craig

My uncle is good friends with Kirk's now-ex girlfriend's father. Apparently when all the other players were off on their holidays during pre-season the big fella was going through extra training sessions with his personal trainer in order that he could hit the ground running when the season started. He has exactly the attitude that you would want from players and I just wish that his passion, energy, commitment would rub off on some of the others. Whether or not you like him as a player you really have to admire the way he has handled himself and he has actually performed very well in what is not his natural position. He deserves more credit than he gets sometimes.

Quality Frankie. I for one hope that McGregor clattering Brown has given McGregor the confidence to command his box more. This season McGregor has been glued to his goal-line and it has 1) cost us points and 2) seen our defence less assured. A keeper should be coming out for those type of balls and if he clobbers an opponent in the process so be it. Hopefully this will result in a return to McGregor commanding his area.

And those are just the ones we remember. Every single one of the above was very frustrating. But the JVoH booking was annoying because Weir was made to walk a tightrope along with JVoH and he hadn't made one foul at the time. Weir also really just got JVoH off McGregor and, it has to be said, JVoH stayed on top of McGregor for a little too long. JVoH should have been booked long before that tussle with McGregor. And that incident would have meant him being ordered off. The Naismith booking was incredible. Blatantly pulled to the ground and yet also got booked along with Brown. Crazy. The "corner" was laughable. Samaras looked like he was going to just get back in position and looked like he couldnt believe he got a corner from it. That also cost BF a booking and these could hurt us later in the season. Brown, JVoH and McManus could all have walked yesterday. The ref bottled it big time. Ohhhh, and Nakamura could easily have been booked for simulation too. I feared he would score at then end from that FK - you know, the one where he threw himself to the ground looking for the FK.

It is so obvious a blind man could see it. Say what you will about Broadfoot but we actually only looked dnagerous when Broadfoot got himself forward. I reckon that in the 1st half Broadfoot and Papc must have spent about 1 minute in total in the opponent's half and NONE of that wa due to Celtic pressure but, ratherm due to the tactics we were sent out with. Fleck's ingenuity, craft, guile and creativity were stifled not by Celtic but by his own task-masters. Given he has has been a leading light recently he is the one player we should have been saying "do what you like" to. Yet he was reigned in, like Broadfoot, and we played a stifling game, looking for something on the break. Again though, we potentially did better than they did out of this game - but I get a HUGE feeling of "opportunity lost". They really are shite, and we let them off the hook today. But..... if they are shite.... then what are we ?????

The sad thing is that the draw, on paper, actually did suit us today. My worry is that today was very much an opportunity lost. They were there for the taking, they are (without being biased) PISH, and we should have won. But what we did was effectively put pressure on ourselves to win the last OF game of the season. It was no coincidence that when Boadfoot got forward we looke more potent. Not because it was Broadfoot but because we committed people forward. For the first 60 mins we refused to do it, willing Celtic onto us and doing nothing in return. To be fair, it could have paid off because they did the very same thing against us at Ibrox.

I honestly dont believe that the 4-1-4-1 or 4-5-1 hurt his game. What I felt hurt his game was that he so obviously (to me at least) was told not to get too far forward. FFS, there were times in the 1st half that Lafferty was tackling the Celtic RB almost on the halfway line - because Fleck was covering his LB and was about 35 yards from his own goal. For me, the tactics rather than the formation hindered Fleck today.

Fleck didnt have his best game today but then he was always going to have an "off day". The thing is though, that Fleck's "off day" was still better than anything we have seen from Beasley, Adam, McCulloch et al this season at LM. That said though, and not to be unkind to the lad, but he did have a couple of bad touches (who doesnt ??) that led to some pretty decent possession for Celtic. I agree though, the tactics actually stifled the play of the lad. I felt, and still do, that had he been given licence to play his own game, he would have ripped Hinkel a new arsehole. As it was, he was left clicking his heels trying to get involved.

McStay never bothered me for that very reason. So over-rated and teh Tims made everything go through him that you just knew you would win against them. I often felt he was the weak link of their team yet they used him all the time. It was like taking sweeties off a baby !!

