craig

Are you kidding Gav ? She DOES look like a munter in BOTH of those pics !

That was AWESOME Cammy - the hairs on the back of my neck stood up watching that ! The WHOLE stadium doing the bouncy (with the obvious exception of the Broomie.....)

Did you let Matt watch it whilst you gave hima BJ ? Give me his email address, I need to let him know you are a keeper !

Sadly I have to agree on both counts. Gav, for a winger there is NO WAY you can put 36 goals (plus numerous assists) down to luck. Sorry but it just can't work that way especially when you see him play each week. He is probably the best player in the world right now (aside from Aiden McGeady........). However, did someone in here say his goal last night was a really good goal ? I would disagree with that to an extent - I think his goal was no more than should be expected - he was coming from the opposite wing from the cross, the ball in was good and he attacked it as any attack minded player should do. Nothing wonderful in that, just what I would expect (sorry if no-one actually said it was a very good goal).

GS cant afford to play defensively though. For obvious reasons they HAVE to beat us so they have to play an open, expansive game. Plus their fans will go ape-shit if they play defensively against us when we are so far ahead of them in the league - if they haven't already seen the last straw a defensive formation from GS would definitely be the last straw (unless they somehow concocted a win.....). I agree with Trailio - I am more concerned about going to Dundee - they pose far more problems to us that Celtic do. I can't believe just how confident I am when we play Celtic these days - and that is all down to WS - he has the indian sign over Celtic (or should that be "WS voodoo DOES worky") I think we will get a win at Parkhead

What do Celtic fans do after an old firm victory? They turn off the Play Station. That one was particularly funny Pete !

We have the mentality to take 6 points from Mechanodome ! We will IMO get AT LEAST a point out of 6 but just as likely to take at least 3 !

I agree with your 3 sticking points calscot - but I think #3 could be overcome - if he really wanted to be at Ibrox then I could see him taking a 5k a week pay cut. #1 and #2 would put the brakes on any deal though.

Yeah I think you are right, we are pretty close in our argument anyway. In reading what Kevin Thomson himself says about it, it makes a lot of sense - but he still engineered it - he was also spot on that a striker does the exact same thing everyday. I just think that he changed his running to initiate the contact - but that does happen frequently and it was close enough that it has doubt. I think there were other incidents during the game that warrant more coverage than this - but when you have an opponent who believes in conspiracies contrived against them then they will use it as best they can to highlight the "conspiracy" and deflect from their own ineptitude !

Good for him. He said what many of us think about the Celtic players, and he is spot on, about both McManus and moreso about Boruc !

Correct. Even easier to look at it is that if we have a game in hand then all we need to do is garner a point in that game in hand and then match them point for point thereafter. If they win the two OF games we are even, but we still have a game in hand. A point in that game in hand wins us the title as long as we match them point for point in every other game

I would have taken your Pompey winnings and bet on them to NOT score, even against 10 men !

Agreed, they were never going to score against us on Saturday - they could have played for a week and not scored.

I would have NO issue in seeing Scott Brown at Ibrox. I think that story has substance - I think he wanted to come to us and I could easily be convinced that Hibs decided to auction him. Sadly at the end of the day the player himself would have only had two options, stay at Hibs or sign for Celtic. IMO it only adds weight to his disgust at being pushed to Parkhead by the sub-par performances he has been putting in. I would still like to see him at Ibrox, especially if he wanted to be here but was forced elsewhere. However, at the inflated fee Celtic paid then I don't think he would be a good buy and with the wages he is on I dont think they would be great value for money. If he took a pay cut he would be showing he has the right attitude and would be at Rangers because he WANTS to be. I also have no problem in seeing their players sign for us direct and vice versa - so long as they sign our duds and we get their best players (actually..... Scott Brown is probably the only one in their team I would take.... maybe McGeady too )

