Tannochsidebear

Thats really great news - more deserving credit for your fantastic work.

Hilarious Boabie, and the great unwashed will lap that all up as gospel.

A - we can only judge on what we have brought in, poorer quality players with no pedigree in the English game, but all outwith the top level. MW has now had 18 months to get himself organised, this window has to show some signs of improvement in terms of what the much-hailed McParland can do. Last window was a complete disaster. B - Yes, Waghorn has had a nightmare 2016, Tav has improved but is still defensively suspect, Wes is getting worse and needs dropped, Rossiter has no history of regular game time, and Dodoo is a total dud who has taken to coming off the bench, crossing the white line, and completely disappearing. C - I dont really care who we are "linked" with in the media, as it is usually total fabrication, but I want to see signings with a bit of thought gone into them, or at least can play the manager's preferred system. Not me, I dont (and havent ever) rate the English Championship at all. Every time I watch a game from that league, the quality of player and football on show for the money involved is very poor IMO.

The title is rather obvious, but probably our biggest failing this season has been the lack of goals scored. We have played 19 league cup and league matches so far this season and we have scored 36 goals, under 2 goals per game. In league matches only our return is 16 goals in 12 matches. Our scorers this season so far are; Waghorn 8 Halliday 5 Garner, Hill, Nico, Miller 3 Dodoo, Forrester, Tav 2 McKay, Windass, Holt, Wallace, OG 1 7 of Waghorn's 8 have come in the league cup, and Halliday has a couple of pens in his total. So, 12 league games into the campaign and nobody has really got more than 3 goals. The chicken and egg scenario for Warburton is that while we have not had consistency of selection to get any striker some momentum, their performances have forced his hand to try other options. He have had Waghorn, Miller and Garner all playing the middle striker, with Waghorn & Miller both also playing the wide striker. The midfield and subs have not chipped in with enough goals either, with our attacking midfield players and alternate strikers (Dodoo, Forrester, Nico, McKay, Windass, Holt) all failing to get above the 3 goal mark so far. We have been creating a lot of half-chances and a good few good chances. On Sunday both Garner and Miller were put right through with only the keeper to beat and Garner struck the keeper while POTM (seriously???) Miller didnt even get a shot off as his renowned lack of control let him, and us, down again. Our side is totally lacking belief when it comes to chances in front of goal. Not one player is in good form right now, not one. From Wes to Waggy and everywhere in between, there is not one player I would say is a must-play for our next game. To me, having been watching us home and away every week for over 30 years (the odd exception apart) this looks reminiscent of sides where the dressing room has been lost, and the players no longer are believing what the manager is telling them. Can we take it back to the Barton incident where perhaps (only guessing here, humour me) the players agreed more with Barton than Warburton and dont like what has transpired since. We have seen these situations before, with Advocaat, McLeish, PLG, McCoist where the desire and commitment from the players in difficult situations is not what it used to be. Good players are being outfought by not so good players. If you dont win the battle in your area of the pitch, your team rarely wins the war. I hope this is not the case, but the poor performances vastly outstrip the good ones this season, and if taken over this calendar year our form is absolutely honking. No longer do we press high up the pitch, winning back the ball in the final third and creating chances. No longer do we play passes in triangles to play around our opponents high press with a pass and move mentality. No longer do we run at defenders from wide areas, with one-twos to open them up and get in behind. No longer do we look like scoring goals. I have no desire for a change in management, none at all. MW deserves a chance to see this season out, hopefully improving our squad with a much better window ion January than we had last summer, and get us comfortably into second place by May. Should he do this, he will have gained an awful lot of knowledge, experience, and understanding of what needs to be done better for a tilt at the title next season, if our board can get the investment into the club to allow him the squad to challenge. However we must see MW do his plan A better than he has done so far this year. It seems he has gathered a group of players that would suit a different system, and I think we would all like to see him try something different (4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1) to try to create more chances in the box than our current system allows. Our opponents dont need to work too hard in training when we are the next opponents, our system and style is so transparant it is easy to work on. So give them something to think about, change the system and keep them guessing. We might just stumble on to something that works better for our group of players, and gives them their confidence back, and in turn perhaps give us our confidence back too.

Again, being linked with a free agent from the English market. Our scouting has been almost exclusively to cast-offs from the English lower leagues and we wonder why we are struggling. This lad has been without a club for 3 months, tells you everything you need to know. No thanks.