As the thread suggests, what is your most hated XI Me ? ----------------------Boruc---------------------- McNamara-----Aitken-------Caldwell---------Mahe Brown---------Grant--------Hartley-------McGeady --------------McDonald-----Walker---------------- I have no idea how this ended up with 11 Celtic players, honestly !!! It was started as a "who do you hate most team" yet ended up being exactly the "same thing but with the dual effect of being a "who do you hate at Celtic" team. So..... what is yours ?

To be fair I bet there were PLENTY of fans who wished they stayed in their pit. After suffering through the 1st 45 mins I struggled to be bothered to watch the 2nd half. Sorry but the performance from our team in the 1st 45 would have sent anyone to sleep. And some people, myself included, get so worked up about an OF game that they actually prefer to NOT watch it, means that I support Wija in his statement. That OF game today would have put anyone to sleep. Do you NEED to watch the game to be a "Rangers man" ? I think not.

The sad thing about it is that I also think that WS will play for the draw. On first glance that looks like a reasonable ploy. But we WILL drop points down the stretch so every single point counts. I would rather we went for the 3 points and lost than play for the draw and still lose the league. At this stage of the season it is all about confidence, boosting your own and hurting theirs. To beat them in their own back yard with the run they are on would be a tremendous fillip for us and would dent their confidence in the run-in. In saying that, a true 4-5-1 with Davis and Fleck out wide supporting the lone striker could actually work. I don't mind the formation and tactics so long as we actually try to win the game.

Fucking Dundee Utd..... Had Utd, Motherwell, QoS and St Johnstone. Utd did me out of 100 quid

dont give up man, you know you are entitled to your opinion - it just happens to be wrong :devil:

I'm hoping that your "football side of things" statement is aimed at MF and not me or S_A ??? Miller deserves more abuse than Boyd. I dont think that is disputable either. You are entitled to give Boyd a hard time but if you think he deserves more of a slating than Miller then the rest of us need to simply avoid debating these two players with you Gribz. You are giving Boyd a hard time, fair enough, but Miller has not scored in 9 games, yes NINE games and, as a striker at a club like Rangers, that isnt good enough. He isnt even contributing. Actually, he is contributing LESS than Boyd which is hard to believe. He needs to be dropped. If the club needs 3 million then I can't actually think of a better player to collect it from than a 2 mill fee for Miller plus his wages. As said, he offers no more than Novo does - actually, he offers less. Novo is pacier, more direct, more of a goal threat, hounds defenders more and generally makes himself a pain in the arse more than Miller. Admittedly, your post doesnt state that Boyd deserves more abuse than Miller - just that people give him a harder time than you give Boyd. All in good debate though eh ?

I agree :fish: Boyd really is an enigma. I dont think I recall any player for Rangers splitting the support so much. The reality is pretty straight forward 1. He is a natural finisher and our best goalscorer at present 2. His contribution outside of goals is minimal Those are the two factual statements as I see them, the debate really can't revolve around 1 because it really isnt debatable, he has proven it each season since he joined us. The debate around 2 should be minimal too as it is plain for all to see. However, regarding 2 he has been making an effort to improve and we need to give him time to see through that improvement, especially when he is still scoring goals and still our most potent threat. I have never really been pro or anti-Boyd. I try to give each player their chance to prove themselves. Someone mentioned that we played our best football without Boyd in the 4-2 game and 3-0 away to Hibs and whilst they are decent examples they are hardly representative of the season are they ? Further, regarding the 4-2 game you almost need to discount that game immediately because we had Cousin playing that day, and playing out of his skin, and he no longer is here so we can't call on him for that type of performance. You have to look at who would give us the best chance of winning. Cousin was that player inthe 4-2 game but he isnt here any longer so we need to look at others. On the few occasions when Boyd hasn't played this season, the two games above apart, we may have played better but I actually think that we have distinctly lacked the look of a team likely to score. Boyd is definitely a luxury player if you have a midfield creating a boat-load of chances and could be dropped because you have contributions from elsewhere. However, our team seem to not create that much and what they do create, because of this, needs to be stuck away. If we miss a couple of decent chances then there is a fair possibility that we will draw 0-0 or lose. Of the strikers in our team the only one who is likely to consistently put away those chances is Kris Boyd. I just don't get how anyone can debate that, given his record at the club and given the other options within the club.

