Tannochsidebear

Think I'd rather give Morelos the chance thanks.

Thats just not true and you know it. He has had some good games, and has certainly had some bad ones against them, like Hogmanay last year when he missed a sitter in the last minute to give us a point.

Player ratings for Dundee game : Foderingham 7 Tavernier 7 Cardoso 5 Alves 7 Wallace 6 Candeias 7 Jack 7 Dorrans 5 Kranjcar 6 Miller 1 (cant bring myself to give the true score of 0) Morelos 8 Subs : Windass 6 Pena 6 Nemane 4

Firstly, a sadly predictable line-up with Miller somehow retaining his place, and Windass getting the nod over Nico, which tells you everything you need about the manager if he thought that was his first 11 with a fully fit squad to choose from. First half we controlled but rarely threatened. it seemed we were cruising without the goals that allow you to cruise. Perhaps with a better line-up we would have had the game dead by half time? I said at HT that we better come out the traps right away and get the second because Thistle were still right in this at 1-0, and within 15 mins we are losing. I wasnt the slightest bit surprised. Cardoso is every bit as bad a defender as Kiernan or Wilson, and letting the ball drop then fouling the player for the free kick that led to the equaliser was dreadful work. Havent seen the second goal again but we still cannot stop crosses coming into our six yard box, and from my seat (half way line beside the media gantry) it looked like Wes dived over the ball. from other comments perhaps the angle was deceptive but wasnt in doubt was we marked really poorly and made about 6 mistakes in the same move to allow the goal. The early injury to Wallace meant we could only bring on 2 positive subs, and taking off Miller & Jack was right but it meant Windass was very lucky to stay on the pitch. This guy couldnt find a crucial pass to a teammate with a map and compass, lost count the amount of times a player was in a great position only for Josh to choose the wrong option or execute the pass poorly. He is 5% of the player Nico is, and that is only beacuse Nico is only half the player he was. The fact Pedro loves Josh reinforces my thoughts on Pedro. A great goal from Dorrans (finally getting a bit further forward to be in a position to shoot) and we should have steamed on to win the game, but our final ball, which mostly comes from Windass or Candieas, is generally really poor. Our corners have changed to big floaty efforts which defenders love instead of whipped into the edge of the 6 yard box with pace which defenders hate. That again is a tactical choice from the manager which needs to change. Sadly, this is the type of performance and rsult we are going to see a lot of under this manager (for however long he remains). We might win a couple of games in a row but we will never put together 6-8 wins on the spin. it seems even 3 is beyond him. We seem to only play well for 30 minutes a game and if we havent won the game in our good 30 minute spell, then we dont have the heart or desire or fight to tough it out and see it through, or to steal a late winner. I have such a low opinion of the manager and his ability that I actually wasnt too upset (certainly compared to others on my RSC!) at the draw last night as it isnt a huge surprise, especially after a couple of wins. We just cannot get any momentum going. We now are staring into the face of being 8 points behind BOTH celtic and dolly after just 7 league games. At what point is it obvious to even the most positive of Bears? I am usually in the "give the manager more time" and I so want us to win games and challenge for cups and, eventually, titles. We must, and probably will, win the return to Firhill on Tuesday in the cup, and then we can see what the OF brings. I'll be watching through my fingers!

Looking forward to this tonight. It's good to look forward to the footy again when we have a goalscorer on fire and a couple of other good players worth watching. I would like to see Herrera in for Miller tonight and give Candieas more of a target for his early crosses, and Pena in for Dorrans. I dont see the need for 2 holding players in games like this, and Jack is a more natural holding player than GD. Wes Tav, Bruno, Tanned Kiernan, Wallace Jack Candieas Nico Pena Morelos Herrera But I wouldnt be at all surprised if Pedro retains Miller in the starting line-up as he is bomb-proof it seems. Others are calling for Nico to be dropped as well but I dont see it. The guy is absolute class, and although the engine might not be what it was, the brain is still working. I would take a 50% Nico over a 200% Windass every day of the week. It is important we keep our discipline tonight as the ref will be well aware our next league game is one we want no suspensions for and we musnt give him any opportunity to make a name for himself (whoever it is!). It will take a lot less than Brown done in their last game to get the ref/CO attention and a ban for the OF game. Morelos will be especially scrutinised. I wouldnt be surprised if BT Sport have one camera just following his every move the whole game, in the name of tactical scrutiny of course! Lets keep building the momentum with another win and decent performance tonight, same again on Tuesday and let us go into the OF game with some small modicum of confidence.