You are right, it absolutely is open to interpretation - yours and mine differ which is why we are having this debate - and why I enjoy this site so much, because we can all debate in an open, respectful manner. I agree that the movements are subtle enough to suggest that there is "reasonable doubt" - had they not been then it would be clear cut. I just happen to have the opinion that the subtlety of his movement meant he tried to engineer that foul, making it a clear attempt to gain unfair advantage - you disagree and, if I am being honest, I can see why and I can see both sides. Again, I agree - each of this instances are attempts to con the ref. I am not too bothered about debating whether he should have received another yellow or not - his first yellow was harsh so to be sent off would have been harsh, especially when we saw the likes of Mcanus effectively commit assault on JCD I am more interested in the debate on whether he dived/simulated/engineered a foul or not. Sadly the manners in football have become worse - it is win at all costs regardless of who is impacted in the process (I read a book on the way back to Bermuda abotu football quotes and stories - and there was a story about a keeper decades ago who managed to throw the ball into his own net - his own players had turned away to wait for his goal kick only to turn and see the ball nestling in their own net - the response of his team-mates ? They all rolled about laughing at him - that was in a PROFESSIONAL game - how many would have the humour to do that these days ? Again, I agree he was subtle enough not to be booked - but that doesn't mean he didn't engineer that foul - it means he was cunning enough to make it at least plausible - to be fair, it is similar to a forward going down under minimal contact in the box (and part of the reason this might be getting more coverage is also because his buddy Scott Brown could have went down for a penalty but didn't - the whole "compare and contrast" storyline). I agree and disagree - it was subtle enough in the heat of the moment and without the aid of slowmo to be not proven. However, my opinion with the benefit of hindsight and slowmo is that he maneouvred himself to engineer that foul - a possible plausible defence could be that he moved as he expected a crunching tackle and didn't want to suffer an "Eduardo" - but personally I don't believe that. You make a fair point - but at the time that his leg changed direction in my opinion he already had corrected his running lane - the change in direction looked abnormal to me. You could be right, he could have been trying to avoid the crunching tackle - but I believe that would have caused him to attempt to move RIGHT as Samaras was coming from his left, doesn't make sense to move towards the force that is trying to hit you (having said that, looking at Diaby's tackle the other day I can't make sense of where he was trying to tackle.....) I agree there is too much made of it but it is so contentious that it makes for good debate and, as said above, it sells newspapers. I don't think you can compare it to Miko because Miko's was flagrant and, as you say, Thomson's was more sutble. Henry's goal was cheating without doubt - do we know of ANY player that would own up to that though ?

I completely agree Johnny ! The majority of players WOULD ghave done the same thing - but that shouldn't stop anyone from calling them a cheat/con if that is what they are doing. It won't stop me even if he plays for the team I support and even if he is a player that I have great respect for in the way he handles himself both on and off the pitch (most of the time on.... one aborration aside...) I also agree that the media are looking to bring attention to Thomson more than it should - McManus should have seen red (yellor for his horrendous challenge on JCD and another yellow for multiple fouls throughout the game). Boruc was up to his usual antics, Naylor could have seen red - he was constantly fouling in the 2nd half, constantly showing dissent and the red mist had descended. There were others too - but Thomson's incident will sell newspapers unfortunately - PLUS he had such a good game that it is always good news to turn the good guy bad - again, unfortunately.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree calscot. To me, engineering a foul is akin to cheating and whilst not technically simulation, should be a booking as it is an attempt to obtain an unfair advantage. I don't know how you "slightly engineer" either - he either did or he didnt and, in my opinion, he engineered it - therefore it was an attempt to con the ref. By "putting his foot out a tiny but" still means he engineered it - no matter how slight he tried to obtain unfair advantage. I disagree that Samaras has impeded Thomson as well - Thomson's natural movement would have taken him past Samaras without contact had Thomson not changed his running lane. I agree that it isn't simulation but trying to gain unfair advantage is a bookable offence, is it not ? In the same way that you are suggesting those of us who think Thomson cheated are callilng themselves "armchair experts" so too could the same be levelled at those suggesting that he didnt cheat, simulate and only "slightly engineered" the foul. Upon initially seeing the incident live I would have swore blind that it was a free kick. Upon reply I am certain that Thomson tried to gain unfair advantage. As for benefit of the doubt I would normally give it to him (I am a big admirer of Kevin Thomson, the way he plays and the way he acts as an individual) - however, in this instance the clincher for me was the fact that whilst KT's left foot was in the air he changed the forward motion of it, taking him from a natural running lane into an unnatural one - and the unnatural one just so happened to coincide with Samaras's leg.