Ross county 1 Rangers 3 FGS Garner

Shock horror, Daily Rhebel in more made up pish to fill their ever-decreasing circulation desparate rag. By all means have the debate about who we may or may not want to bring in next window, but FFS can we leave the Rhebel's fiction out of it? As an aside I saw Winks play for Spurs in the last 15 mins or so v Bayer at Wembley and he touched the ball once i think. Spurs fans around me were quite mixed about him coming on, some positive and some groans. I was relieved to read Pocchetino say it was a dreadful performance by Spurs, as if that was their normal play I would be worried for them. Spurs played just like Rangers although with a different set-up (4-2-3-1), it played out much the same, with the very slow build up play from the keeper to the split centre backs or diagonal to the pushed up full backs to start the move, 30 -40 passes later they have got absolutely nowhere and eventually a poor final ball into an empty box was never going to hurt an organised defence. Lots of time of possession, but very little in the final third and a severe lack of a killer pass or bit of skill to go past a man. It took me an hour to realise that the total diddy playing right wing who had done nothing except give the ball away or run into his man was Sissoko who they bought for £30MILLION from relegated Newcastle. The world has gone mad I tell you!

While I dont condone the throwing of seats, IF such a thing happened (I didnt see it and I was only about 15 seats from the fence) then if the Police want to try to take it forward that is their job. But I dont see any Rangers fan phoning in with information given how badly we were treated by the Police that day, and just about every match day on our travels. It must be a two-way street with the authorities, it is certainly not that way with regards to how our club's fans are treated.

I'm trying hard to stay positive in the face of something obviously not working!!

A couple of good points made in this thread already. MW now has to try to tweek his side weekly as it seems everyone is inconsistent so far this season. Gilks deserves a run in the side for sure, but I think MW will stubbornly continue with the goalie who doesnt save but supposedly kicks well, although last night was untypically poor in that department as well. Hodson has had his chance and blew it, Tav comes back in. Wallace is going to remain in the side anyway, and Kiernan is starting to listen and is improving his play. I have noticed him being far more aggresive and coming through and winning headers and tackles much more than previously, I hope he can continue with this improvement and there may yet be hope for him. Hill is a solid pro and is acting as on-field coach as well as centre half. In midfield, I would like to see big Crooks in the side to give him a chance instead of Halliday. AH has lost his energy from last season, still doesnt offer any protection to the back 4, and is generally not available to take the pass from the keeper/centre halfs. Holt is our key midfielder and when he has a poorer game, like last night, the team suffers, but when he has a good game we look so much better. The third slot is tough, as Windass for me is nowhere near consistent enough. The odd 5 minutes of quality in amongst 85 minutes of dross is a luxury we cannot afford at our level. Perhaps best as an impact player. McKay may find the room in the middle of the park more to his liking than the wide areas, but his form this season has been poor, which I blame on going away with Scotland (Wallace too) and missing our pre-season work as a result. He was so important to the team that he played all our LC group matches when he should have been working on his pre-season. He looks like he is still playing last season and is knackered. I would give him two weeks off, then two weeks pre-season work and see if that gives him his spark back. With Rossiter/Barton/Nico all out we are struggling in midfield for the right blend. MOH had a good game without troubling them much. He did get by his man continually, but too many times a last ditch lunge from a defender prevented a cross coming in, hence the number of corners we got last night. Perhaps needs more match sharpness. He has to be retained and told to go out and build on that performance. Garner is just a pest, always in the ref's ear and the defenders face, aggressive and combative. Again, he has to play again at CF to see if he can score again, and we can build from there. On the other flank Forrester had a mare but is probably worth another go as he has something about him, just nothing came off for him last night. Glad its not me trying to pick the team!

Can we take it from the picture used, that this will be a remembrance themed display given it is our last home game before 11/11? Or will it be a display for big Wes that the opposite end from him will put up when he is dithering in possession that says "JUST PUNT IT BIG MAN!" like so many were calling for last night!