I enjoyed the match on Saturday. Good goals, some good play, some players having good games and showing improved form and fitness. Yes, of course there were plenty of negatives, from the selection to the subs to the slow tempo at times, and some poor performances, you know who especially, but if the Ross ounty game was an improvement on what had come before, this was another improvement on that. In saying that, Dundee were as bad as County, and we now have a double header against another struggler to try to get another couple of wins and some more goals under our belts before the big one in a fortnight. Anything less than two wins and we will have let ourselves down again, but lets stay positive and go into the OF game on the back of a 4 game winning run. Morelos looks really good. Candieas has improved with every game, Jack is solid if unspectacular, Bruno is far too good for this level, and even Pena is starting to come onto a game and both him and Herrera need to be starting games now. Miller is struggling even by the low standards I judge him by, and even his most staunch defenders now concede he is done and should not be starting games. Cardoso still looks like Kiernan with a tan and needs to improve his concentration and decision making. The one i'm struggling with is Dorrans. I know this guy is a good player, and I was delighted when he signed. Given I have missed a few games this season, did he just have a bad game on Saturday or is that what he does every week? I fail to see why we need both Jack and Dorrans both holding such a deep line against an opponent who didnt threaten. I was expecting Dorrans to be 10-15 yards further upfield, linking play between midfield & strikers, not defence & midfield. It is only when you see the game live (not on tv) that you can see the positioning off the ball etc so I was watching him quite closely on Saturday and expected more. What do you guys think?

The ups and downs of betting odds are clear for all to see. Since I posted the above, we have had two very good wins and we are now 16/1 joint second favs with Dolly. The Rabid are 1/40. You can bet without the bheasts at 11/10 for us to effectively come second, Dolly are the same price. (Prices from Ladbrokes)

I bought one of these last spring and it is great quality and looks good too. I would thoroughly recommend buying one Bears.

Just the beginning of the two week campaign. I fully expect Morelos to either be red-carded at Firhill, or for a compliance officer intervention for a nothing incident that BT Sport and the timmy media will blow out of all proportion and try to ensure he doesnt face their beloved hoops. Add in pressure on Alves, Jack etc and continued ignorance/defending of anything Brown etc do and a friendly referee appointment, and we will need to be at least 2 goals better than them to get a draw! They completely control everything in our game these days.

Such a timmy-esque paranoia and an innocent victim. Clearly he doesnt understand that anyone involved with Tommy Sheridan and seedy strip clubs (as alleged in court during Sheridans trial) is not going to be seen as a viable choice of manager for many clubs. His overly high opinion of himself, and the fact he has fallen out with every club he has ever worked at, and bad-mouthed them all on leaving, adds much more to the list of negatives than his achievements adds to the positives. I never took seriously the claims he was in the running for the Rangers job, he is everything our club stands against.

Very proud of the club for their work in this area. This story not coming soon to a Scottish newspaper near you.

When the game in front of the fans is poor, even the UB are quiet as seen on many ocassions last season, no amount of standing rails is going to change that. The matchday atmosphere has to be built in the lead up to the game, with fans in their places a good 30 mins before kick-off and getting the tunes on. Fans also have to buy into the vision that they are there to be part of the atmosphere, not merely a spectator who gets involved the odd time when the cirucmstances demand it. I for one am completely guilty of being a spectator now with an ocassional outburst at the referee or join in with the odd song if its one of my favs and the game is going well. How does the club turn me back into a fan who wants to go along and sing and create the atmosphere? It has to come from them first and foremost, but no matter waht they do off-field, it will only be a success if the football on the pitch is entertaining and we are winning.

Why do people believe there will be a better atmosphere at Ibrox if there is a standing section? The UB just now are fully committed to creating an atmosphere with lots of singing and drums etc, and they do a good job. However it is only going to be them in the standing section, and they pretty much stand all game just now anyway, so whats the difference? The atmosphere at Ibrox works when ALL the fans are engaged in it, which is usually reserved for OF games, big Euro ties (distant memory!), and when the team is playing good football and winning matches. It is nothing to do with the seating arrangements, it is a much bigger issue with many different factors. If this is even in the top 50 things we need to do at the club, then someone has got the priorities very wrong.

