Tannochsidebear

I dont think I agree on this one Rousseau. While it is certainly true that we have been caught out on the counter attack more times than we should given the positioning of our team in advanced positions, it feels to me that we have lost a lot more goals through bad decision making by the two centre backs, bad starting positions by them, bad marking at set pieces (do we play a zonal defence at corners or are our two centre backs just never near to their man?), and poor tackling. Yes at times a proper DM would have stopped the attacks before it got to our guys at the back, but I cant agree that a Davie Weir type would not be a vast improvement on these two. What Weir lacked in pace, he made up for in vision - he could see where the threat was going to come from and either get there himself or shout to his partner to get him. Commanding inside his own box at set pieces as well which our two would never be accused of. The fact we play such an advanced and attacking game doesnt have the slightest bearing on the number of goals we have conceded from corners/free kicks where the opponent has simply outjumped/outmanouvered our centre halfs and scored. I would gladly give up the error-strewn passes upfield from our "ball-playing CH" in favour of a proper centre half who defends first and gives the ball simply to the man in front or to the side of him. If CH have to be creative, then our midfield has failed.

He is simply not good enough. He may look better if someone more experienced is talking him through the game beside him, telling him where to go, who to look out for, helping him read the game better, but we are probably going to need better quality going into next season. He actually got worse as the season went on, not better, and has had more than a fair chance to make the position his own and has failed miserably. The number of very silly individual errors he has made would make even McCulloch blush.

Stuff Hibs. If half the crowd are clapping during the match there is very little they can do to interrupt it, nor would they want to. Most likely they will be sitting there wondering what is going on, as will a good number of Rangers fans who dont know about it as they dont go online. They dont need to know about it and they dont need to join in. It is not about them. Nobody around me knew about the most recent Sandy Jardine 2nd minute applause, but most still clapped anyway. the applause is usually infectious anyway.

I get that Pete, I really do. I absolutely agree that a minutes silence should be reserved for ex-players and national figures, and that this should never be extended to fans. I am of the belief that a memorial/charitable donation/financial contribution would help more than some applause at a football match, which seems so parochial by comparison to the death of a child. I suppose it comes down to individual grief for those involved. If this gives them some comfort, fair enough. If someone wanted to clap at the death of my child, I would want to kill them. Hopefully I never have to deal with that situation personally.

I think a minutes silence is reserved for former players or national figures/disasters.

but it is only his death that has got this campaign going to applaud for a minute. Would you turn up at a funeral and applaud the grieving family? So why is it acceptable at a football match, which in the big picture is totally irrelevant to the circumstances. Its a total nonsense that has crept into our society. Have we to have a minutes applause for every child that is so cruelly taken from their family? Where will that end?

It is a really sad story and it must be so tough for his family to have to have dealt with this awful disease in their loved one with the inevitable and heartbreaking conclusion. However I am really getting cheesed off with these minutes applause things. I have never, and will never, join in a minutes applause for the death of someone. Clapping death is not palatable to me, and I refuse to join in with this modern nonsense. If they want to have collection cans, or online donations, or some other fundraiser to raise awareness or give the family some assistance then I am all for that, but I won't stand and clap because a young child has died. That sickens me.

I am very much excited by the clubs policy or trying to attract young hungry players. I remain to be convinced that this lad falls into that category. Klopp is a very good manager, also known for bringing through good young players. He has been watching this guy at training for months and has not bothered to try to keep him. That tells me a lot. My point was also that at 19 he should be further on if he was that good. It is certainly worth a punt though as if we can turn him around he should command a decent sell on.

Am I the only one that finds it difficult to get excited about trying to sign a 19yo with 1 first team game under his belt that couldn't get more game time in a Liverpool side that has struggled badly most of the year. Klopp clearly doesn't rate him and he is a very good manager. I don't mind taking a punt on a young player but I don't for one second believe this guy will be a first team regular for us, or is what we need for next season. One for the future perhaps but at 19 he should be forcing his way into first team action if he is all that.

And thats before I scrolled down and seen it came from the discredited journalist (sic) Spiers.

This guy is one of the worst centre halfs I have ever seen and it absolutely amazes me that Strachan continues to pick him for the national team. The CH partnership for Scotland is IMO the reason we are at home this summer. As bad as Wilson has been I would pick him ahead of this diddy. Thankfully the story loses all credibility when it mentions a £3M fee. I would doubt we will spend £3M on fees over ALL our summer signings, far less on one really poor centre half.

I thought he was rubbish against us other than one good cross for the goal but I have heard a lot of good things about him and certainly wouldnt judge him on a dead rubber end of season match at a level above his ability for now. If I judged all our players by their performance in the Livvy game, they wouldnt get much of a better write-up than last season's duds!

Renewed my ST earlier this week. Ticked all the boxes as always. Still wont go to friendlies though unless we have a marquee signing (cant see it) I want to see play or the opponents are interesting as the games are usually absolutely awful. I hope the Bears get motivated to buy ST this year. I think we will as long as we keep up the marketing right up through the close season. In excess of 40K would be a success.

Second is last. From a Rangers perspective, second is last. You have to make sure you understand that. If you do, you are halfway there to recognising what they expect as a group of supporters and as a club. I absolutely love that quote, and it shows he is learning that this is no ordinary club.

