches for Dumbarton as a guest player, the first of which was on December 1st against Rangers at Ibrox. He was on the losing side, giving Rangers a 2-1 win.--- Speedie then played the following weekend in a 1-0 home win over Hibs before returning to his regiment overseas in France. In May 1918, his name appeared in a list of wounded personnel issued by the War Office. ---Then in August 1918 it was confirmed that Speedie was recovering in hospital from a gunshot wound to his left leg that he suffered in the French battlefields, and that he had been awarded---- the Military Medal for bravery in action. After the War, he returned to his shipyard job, and even played one last game for Dumbarton on 6th September 1919,(aged 39) ---a 0-0 draw in Division One against Third Lanark at Boghead. ----Overall, his Dumbarton career saw him play 126 times and score 35 goals. ----A combination of age and his wartime wound made the decision to retire from the game an easy one. ---He did make a brief return to the game in the 1930swhen accepting a coaching role at Dumbarton, but he didn’t fill the role for very long. Finlay Speedie died on 5th February 1953 at the age of 72. Won 2 league titles,-- the Scottish Cup,-- the Glasgow Cup --and the Charity Cup for Rangers. He Scored 65 goals in 167 Rangers appearances, including a double in a Scottish Cup Final v Celtic. Won the English First Division and Charity Shield with Newcastle. 3 caps for Scotland and 2 international goals. Won the Scottish Second Division with Dumbarton. A War Hero,---- awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the Great War. There are some great men not in Rangers F.C Hall of Fame, -and their stories are worth remembering

Of course he is. At best, a windbag. At worst .....

You are at it.

But neither had Beale's signings on board when they arrived. Clement has been dealt a poor hand.

Maybe it's just me but I think we are far to slow and if I'm honest we just don't look as fit as we should be

Two bloody drums at the game now.

I struggle to think of any player who could play as a lone striker. I know the mantra about midfielders running up for the knock-downs and lay-offs but no use if they’re starting from too far back and much can go wrong on the journey up to the front. Hateley, Miller, Prso and the like had no trouble winning the ball but it’s much easier and more profitable if the second man is up there with them. Don’t tell me playing two strikers will weaken the midfield and put pressure on the defence. Not if the midfielders and defenders are competent it won’t.

My thoughts too regarding Sima He's 6ft2 strong in the air, can hold the ball up & got pace.And can finish well. We need to do something following Beale’s disasterous summer signings. Dessers simply isn’t working up front & Danilo lacks the physical presence to play the lone striker

Another goal for sima and another assist for cantwell

He's not had a good first half but it's hard for creative players like Cantwell to get going again once their form dips. It will come if he stays in the team. Worth saying that St Mirren are a well-disciplined team defensively. Coupled with our chokers that makes for a tough day at the office.

Ross McCausland looks like he can make it with Rangers, always progressive. He's been good so far. We've reverted back to crosses and long balls up until about 35 when we got it on the deck and trusted ourselves to play. Big Jack in goal solid as ever. Mon lads, get another couple.

I like TC, he's a good player. But he over complicates things too often. Simple passes missed or runs himself into trouble. He needs to add a level of discipline to his game.

Cracking counter attack goal. Great to get the lead just before half time. Yet again thanks to Jack Butland for keeping us in this

Steve Davis,Jim Baxter, two names that come to mind that could not run but extremely talented in use of ball,to me Hagi has this quality.

God forbid these people would ever turn up at a Rangers game without their bag of performance accessories. One day they might forgo the need to be the centre of attention and just support the team. Beating a drum and lighting flares is an exercise in look-at-me. It isn't supporting the team.

Never have understood the European fascination with pyrotechnics in close quarters. Shit is bonkers.

Cantwell wide right is forced, as PC said in his press conference. He's a #10, or wide left cutting in; the latter was his usual position at Norwich. Matondo is a RW, but again has been injured. We've got very few wide options because we've not played with wide players too often. It's a choice. It's not wrong, per se - although it is an issue now when we want to play with wide players.

I fear if we play with 10 men again today we will be lucky to scrape a draw. I was willing to give Lammers a lot of time but he really is as bad as they come. Utterly clueless. The manager is in danger of staking his reputation on him.

Decent draw should sail through Germans are crap Hungary haven't had a team since Puskas last played and Switzerland are just banker's Mon the Jocks 😄

On the contrary. The damage was done long before he got here.

Aye it's a farce. If I purchase a seat on seatsub the person who's ticket I'm using gets the credit and points but I don't? It's that fucking brazen it's almost admirable.