Super post, I'm a big fan of Hardie for what I have seen of him, and his goalscoring record has been impressive given how little first team action he has seen. His success at International level suggests a talent that is in excess of what we were watching over the last couple of seasons, but he has pretty much always been overlooked. As our striking positions has been so poor in quality over the last year or more, it has annoyed me why we have not given him the gametime to prove himself in favour of other strikers who continually failed to score regular goals. I am hoping he gets a lot more gametime this year, or if we don't we may lose him.

the buffalo for me, who sneaks it ahead of Alves for me. What I am fairly amazed at is that the club shortlisted the correct 3 players. Usually you see someone shortlisted who you think ??? but this month there were 3 players head and shoulders above the rest, and I would have no problem with any of the 3 candidates winning it this month.

I'm not too worried about that, as there are more than enough critics out there already!

The Rangers Observer has quickly become our CQN equivalent with someone on the board feeding them stories to get put out on the club's behalf while retaining an ability to deny it if questioned. They do however have a somewhat arrogant nature about their articles in which they present everything as facts without providing any evidence of such while dismissing other unsubstantiated articles (usually from gutter press so fair play!) as being fiction. I am nonetheless enjoying their work.

This is of course the reality of the situation in that our budget will most likely have been for another 2 rounds of qualies, and then perhaps some more funds would be released if we somehow got through to the groups. The Progres defeat meant two things; the first is that our budget was now significantly reduced, and secondly the board may have realised that the manager is not as good as they thought and is only a few bad defeats away from needing replaced and that will cost whatever money they have left.

Please be Kenny!!!

There is no way Pedro was being anything other than polite to the fan he met on the plane. I took nothing other than that from the non-story, and expect nothing less. PC played this one well, he certainly knows how to handle himself with fans/media.

Although only 22, Declan has a lot of first team experience, so is clearly not in the Cardiff manager's plans and they are happy to get him off the wage bill (or at least some of his wage) and probably wont care if he gets game time or not. It is not the same as getting in Zelalem & Oduwa where our deal was to give them game time to bring on their development. If Declan is here as cover (in PC's view) then that is fine as we were lacking cover at full back with Wallace seemingly having some recurring injury issues. If it turns our Declan can force his way into the team and play well enough to be undroppable, then we are the winners there. I am glad the board haven't splashed out any further cash in this window, despite us needing more quality. We would be best waiting until a combination of Mark Allen getting to know where our needs lie and develop his contacts in our favour, and the new manager which will no doubt be here if not by Xmas, then certainly by next summer. If PC is still here next summer, then we didnt need any additional players from what we have just now.

It's almost like he had already penned his smarmy "Pedro must go after draw in Dingwall" article all done and dusted and then we went and spoiled it by winning quite comfortably. I think he will find, but probably already knows full well, that Rangers supporters are well aware of our reality, how we got here, all those who have contributed to it and have been complicit in ensuring our return is as difficult as possible. After what we have been through since the late autumn of 2011 when worries about Whyte's ownership and rumours of insolvency events started surfacing at the club, any smooth victory in the top flight away from home against a notoriously difficult opponent that is achieved can be quite rightly triumphed by our own club's management and supporters, and those that dont like Rangers winning games of football, or even our existence, can quite simply "do one".

Clearly Gareth and the Sun have a different definition of what makes a player a star than most of us. Can they not just write Cardiff City player? Minor point, and I have never heard of the player so i'm not judging him, but the gutter journalism annoys.

How can any editor pay for and print such a load of tosh? Surely anyone with the slightest whiff of journalistic integrity would throw that back and tell him to spend more than 2 mins next time and to actually say something interesting? Leckie should stick to writing his own dating site profiles.

Cardoso has to think better. He must have faith in Alves to prevent the player getting past him, and concentrate on where the biggest danger is going to be, which is a cross to the lone striker, and ensure he is covering him tightly. It is the same type of error that Kiernan and Wilson continually made for the last 2 years. No game awareness, or incorrect decision making. If Alves does get beaten, he then leaves his man to try to close him down before he gets into a shooting position, but that player doesnt need covering at that time as he cant score from there, only the man he was supposed to be marking can score. From what you and FS say, clearly Tav has to read the game situation better, which he is working hard to improve this part of his game I know, and hopefully he can review the footage and learn from it. All of this should have been prevented by the referee giving an obvious free kick for a foul on Niko which he was right on top of and must have noticed there was absolutely no contact with the ball when he tripped our man up. Another case of see what you want to see Thomson eh?