Too funny, as soon as I saw the headline I fully expected MF to be all over this. By the time this thread is done MF will have doubled his post count. In all honesty though, 2 mill for Miller ?? Bite their hand off. As has been said so many times, he is a poor man's Nacho Novo. Can still do a job for us but when cash is king, let Novo loose who does the same channel running but is more direct, more of a goalscoring threat and whose wages will be a fraction. SELL HIM !!

Only Jon can answer but I would be astounded if ANY of our fans would think Boyd is our best player. Best scorer, no question. Best player, no chance.

Is that the new local slang for "horse and cart" ?

Novo did score a fair share of goals but he still isnt as consistent as Boyd in the goalscoring charts. Although he scored a lot of goals that season I would agree with S_A in that Novo is the type of striker that if you give him time to think he will screw it up. Give him a split second and he will score. How many teams were interested in Novo as compared to Boyd ? Boyd is our most natural finisher, of that there really cant be any doubt. His other attributes ? Debatable. He has a poor first touch and struggles to bring his team-mates into the game - but with both he has been improving this season. The detractors will point to his poor games but there is NOT ONE player this season who hasn't had a run of poor games

The funny thing is that I dont even think Larsson's goal was their best goal, Lambert's was a better goal IMO and the build up to Moravcik's also challenges it. No doubt that Cooper's goal is EASILY the best goal there though.

The merits of a proper youth system combined with a proper scouting system which looks specificaklly at young players is indisputable. I fear we missed a huge opportunity when we built MP by not starting to restrict transfer fees on established players and spending a wee bit more on the youth and scouting system. I know hindsight is 20/20 but who would rather we saved 2 mill on McCulloch (or Miller's) transfer fee and piled that money into proper worldwide scouting for younger prospects or, at the very least, getting a scouting network in place. Buying established players costs a lot more, obviously, than bringing in a precocious talent. Also the potential profit on these players is far greater than with those established players (unless you truly have a "find' in the established players ala Cuellar) because the initial fee will be low and if given 1st team games should see their value increase substantially. However, that said, you also need proper coaching, management and appropriate integration into the first team squad. It seems, to me at least, that WS seems to have gotten this right with Fleck - the question is whether he is the exception rather than the norm ?

I would be inclined to bet in the hope that it costs me money. I agree that there are definitely large cracks appearing over on the East End but us being so close to them isnt so much our performances as theirs. I think we have the better team and the better squad but until, as Norris says, we get consistency away from home then we will be prone to dropping points and, when that happens, it will give THEM a glimmer of hope. I have been saying for the last 3 or 4 years we have a better squad than them and I still believe it to be the case - but they have won the league because they do have that "never say die" attitude whereas we seem to look like boys lost if we go behind, a lack of belief as much as lack of consistency.

Not sure that I agree about the former statement as I think our team have proven already this season that they can go from one extreme to the other quickly. A good win this weekend to take us top could easily be followed by a poor performance and result in our next league match against Killie. I am definitely inclined to agree with the latter statement though. A loss and 5 points behind, whilst not insurmountable, would be a mountain to climb given the inconsistency we have seen from the team this season. Plus, being 5 behind would mean that we would more than likely HAVE to win the last OF at Ibrox and that scenario would suit Celtic more than it suits us IMO.

F@cking typical..... I am flying from London to Glasgow on..... March 9th and arrive at 8.30 !!! Frankie, get your mole to apply pressure and change the game to March 10 !

Scotland dont play in green and grey..... when the NATIONAL team are playing they represent Scotland, not Celtic even if the starting XI are all Tims. I cant believe that anyone would think that way, but each to their own I guess. Ohhhh, and just because someone supports the national team no matter which club the players play for it doesnt make them a Tim lover. Good for you that you are Rangers through and through - however, that doesnt make you any more or less of a Rangers supporter than those who support the national team.