How true. “Hello, Hello” is a song but the English have converted it to chant. They yap it out far too fast with a bizarre change of key from major to minor. It must be their C of E upbringing.

Sima is such an out ball for us. When we have no options a ball over the top for him to chase is so often a threat. I’d love to keep him permanently as i don’t see how we replace that pace and power.

It really was a well worked goal, brilliant hold up play from Dessers then a good ball into Cantwell and finished well by Sima

He's technically a Right-winger, but can play left cutting in onto his dominant right-foot.

We've seen him in action in the box and it doesn't look like we'll get anything out of him there either. He's a man down and has to be dropped, for the good of the team and probably for his own good too.

Excellent reading

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142206758#/?channel=RES_BUY

That would be interesting. You’re not Barry Ferguson by any chance? On reflection, no, your English is too good.

It has been an frustrating six months for Rangers fans. At the start of June, a poor season 2022/23 had just ended. With Gio sacked this time last year and, despite some decent performances under his replacement Michael Beale, no trophies were won and another league title was lost to Celtic. Nevertheless, there was still some optimism at that point. Dead rubber or not, a comfortable 3-0 win at Ibrox in the final Old Firm match of the campaign offered some confidence that Beale had got to grips with these games with no previous derby wins prior to that. Further, his new diamond formation looked the part, being defensively sound but with an improved threat in attack. Could the summer transfer window allow him to bring in better players and enhance the options available to him? Fast forward to the start of pre-season and the squad was much changed in good time for 2023/24. Previous key, but also undeniably under-performing, players in Morelos, Kent and Kamara were (or were about to be) moved on. Meanwhile, a variety of others were brought in and, on the face of it, the acquisitions looked suitable: Butland, Lammers, Dowell, Sima and Sterling arrived quickly and, by the time the season kicked off in August, Dessers Danilo, Cifuentes had also been added. The best part of £15m had been spent and, despite some reservations about a lack of wide options, most fans were happy with the majority of our business. Unfortunately, things quickly went wrong for Beale. An opening day league defeat to Kilmarnock showed a new team struggling to gel and despite a reasonable rest of the month, it culminated with a 5-1 humbling to PSV knocking us out the Champions League before what many fans felt was an unacceptable loss at home to Celtic in our first match of September. Already we were falling behind in the league and performances were hardly attractive. Another partial recovery followed with home wins against Real Betis, Motherwell and Livingston in three different competitions but a dreadful defeat to Aberdeen at Ibrox resulted in the departure of Beale less than a year after his appointment. The Rangers board moved quickly to replace him after the caretaker coaching team led us to an unexpected Europa League loss in Cyprus. Belgian Philippe Clement came in and both results and performances immediately improved. Although supporters still had their doubts about various players – old and new alike – six wins in an undefeated spell before the November international break showed an obvious improvement. The new manager quickly identified our lack of width as an issue and also offered a slightly more conservative look to the team: not defensive per se but the full backs weren’t as high and we were prepared to go more direct when required. The feel-good factor was back amongst the support as Scotland also secured qualification to Euro 2024 with no club football. The next challenge for the new manager was a clear one. Post international break we had 12 games in just over a month to navigate. These included tricky trips to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Parkhead but also the opportunity to win the League Cup in mid-December and close the gap to a Celtic team that were just starting to look somewhat unconvincing themselves. For his part, Clement was confident: players were arriving back from injury and he had the best part of a fortnight on the training ground to implement more of his own ideas since taking the job. There was also talk of a new Sporting Director to finally replace Ross Wilson who’d left earlier in the year. At the time of writing though, our start to this vital block of games couldn’t have gone much worse with just two draws against Aberdeen and Aris Limassol respectively and both from going behind to extremely cheap goals. Now, at this point we could talk about the positives in that we fought back to avoid defeat. That’s fair enough and I do believe most of the players worked hard enough in these games to deserve not dropping points. However, the obvious issues in both games can’t be ignored. And, first and foremost, the manager has to take his fair share of the blame. For the Aberdeen game the team selection was largely fine and I don’t think may fans took issue with the starting line-up. Injuries to Raskin and Jack meant a start for Cifuentes whilst getting both Lawrence and Cantwell into the same team could surely only increase our creative and goal threat? Furthermore, Clement spoke pre-match about the threat Aberdeen carried on the counter and from set-pieces; surely that message was a clear one to the players. Not so it seemed as Aberdeen took an early lead from a the simplest of moves; just a few minutes after a similar attack had given us a clear warning. After that, to their credit, the team did recover to a degree. We dominated possession and should have equalised well before a late penalty secured a point. Indeed, we should have won the game as Sam Lammers headed straight at the Dons keeper in injury time. Two dropped points it was though and, after Celtic had only drawn at home the previous day, that really was difficult to swallow for