Well that was garbage, again! Our esteemed gaffer, so good in interviews and is doing a fantastic job in rebuilding the club in all aspects from the ashes, is getting tactical lessons from the likes of Tommy Wright. First half was good, Hodson's howler apart, but again we failed to kick on and, again, our subs weakened our momentum. I would love someone to time how long we have possession of the ball within 30 yards of our own goal and pass it between the defenders and keeper this season. It is absolutely turgid. Nobody wants to go back to long ball hoof it football, but when we have players and tactics that waste about a third of the game doing absolutely nothing positive just to retain possession, our possession based plan A ain't working. Perhaps that American chap who did some great analysis previously can do it! He would deserve a medal to re-watch what we have served up this season. For me, it is all about goals. We just dont score them, and we dont have anyone who can score them regularly enough. Our seasons scorers are; Waggy 8 Halliday 4 Nico, Miller 3 Dodoo ,Forrester, Garner, Hill, Tav 2 McKay, Windass, Holt 1 Take out the 18 goals we scored (6 for Waghorn) in the league cup against lower league opponents (I have kept in the Motherwell game) and it is a very poor return for an expensive (in Scottish terms) side playing supposedly expansive attacking possession based football. I dont have the answer, I dont want MW sacked, but it is not good at all this season. I am off to Wembley for the NFL this weekend and will miss the game on Saturday, and I was gutted when I seen the fixture list and was going to miss a home game, but right now I dont need to attend to see the game. Groundhog day has been the story of the season, with slightly differing results. All 5 home games have been pretty much identical, with only 6 goals in 5 games against the also-rans of the Premier League, dropping 6 points along the way and that includes a 90th minute winner to beat Motherwell. I believe MW should be given time and resources to prove his credentials and philosophy, but he has signed a lot of players who have not worked out, at least not yet fully 15 weeks into the season, which should be enough for anyone to bed in or at least look as if they are starting to look the part. Let me leave anyone still reading this guff with one question to ponder - Does this look like a team all working together and believing in each other, or a team that is fractured with behind the scenes bust ups, players being sacked, some in and out the team every week while others who have been poor retaining their places, and generally very low on morale?

I agree with others that I want to see more of MOH to evaluate if there is a footballer in there somewhere. In his 9 months at the club he has hid it well if he is a good player. Being honest he looks totally lost playing in our system of a front 3 where he is always the wide man. Not the only player we have bought in the MW era that doesn't suit our style of play, or has played his best football in a totally different system. Not his fault, and I really hope he can grow into the role, but I wouldnt be surprised to see him back at St Johnstone or similar next summer. We dont have the luxury of a few easy games to blood players like MOH, Dodoo and Garner to give them half a dozen straight games to see if they can find form, they need to take their chance from the odd start or sub appearance and force themselves into the team, same as all players at all clubs who aren't first choice picks at the moment.

The club contacting Club1872 makes me think of how we are told Peter Lawwell can independently work in the best interests of both CFC and SFA at the same time. The alternate answer is the club did answer and told them that we are fleecing them for £50 a ticket so there is no way we are banning them.

I dont think anyone has a clue as to the starting 11, so it is difficult to say what the score and scorer will be. I might change this after I see the team but for now; Rangers 2 St Johnstone 0 FGS Waghorn

[quote=pete;651065Rangers need to get Mark Warburton out and get Walter Smith or Alex McLeish in now - Sports Hotline Rangers FC SOME Gers fans have had enough and think it's time for managerial change at Ibrox as Anthony Haggerty found out on today's Hotline .] :brick::crash::crazy: No real Rangers fans phone into the Rhebel hotline, so anything the Rhebel prints as supposedly coming from Rangers fans, is not the case. Haggerty has plenty previous in this regard. We would all be better advised to stick to speaking to Rangers fans on forums, at the games, on the supporters buses etc to guage opinion. I have not heard one opinion that wants Warburton to go, despite his dreadful record in big games, poor transfer window and poor start to this season, everyone is very well aware of the restrictions, the situation the club is in financially and contractually, and are willing to give him time to mould things his way. I must have spoken to over 50 bears in the last couple of weeks from all over the place and this is the overwhelming feeling. BAN THE RECORD NOW!!!!!!!

Dolly are pish, we seen it for ourselves a few weeks ago, and they will lose stupid games, like they have done in our absence when "supposedly" title contenders. Failure to come second this year will probably mean we have had our lowest points total since 3 points for a win, and would IMO see MW sacked and rightly so. I cannot see us not coming second, even with all the reservations I have about MW's tactics and summer 16 signings, and I also believe we will have a good run of form and wins at some point. Now would be a good place to start! Our opponents are just so poor we can't not come second IMO.