Cammy, great read. WS' record in OF games is actually now played 38 and lost 7 - lets not forget the most recent unbeaten game.... Saturday !

Cheers Gav. Couple of things : 1. Definite sending off 2. The only differnce between that tackle and Taylor's is that Eduardo had his foot planted. Had Stelios (was it him that was tackled ?) had his foot planted he could have been looking at a broken leg too. 3. I don't understand the tackle - Stelios had the ball on his right foot and for some unknown reason Diaby tackled Stelios' left foot - bit strange. He wasn't tackling the area the ball was in 4. I felt that Diaby's tackle was lower than the Taylor tackle, by quite some distance too. Other points to note : 1. Bolton's first was a good goal and highlights just how you can be punished if you have a good ball in from wide. 2. The finish from Gallas for Arsena;'s first would have been a strike that a forward would have been happy with - great finish. Arsenal got the better end of the deal in the Ashley Cole/Gallas deal ! 3. The build up play by Arsenal for the second goal (to get the pen) was sublime ! The inter-play was amazing to watch. 4. The play pre the third goal was great too - a great through ball to set it up. 5. The third goal though showed just why Bolton will go down - the ball played pinball off TWO of their players and ended up in the net. No luck=relegation !

I would rather we just got our own house in order than worry about theirs... And we seem to be doing a VERY good job of it so far - although there is always room for improvement

He still tried to con the ref into giving him a free-kick. That is cheating IMO. Look at the forward motion of his left leg - he changes from a natural forward motion to all of a sudden his left leg going forward sideways. Sorry but I think he engineered the free-kick (we Do have the benefit of replays and hindsight though). IMO Samaras was pulling out before Thomson made contact with Samaras. Thomson wasn't running at a natural angle for the motion he had just made - he went looking for the foul, he engineered a foul that wasnt a foul. That is trying to con the ref and it is cheating. Do I care ? Not really as it was spur of the moment and these things do happen. You make a good point Fraser, to an extent. People are chastising Thomson yet at the same time encouraging Brown to do the EXACT same thing.

Agreed - I am always GLAD to see his name on the team sheet against us !

If Cuellar plays the remainder of our MINIMUM number of games this season he will break the all-time number of games in a season by a Rangers player. He would have played 63 games compared to the current record of 61 (I think it was in 78 and it was Bobby Russell and one other). That is if he playes in the MINIMUM number of games, he obviously could get a fair few more than that. The consistency he has shows is incredible. I think if he hits 63 games he will have played more in one season at Rangers than he has played in the last two COMBINED at Osasuna.

We lose Thomson for the next OF game and will likely replace him with Hemdani...... They lose Brown for the next OF game and will likely replace him with Robson or Donati..... Yet they think their squad is far superior - AYE RIGHT !

I played full back at a decent level Ian and I agree that this is what you would normally do. However, McGeady had Broadfoot in his back pocket and they had two tall strikers waiting on decent crosses - had Broadfoot shown him inside there was plenty of help with Dailly sitting in front of the back four. I agree you would usually show them outside but that was causing us so many problems in the first half becasue Broadfoot couldn't get to grips with him. WS sorted it second half to be fair by NOT trying to get KB to push him inside but by doubling up on him. But first half man on man it was painful to watch. Broadfoot also gave him far too much space.