If Warburton thought none of these guys were even good enough to be an unused substitute at some of our recent games, it is hardly surprising that they have all been released. Head of Recruitment and Head of Youth have a busy summer ahead!

It is very disappointing that BBC Scotland are getting a renewed contract. That is going to be worth its weight in gold to celtic in coming seasons. The editing, pundits views, and highlighting of issues within games that involve either us or them is slanted in such a way to cause as much harm to our chances as possible. For example, a celtic player takes out an opponent off the ball. Sportscene will not show this incident. A Rangers player does the same, it will be dissected and calls for the compliance officer to take action will be overwhelming. It is not paranoia when it is true.

RSCs have until Sunday to get their applications in, result on Monday. Would guess ST will be next week also.

What is the "Scottish Six" you mention?

Good to see him back yesterday, and should be back on track for the final.

PFA awards are an absolute waste of time and are just an excuse to raise cash to pay for the PFA union. Having a jolly up during the business end of the season for professional athletes to get wasted is not exactly setting the right example. The only thing worse than the PFA awards are the writers awards. As if any of them have a clue about football as they clearly demonstrate with almost every article or match report they write.

I'm not a huge fan of Zelalem but IMO he has been our best midfielder since having a good game in the OF game. That may be because the others have switched off, but he hasnt and has looked to push forward and shoot more than he done in the whole of the season up to now. Hopefully the coaching he is getting is getting through to him and he is working hard on his game to improve the things that need it. It wont happen overnight but you can see changes in his game already. Good luck to the lad. Miller was abysmal again yesterday (was far from the only one!), but he showed great desire to get to the ball for his goal when the defender was clearly favourite for it. I liked that!

Ratings are entirely subjective and there are many marks I would take issue with personally in the above article. If we all saw the game the same it wouldnt be anywhere near as interesting and appealing as it is. But I cant leave that without saying that Holt & Miller getting the same rating is absolutely bonkers. FWIW, my ratings would be; Wes 7 shaky start, improved throughout season, still a lot of improvement required Tav 8 great going forward, not a good defender Lee 8 same as Tav. As captain I am looking for him to be more vocal with the two bombscares inside him. Wilson 4 Started badly and has faded away. How he has kept his place all season is an mystery. Kiernan 5 Better than Wilson but lacks awareness. Might be better with a better partner Halliday 7 Been a good debut season, mostly out of best position. Not creative enough when playing further forward. Ball 6 Not great at CH, hence he cant even displace Wilson, and while solid, lacks awareness required for holding role. Holt 8 Surprise of season for me and POTY. His runs off the ball are sublime and will be even better with better quality teammates. Good knack of popping up in box and good finisher. Shiels 5 Played a lot of games and stood out in hardly any. Made a decent contribution but not good enough. Law 5 Same as Shiels really Zelalem 5 Can debated to death. Good football brain but needs to improve in so many areas of his game to justify the hype. Forrester 6 Started poorly, came onto a game and was outstanding for a few weeks to gain a new contract. Seen that movie before! Not played enough to get a higher mark. McKay 8 Has turned into our main attacking threat. Great control, great vision. Cant wait to see him with proper strikers to link with. King 5 Great debut goal but wont be worried if he lines up fro Hearts against us next season. Hot and cold but not in same league as McKay. MOH 5 Disappointing first half season. Started very well with pace and direct running, that seems to have been coached out of him already. Waggy 8 A good pro, full of running and good vision. Not a great finisher though and would like to see him with a proper CF to play beside from wide. Take out the pens & his scoring return is not great for chances/opponents. Hope he can kick on next season. Miller 5 Another season of mediocrity for yesterdays man. Clark 4 Its just not happened for him. Looks like he needs to be part of a twin strike force, never given the run of games required to really see if he could step up, but never done enough from the bench to justify the run of games. Warburton 9 Has managed to turn a squad of average players into a good team capable of some sublime passing and attacking football at times. Talks a great game and has stuck to his plan. A dream debut season at a lower level to bed himself in. Squad improvement in the summer is so important for tilt at 55. Needs to sort problems in defence and add quality in vital areas.

Agreed GS, some of the stats collated nowadays are totally ridiculous. I blame the stupid games like FIFA or championship manager (or whatever they are called nowadays!) where it is stats driven to make your decisions. In the real world someone can have absolutely great stats but doesn't influence the game, and the opposite is true where a player can have a major bearing on a team but his stats look poor. I prefer to rate a player with my eyes in live play (not tv) where you can see the whole picture. For example Holt makes some fantastic runs along the midfield line and is rarely spotted, so that doesn't appear in any stats but when we get better players in next season he will score plenty as these runs should be spotted. You don't see this on tv as they just follow the ball.

No surprise that our number nine is nowhere to be seen on a shooting accuracy list

A good sell-on clause from Windass perspective is not necessarily good for us. Having heard what Tav's sell on is, I doubt Windass will be commanding a fee that will make us think we will get a good deal. We seem to be allowing modest sell on fees in exchange for lower wages, therefore getting players in for less money than they can get elsewhere, but knowing they will get good exposure and that our club wont be holding out for big bucks and denying them a move if a top tier English club takes an interest. It probably makes more sense this way, as if the player doesn't work out with us, we are not paying them a huge sum that we can't get rid of them. In only works against us if we develop a real star worth many times the sell on.