Tannochsidebear

Good first 30 mins. Totally dominant without too many shooting chances. Tempo is good. Lots of crosses going in, not too accurate which is unusual. We have the chance here to push on and this game could be done by HT.

Massive game for our title ambitions today. Our record at Rugby Park recently is abysmal. That has to change today. Disappointed with Jack coming in for Kamara, that’s a big drop in quality (on current form) for a game where midfield is always key and we have too often been bullied (and victims of dreadful fouls and lack of protection) and come off second best. Also a bit of a gamble playing Itten today, tough physical game on a terrible pitch and not convinced this is the right game for him. Think ive just got pre-game jitters!!!! Cmon the Gers!

Kilmarnock 0 Rangers 2 fgs Morelos

It is one thing doing a deal with Ashley to put Castore branded goods (including Rangers products) into SD stores. It is entirely another thing to sign a shirt deal with Ashley to provide kit to Newcastle. After what Ashley done to us, there is absolutely no way the fans will do any business with any Ashley-related business. And rightly so. If Ashley takes even a small piece of Castore, then I predict Rangers fans will stop buying Castore product. It's that simple. If we signed a kit deal with Nike or Adidas (here's hoping!) and that placed our kit into SD stores, then our fans will continue to avoid buying them from there and buy them elsewhere. Fans could see that SD and Ashley has no influence on our club or our kit deal with one of the worldwide big players. That Castore has only two football clubs in its portfolio and that is us and Newcastle is far too coincidental for Rangers fans to not be worried about that. As Castore is an independent company, a greater influence of Ashley over them is entirely possible (he has plenty previous for starting with a small deal like this and before you know it totally controlling a company) so it remains to be seen how things develop in the remainder of our deal with Castore, and it will be interesting to see how our fans react to developments. If nothing else, it shows a huge lack of respect to our club from Castore, and a huge mistake by the Castore guys to jump into bed with the devil himself. I hope they dont regret it.

While I think the collar is awful, and the Castore badge spoils it, there is something to love about the simplicity of a Rangers top with no advertising on it. Those days are never returning, so retro tops will always be popular with fans for that reason. No coincidence i’m sure this is launched the same day as news of Castore’s deal with Ashley, trying to bury the bad news of Castore’s deal with the devil himself.

It’s between Barasic & Kamara who were miles ahead of the rest, with a notable mention for the return to goal scoring form for Alfredo. Plumped for Kamara in the end, midfield was the key battleground last night and he was the best on show between the two teams. Long may his run of form continue, he is top class when on form like this.

Castore clearly, despite claims to the contrary, have no idea how Rangers fans feel about kit deals and the shadow of Ashley. This will make a lot of Bears sit up and think whether we have been getting the whole truth or not. Given what we’ve went through, it’s hard not to get a bit edgy where kit deals and Ashley are mentioned in the same sentence. Im not saying we have anything to worry about and that there is anything other than a smelly coincidence but if Castore wanted to reassure Rangers fans that they are nothing to do with Ashley, they have just made that a whole lot more difficult. I fear for the 2 owners of Castore, they have signed a deal with the devil, and will almost certainly come to regret it.

When did we become such a good side that we can put in a 5/10 performance in a European group match and win the game and don’t allow our opponent a shot on target? I was in Luxembourg just 3 years ago, watching the worst result in our entire history, under the worst manager in our history, and I could only dream of nights like tonight. Thanks Rangers, any win in a European group stage will never be undervalued by this bear.

Rangers 3 Poznan 1 fgs Roofe

Wow, just wow! Within hours of @JohnMc great post about Lennons media skills in which he predicts that Lennon will soon turn on the media to galvanise his idiotic supporters behind him, bbc Scotland website runs exactly this type of article in which Lennon blames the media for his current troubles, citing newspaper polls about his suitability to continue as manager as evidence. Are you sure you are not the head of the Bheast fc media machine @JohnMc?

??? superb!

Great post @JohnMc, and while you may be absolutely bang on the money with your analysis of events, I have often struggled to think of Lennon as clever in any way, shape or form. For him to be so clever as to come up with those media manipulations instantly after a game that has gone wrong, I struggle to believe he has that in his locker. I do think he plays the victim card far too often as a defensive mechanism, and I believe that he really believes he is a perennial victim, and that any non-victory for him and his team can be seen as someone else's fault, and he cannot ever find fault in his own performance. I dont recall him ever standing up and admitting he got something totally wrong, even when the evidence clearly suggests it to be the case.

Rangers 4 Livingston 0 fgs Defoe

Just watched the 17 minute “away days” film about last night on Rangers tv. Absolutely top class insight, no commentary, just great filmwork and editing. Worth the fiver a month just for this. Saturdays wasn’t too shabby either!

Tav for me. A captain’s performance. Just ahead of Arfield who was the pick of the midfielders for me, and Roofe because even though he only played a few minutes his contribution was incredible.

Torrential rain now in Liege. We have started the second half well but can’t lose concentration for a second or this very good side will punish us. I feel we will need another goal.

Looked like a thigh muscle injury for Borna. Bassey has done well already. We need to keep possession better, last 10 mins we were very slack and we are lucky to go in ahead. The chance we allowed 3 mins into injury time when we had a free kick at half way line 2.30 into injury time was amateur stuff and very unlike us. Absolutely delighted with a lead at HT against a very good opponent. For 30 mins we were very good, negated their threats and looked threatening ourselves. Don’t know what changed but it’s only a matter of time before we concede unless we can get a grip of the midfield again and keep possession much better again.

Good move by Liege there had Rob McLean purring “oh this looks promising!” As usual his hatred of Rangers is never far away from exposure

SG has just confirmed Helander got kicked by a bheast and is not risked. Balogun has been great in training apparently. Davis rested due to age.

Liege 1 Rangers 2 fgs Hagi

It is really quite simple, if Rangers are ahead the league is null and void. If bheasts are ahead then they are awarded another tainted title.

Well that was the easiest victory over them in a decade or more. The gulf between the two sides was huge. While they were missing their best 2 players in Christie & Edouard we were missing players too, like Aribo who was certainly our best player this season up to his injury,and Roofe who appears to be SG’s first pick up front for us. I’m actually a little disappointed that we only won 2-0 and we cruised through the match in first gear. It was more like a routine victory over Hamilton than a big OF game! I think we will need to play better in Belgium on Thursday to get a victory. Goldson & Kamara were outstanding but most of the others were 7 out of 10, not bad but not on top form either. Did we really just spank our biggest rivals in their own midden with just 2 players having a great game? However, victories in these games have been in such short supply in the last decade that I’m a very satisfied bear tonight and I’m going to enjoy this one!

Bheasts 1 Rangers 2 fgs Kent

One wee correction -McGregor has played for Scotland during this international break so wont be quite as fresh, but point taken about the other 2 of their midfield 3 compared to our who have all been playing. We have to go with Arfield ahead of Jack as Scottie has been fantastic and deserves his chance to play in the big one, and I wouldnt be sure Morelos will start, after the travelling and with his abysmal OF record, I can see us leaving him on the bench and going with one of the other options (more likely Itten).

Tav led the team well and looks confident again on pens. But I’ve decided to go for Arfield who was the standout of the midfield/forward 6 for me and has been having a great run of form in the side. None of the rest got above average. More disappointed with the ones who came into the side who didn’t play on Thursday as it was them SG was looking towards to give us energy in the game.