Rangers fans. Doubts were forming again about the mental capacity of this Rangers side. Onto Thursday night and the team had an immediate opportunity to restore credibility. On paper we had our easiest game in our Europa League group: even if Aris Limassol had beaten us in October, Beale had just left, the team was in disarray and surely lightening wouldn’t strike twice? Importantly, this time we knew more about their twin threat of pace on the transition and the ability to be clinical with chances created. They were also less than impressive in a defensive sense and could be exploited from wider areas. Despite necessary changes in central defence, surely this time we’d guard against the quick counter and avoid conceding the kind of avoidable goals we seen in Cyprus? Yet again we were let down. Todd Cantwell, ignoring instruction from the manager, skipped inside and lost the ball cheaply. One long ball later our sleeping defenders were exposed once more and behind we went. Cantwell was taken off soon after and the jeers were loud as the half-time whistle went. Fortunately, unlike Pittodrie, we equalised effectively from kick off for the second period but huffed and puffed after that. In fact, for the rest of the game our failings couldn’t be more obvious. From being unable to do the most basic of stuff: players couldn’t control the ball, simple short passes went uncompleted, decision-making was inexplicable and various players abdicated their responsibilities time after time amidst a general unacceptable lack of quality and belief. Even our substitutes couldn’t provide improvement and we timidly surrendered the opportunity to qualify for the next stage of that competition. Post-match things didn’t improve. The manager admitted taking off Cantwell (one of last season’s few shining lights) was a tactical issue and not down to injury (see the continued huge strapping the player wears during training and games). Clement discussed how he felt the player wasn’t following instruction: fair enough, Cantwell was playing badly and culpable at the opening goal. In that case, why play him there in the first place and why were other under-performing players excused? The Belgian then went on to discuss being happy about qualifying for the Conference League. Again, on its own, securing European football after Christmas is usually a positive but, in the context of last night, it felt ill-considered and glib. All things considered it has been a bad week so far for Philippe Clement but not a period he can’t recover from. However, he has to demonstrate he has learned from a difficult five days. For example, he has previously spoken about taking the fans with him during games and he was absolutely right to say so. A packed Ibrox isn’t an easy place for any team to visit and a loud, clear backing from the stands does provide a tangible benefit to our play. That was missing last night and, as much as the players must take ownership for their own bad performances, so too must the manager. Selecting Sam Lammers instead of Ross MacAusaland, Tom Lawrence or even Rabbi Matondo was a strange choice when the Dutchman has perhaps been the best (worst?) example of what transpired to be a poor summer transfer window. To then persevere with him whilst scapegoating Cantwell to a small degree confused almost every Rangers fan last night. The former Norwich man has undoubtedly struggled this season and was again poor last night – as well as selfish – but I’m still puzzled as to why he was taken off whilst the likes of Lammers and Cifuentes made it into the second half. The latter’s selection was perhaps forced but, not for the first time, his lazy style and lack of any key input to games shows a player disinterested in improvement or adapting to his new club. Worse than that though we have other existing players struggling with their contribution. Ben Davies was again poor at centre-half, James Tavernier had an awful game at right back whilst Tom Lawrence still looks less than fully fit and sharp after 15months out. Elsewhere in the side, new father Abdallah Sima has gone off the boil again on the left wing, Danilo struggles to influence games in attack and we still have a variety of players failing to contribute. Be it via injury (Roofe, Jack and Dowell are constantly injured) or just not being involved often enough (Yilmaz, King and Sterling were supposed to be the future), we have a large squad of 28 players with very few actually performing to acceptable levels. The manager simply must change that and I think the last few days has shown again change is necessary on the park. To that end, Philippe Clement will know all this. He will also know there’s not much he can do until first January’s window but more probably until the summer. He will also be aware that without moving on players his budget may not be to the level required to facilitate the kind of wholesale improvement we need. However, that need not mean he can’t continue to deliver improvement. After all, not all has been lost in the last two games. We’re still well in the title race and more than capable of getting a positive result in Seville. We can also win our first trophy of the campaign in a fortnight’s time at Hampden so there’s much to look forward to and I think that can be lost after bad results. Even so, it can be argued we are back to square one with much of the goodwill the new manager has built up lost this week. To hear the team booed off last night was really disappointing but this was an understandable manifestation of our frustration with a poor start to a vital winter period. I’d like to think the manager will have noted that supporter reaction and be discussing it with his players as you read this. Sunday afternoon is an immediate opportunity to right a few wrongs and it will be fascinating to see how Clement reacts. I doubt we’ll see wholesale changes to the starting XI but will he recognise and fix the kind of flaws that seen Gio and Beale flounder in an increasingly negative tactical mindset or will he relish solving the same problems that affect this team over two years since we last won the title? The pressure is already on…