Let's think of the travelling fans for once and get this moved to Jan 2. Thousands of bears from all over the UK will struggle to get home and should we win it curtails the celebrations when most have to get home for their traditional family Hogmanay parties. Doesn't bother me at all either way, but, just for once, let's put fans first.

Even more ridiculous if that was the intention Barca72, but thanks for the info. Sounds like something the GB do regularly, have a display with a republican slogan woven in slyly that has nothing to do with their team. But then UB are just GB wannabees, so perhaps not so surprising after all. If TMBTW was nothing to do with the banner, then I look forward (sic) to hearing just WTF the UB were trying to say.

Where to start with that today? If I was to analyse everything from team selection, tactics, quality of play, substitutions, it would be longer than War & Peace, so I will just do a brief player ratings; Gilks 9 Superb, must be retained as number 1 keeper. Hodson 7 Solid, defended well. Didn't get forward but that wasn't his role today. Wallace 4 Shocker from skipper including fault at goal Hill 8 Commanding CH performance, organised everything and done his own job well. Kiernan 6 first half was his best in our shirt, but said at HT I knew he would fall asleep once and it cost us a goal. Had too many chances, needs binned. Halliday 6 done most things well but doesn't concentrate for 90 mins and his errors are usually costly in terms of chances. Offers nothing going forward. Holt 7 good performance and our main goal threat. Thought he was striking the winner and only great defending from the Tim they tried to punt on deadline day saved them. Windass 2 shocker. Started tims 3 best chances of first half by giving ball away inside our half. Easily shrugged off ball, game passed him by. Only MW knows how he came back out for 2nd half. Looks like an Accrington player. Tav 5 was it a winger role or a double full back? Either way did nothing defensively and offered nothing creatively. Huge blunder by MW to use him like this. What must Harry, Joe, MOH, Waggy be thinking when Tav plays RW in a cup semi ahead of all of them? Miller 3 typically useless display from our Kenny. Not once did he get in their box in space in 65 mins. Gave ball away countless times. Only in side due to how poor others are, waste of a shirt as per. McKay 5 the current fav boo-boy leaving Hampden today. lack of proper pre-season for him & Wallace very noticeable. Nothing working for him and needs rested. Subs: Garner 2 I'm going to say it, this boys a total dud. £1.8M spunked away on absolutely nothing. If this was a McParland recommendation he needs sacked. Clearly needs a strike partner so shouldn't have been signed to play lone striker. Dodoo 2 another dud. Lacked heart for the fight, looks like he is at too big a club. Waghorn 3 looks like last season was his level, has been really poor so far this term. Doesn't help that we keep playing him wide when he has always done his best work from a central role. Warburton 1 Wrong starting 11, wrong tactics, wrong formation, wrong subs. Seems happy we only lost by 1. Completely convinced by everything he is doing behind the scenes, completely unconvinced by his match day work this season.

I thought it was pish, WTF was that supposed to mean? Our heart is on fire? Does anybody even read that back before that gets the go-ahead? More smoke, more explosions, Rangers end the quietest I've ever heard it in 30 years.

It has to be our strongest side that starts, no matter if MW has been giving game time to fringe players in the earlier rounds. This is an OF game, not just any old game, and after capitulating last time round, there is no way we can go into this with anything other than the team that gives us the best chance of winning, whatever that is! The only time to play anything other than your strongest side in an OF game is when we already have the league won and have a dead rubber match to play against them at the end of a season.

There was no point putting this info out there in the run up to a big OF game, giving the opposition a boost. Keep it quiet if you can and let them prepare to play against Nico if at all possible. Obviously someone in the squad has went blabbing their mouth off to Andy Devlin, to the detriment of our chances on Sunday.

Is football rivalry and banter now not allowed? Tims are the most gloating, obnoxious set of fans in world football when they win, so it is always going to happen that fans of other clubs who are sick of them give them a bit back when they get humped in their own midden by a team who hadnt won away from home in about 30 years. We had it against us in the 90's.

One thing I would say is that if Toure goes to shield the ball out like that and gets robbed by say Waghorn on Sunday, Thompson will give them a foul immediately so we would be denied the goal that BMG got. I'm absolutely convinced of that. Absolutely every major decision will go against us, so we have to be at least two goals better than them to win the game. It's not paranoia, simply reflective when you have the mountain of evidence that Thompson makes so many "honest mistakes" in a big game involving Rangers. Funny how the number of "honest mistakes" that we get the benefit from when he is ref is miniscule compared to the other way round.