Tannochsidebear

Absolutely! A fully fit and functional squad is more than a match for the bang average run run run mob across the city. I don’t see it as impossible we can turn the deficit around post WC. Can’t afford any more dropped points tomorrow though.

Good thread this with some great points and counter-points. My own tuppence is that the summer recruitment and retention was a complete disaster (in hindsight). As I hadnt heard of any of the new recruits I can only judge from what I see when they play for us, and I can safely say that only Colak has impressed me enough to think of him as a first team starter, but even at that he is not an improvement on Morelos, and not of an age we can sell on, so im baffled by the purchase although enjoying his contributions. Ben Davies (when fit) is not any better than Balogun or Katic, Matondo hasnt settled (im trying to be kind!) Soutter has played about exactly as many minutes as most predicted, Yilmaz was not required but is the right profile apart from this being his third injury in 3 months so that puts him on the Souttar scale! Lawrence started well and has been missed, but given we have only seen so few games, who knows if he will be better than what we had. Alongside Helander, Roofe & Jack, the 3 perma-gubbed players that should all have been moved on, we could not afford to re-sign Davis & Arfield. I give the resigning of McGregor a pass as he is still by far our best goalkeeper and we could easily have forseen him lasting another year to allow us to divert funds elsewhere this season. The injury list is about as bad as I have ever seen it. What about our world-leading sports science and injury-predicting bollocks we were all being told of over the last year or so? Has it disappeared? What about our coaching and fitness work? Clearly the big two players in recent years, Tav & Kent, have stunk the place out this season. Tav is either injured or has been tactically prevented from playing to his peak, or has just lost form after being so consistent for so long. Kent has never had good enough returns for his gametime for me, nowehere near the amount of goals and assists that a player costing £7M in that position should be expected to contribute. Should by now have seen big improvements in his numbers, and looks like working his ticket towards free agency. In saying all of the above, I am not in the time to sack everyone camp. I just want improvements from all involved who seem to be about as good as we can get at our level. I think Wilson has had a stinker but is still sufficiently highly thought of to come good. Same goes for Gio. The tactical changes, planning and subs that worked so well in Europe last season has deserted us, of course this could be linked to the availability of players, but I hope he can get more answers and options than what we have seen so far this season. I dont see the point of blowing upwards of £5M to replace, as I dont see anybody available who has a better pedigree that looks to be a better fit, that wouldnt come with another £5M buyout cost. I want to see that money spent on the park, not to agents and other clubs for management and coaches. I have been hoping we can limp our way to the WC break, get our players back and do the opposite of the last few years, ie kick on after the break after a great first half. This year a rubbish first half could (fingers crossed) see a resurgent second half of the season as we clinch the domestic treble!

Nope, far too scared to watch them. It’s going to be a hard enough watch midweek without giving myself more sleepless nights before then!

No it was simply an attempt at humour because if we had drawn Motherwell then the Tim’s would be out! Too subtle?😀

Really interesting article and thread, love this type of debate on this board. Personally I am not ready to join the sack him movement just yet. 8 wins out of 10, no defeats domestically outwith them, these are title winning credentials, and all with a broken squad of patched up soldiers and many injuries, plus some who have not managed to reach previous levels, yet. Unbeaten in domestic cups also, something SG couldnt manage. Yes the football is not much to watch, but give me a dire winning team over an entertaining defeat every time. Gio has also shown he can learn from mistakes, ditching the bottle-merchant keeper and the zonal defence from his early season mission. I give him some credit for that. My biggest issue is who brings in the players? Is Gio the only Dutch manager in history to have 2 windows and not bring in any Dutch players or players from a previous club/league? I find that very strange. If Wilson is doing all the player trading and Gio is just there to coach, then it is surely more important to get rid of Wilson before January than Gio?

I'd rather 3pm on the Sunday to 6pm on the Saturday! Of course i'd rather be playing Motherwell too but hey-ho.

I totally agree with your sentiments and would love to see that middle-to-front 7 given a chance, but I personally would prefer Tav & Borna to Yilmaz & Divine. I dont see much in Devine to think he is anywhere near first team standards, and the young Turk is miles off being ready for 90 mins. A good first 25 mins the other night then vanished (as did most others admittedly). Am I allowed to still hold out some hope for a Colak/Morelos twin strike force?

I am assuming the £14K fine for the fireworks will be forwarded directly to the Union Bears? It was a pre-planned and co-ordinated display which they knew would lead to the club being fined. Why do that? Timmy behaviour.