IMHO, we are still somewhat shell-shocked from that Champions League disaster of last season, alongside with the ails of the last few seasons: players who are at best average Rangers standard or simply cannot show a consistency required; players who live on a diet of glories past and odd successes now (namely our captain), a tactic that simply does not fit with the players we have ... and the games we play in Scotland. Added to that are coaches and managers who simply won't change things even if you can clearly see that things aren't working. The system simply isn't running, so change it! While Beale looked very much out of his depth (and on hindsight, not really unexpected for me), but at times you do wonder how little those decision centers at the top know about football. Kent had run his race for us. A penalty assist merchant for Europe, that was a good left-winger, but not the goal-threat required for a 4-3-3. That he left for free was essentially just the icing on the cake. Truth be told, none of the players we have signed since the advent of Gerrard have been. After a certainly bright start, Morelos went steadily down the hill and remained there. Bad management and/or tactics? Who knows? Letting Colak leave - who, bar the injury period, remained a goal threat and pest to defenders throughout - was (no hindsight argument here) criminal. You simply can't rely on two newcomers with a half decent record and "potential" to step in and produce. Has that really ever worked with foreigners? Next stop Sakala. He had many critics, but was at long last a striker-come winger who started to assist and score when and where it matters. Winger-like scoring perhaps, but he was always there, always willing, always threatening. Now, we got Sima, who, very winger-like, blows hot and cold. Again a chap who had to get used to the game in Scotland ... and while at times you wonder whether we could afford this quality man, the next game you know why Brighton sent him on loan. As with any of our new attackers, people certainly need time to adapt - the cardinal sin of this season might well be that we essentially replaced the whole attacking department (aside from Wright and the ghost which goes by the name of Roofe) with new players. Might have worked out, but everyone knew from the off that when it comes to Rangers this decade, "might" usually backfires. Similarly criminal was sending Hagi and Lowry out on loan for no reason whatsoever. It left us with only Cantwell (of the same "spark quality") and he promptly got injured. McCausland is a winger, not a replacement for Cantwell. Cantwell ... is a flair player who does things which are unexpected, sees passes that others don't (which may be too much for some of his fellow players on the park these days) and shoots himself as well. Yet, we play him out of position and wonder that he does what he does best elsewhere. If we have creative "gems" like him, why waste them on the wing? And get angry about it? IMHO, even an off-form Cantwell shows more creativity than Lammers, Lundstram, Cifuentes and Co. combined. He is not THE answer, but part of an answer. Raskin and him in the creative slots, a DM (Lundstram or Jack) behind them, should work most of the time. Final nail in Beale's coffin for me was leaving Ridvan and Balogun out of the EL squad. He left us with a top-heavy team that has no real cohesion, too many people that are more like hopefuls than tried players, and a makeshift defense of veterans past their sell-by date (Goldson, Tavernier, Barisic). The latter can do their job at Premiership level most of the time, but as the last couple of seasons have shown, are hardly the standard we require. Souttar is the only brighter spark there, Davies a bit of a conundrum, and Balogun solid, reliable, but getting on too. Ridvan is more of a wing-back than a fullback, well made for a 3-4-3 where his defensive duties are lesser than normal. Still, we demand our fullbacks to go forward and deliver, as it is the trademark of a 4-2-3-1, and neither side's veterans are doing the wing-role to this standard. Or one we require now. It is still howling at a high level. These players are not bad, our centre-halfs are not dross every other week because they get caught in a couple of games. It happens all the times elsewhere too. Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back from the weekly hysteria about the odd goal lost and take the whole picture in. That said, we are toiling on ever since Warburton, essentially papering over cracks in the system by testing better players there with some degree of success. Our benchmark are the Yahoos, who, thanks to our failures, bask in CL money season after season and spent money on enough quality to keep us and the rest at bay. Add to that a rather serious sequence of injuries to lots of our best players (no excuse, just a fact) through the years. So ... up comes the festive period with a host of games and a new manager who has to figure out how to get this side going. One just hopes that his trial-and-error period in Scotland is the shortest ever. The pessimist in me has locked up the optimist in the basement, for the latter's own health.

I thought Raskin was looking a bit better under Clement. Not sure how long he's out for - hopefully not too long. Jack should've been told 'it's Rangers or Scotland' in the Summer.