Disappointed with the lineup, yet again we go with 2 out of form negative holding midfielders and only one goal threat. Hope Sakala & Matondo take their chance to show if they have anything to offer us. Just get the 3 points and move on. Always hard after an away European match so hope we show the desire right from the start

Rangers 3 st mirren 0 fgs Colak

Florence & Ibrox v Leipzig are two of the greatest feelings I have had as a Rangers fan, but we ultimately didnt go on and win the cup so that tempers it a bit. Helicopter Sunday will always be hard to beat. Lovenkrands Cup Final was incredible. 50th title win v Dunfermline for the sheer back and forth drama that day. Title wins at tannadice for both 9IAR and the Operation Tango day were also special. Last day title wins are always special, so 1991 v Dolly is up there too. I cant pick just 3, we have been fortunate to have had so many highs following this club. Not sure I can bring myself to sneak a peek at the lows thread!

While I agree with the sentiments that on the face of it we need to improve the options, if McGregor keeps himself fit, and continues to perform anywhere near the level he has reached, then we cannot afford to buy a goalkeeper of his quality, so if he wants to play on to 42, 43 then that is great news for us. If he drops 10-20% of his ability, he is still better than pretty much anyone we can afford to bring in! We might have the odd wobble like Ross County along the way, but we certainly wont have a parkhead performance like his understudy. If we can continue to develop McCrorie as number 2, and give him some games to bed in and also to give McGregor the odd rest here and there (tomorrow being a typical opportunity perhaps?) then we may not need to do much in this area at all.

Good news, hopefully get rid of the awful bottle-merchant McLaughlin in January. McCrorie thrived on the OF atmosphere, McLaughlin had the worst GK performance I have ever seen. Bin him and promote Robbie to number 2. I see a lot of similarities between McCrorie and McGregor in their early career. Now is the time to get him ready for next season as number 1 IF McGregor decides he has had enough.

I have just received the most recent email with the MyGers newsletter contained therein. After these issues of communications and promises to do better, I read on with interest. Firstly, a piece of news about the MyGers points totals being updated and categories reviewed taking place soon. Fair enough. The other 7 items in the newsletter are all links to sell stuff to us. 4th strips, car mats, phone covers, picture frames etc. So not really a newsletter at all, more just another marketing email.

I would much rather Kent chip in with a goal and assist each game than lots of impressive running at defenders that results in zero goals and assists. We really need his numbers up much higher than before, so I give him a second place in the MOTM standing behind our new goal machine.

Just been reading the game thread and the negativity is staggering. Great start to a game which we had all been calling for, matched Hearts for fight and won the midfield battles, created chances, took chances, defended well enough with Davies looking good, and should be 3 up at the break. Second half with a 2 goal lead and a man advantage was always going to be game management and look to hit on break, that is Gios preferred style. We’ve been able to make subs and control tempo, and now got a third. I can’t ask for more.

Rangers 3 United 0 fgs Colak

With McLaughlin in goals last night that would have been a cricket score, so it is McGregor all the way. Should have started the season as number 1, it was a ridiculous decision to go with McLaughlin as he isnt even 50% the keeper McGregor is. This type of performance puts all debate to bed, and hopefully he remains number 1 for the rest of the season. Mentions for Borna (unlucky for pen) Davis first half (looks like the legs have gone after 45 now) and Arfield who I thought was good for the first hour too.

Rangers 2 Napoli 1 fgs Tav

Thats the whole point, although of course that is completely overlooked by those commenting above and defending the club's position. I haven't heard of ANY other UK club being affected in this way with a reciprocal banning of supporters from travelling.

Havent seen any note of the Arsenal fans being banned from Eindhoven as a result have you?

While it doesnt affect me personally moving this fixture by 24 hours, what I find utterly ridiculous is the decision to ban Napoli fans from the game, and to ban Rangers fans from travelling to Naples in return. The club will hide behind UEFA and Police etc, but it is yet another signal that they do not give a rats arse for the fans. For a board that is supposedly made up entirely of Rangers fans, I cannot fathom why they treat us with such disdain.

Nobody is forcing anybody to mourn the death of our Queen. Just paying respects to the head of our Country after a life given to service on your behalf. Not much to ask in return.

Just been confirmed, our game is off tomorrow. Thankfully something good come out of the sad news of Her Majesty's death.

Zonal defence is an abhorrance. Anytime we have come up against an opponent with zonal marking over the last few years I feel we can score from set plays. The same is true when we defend, its like a penalty to the opponent. It seems to have been dreamed up by the Playstation generation, (or even Subbuteo for older bears!) where we just plop defenders into zones and ask them to win the ball if it comes into their zone. The issue is that we only have one proper tall defensive player in Goldson, who hides when a cross comes in and couldn't outjump a midget from a standing start. Go back and watch our defending at corners this season and see how many come into Goldsons "zone" and he is caught under the ball. He clearly doesnt feel comfortable in that system, and it should have been binned after one or two games when it is blatantly obvious that we dont have the players to play it. Mark your man, win your battle, with players on the posts just in case. Simple.