Tannochsidebear

Routine win, decent performance, I will take 36 more like it. I think some of the criticism of our performance is that we had our usual periods in the match where it went quite flat. Personally I think that is partly down to Us still not getting into top gear yet but Far more to do with the empty stadium. Football is a passionate game that has only evolved due to the numbers of fans paying to attend and watch matches. Football without fans is not right. If fans are not allowed to attend due to a global pandemic, there should be no football matches being played at all.

Easy street now, 2 good goals to make game safe. It ten on for his debut, hope he can get a goal too. WTF are we doing announcing goalscorers and substitutions to an empty stadium?

Decent start, Hagi had a couple of chances, Aribo looking sharp, but I must admit I’m absolutely hating the fake crowd noise. Anyone know if there is an option to turn this off and just have comms? Clive Tyldesley is a top commentator, I’m enjoying him already.

Cheers, just seen official tweet saying tv starts 2.30, and as I type here it starts! ’mon the Gers!!!!!

It said on RTV the programme was to start 45 mins before kick off, which would be 2.15 but I just have the2 club crests on screen. Anyone got anything different?

Rangers 3 ST Mirren 0 fgs Aribo

The last couple of seasons have seen us really struggle to break ST Mirren down, last season was only 1-0 both at home and away. This will be a good test to see if SG has managed to come up with a different solution to the problem we will see in over 20 league games this season, breaking down a packed defence and an aggressive kicking style which goes largely unpunished by our cheating collection of Lawwell’s lickspittles. I think it’s fair to say in our pre-season and 2 competitive games played since lockdown it has looked very similar to last 2 years in that when on our game it’s beautiful to watch and we create and score some fantastic goals, but we do have periods in most games where we lose our way, letting our opponents back into a game they should be well out of, and it is this that needs addressed first and foremost if we are to finally win 55 this year.

An absolutely amazing number sold already, for a team without a major trophy in coming up for a decade. With a 3rd strip about to launch which is widely tipped to be orange, and with fans still not allowed anywhere near an actual match, these numbers at the end of the season are going to be phenomenal.

Gerrard has already said if he can bring one more in he will be happy, but it is the midfield he wants strengthened. File Gassama under pish.

Yes he only fell asleep for the goal and almost cost another! Thats harsh i know, he did have a good game and was certainly one of our better performers in a lacklustre display, but at that level you have to be on it for 90 mins, not 89. IMO that’s why he won’t go any further up the food chain than us, he always has a switch off moment in him, just like the full back on his outside. He is perfectly adequate to lead our defence to a domestic title though.

I think that’s fair enough, on the proviso that there is a meaty sell on clause attached and that it is not payable over a few years. Don’t trust 2 bob Froggy outfits to pay up, I still remember Marseille and Trevor Steven.

Had a couple of people at work yesterday saying they had heard a lot of complaints about the quality of the new tops, with badges missing, lettering falling off etc. I have only heard good things about the quality on here, anyone heard anything about inferior quality or damaged tops?

SG is always brutally honest in his post match interviews and he nails it again tonight in admitting we were pish but it’s been a great run. Focus now on domestic matches. Alfredo has had his head turned and while he didn’t have a good game tonight, he admits nobody did. Says he is confident that AM is professional enough to block out speculation and play when selected. Big question is now on Sunday and what our front 3 will look like. Will Alfie be dropped? Will both new guys come straight in? I will stick my neck out and say it won’t include Barker!!

Well I’m deeply disappointed with that performance, we never registered a single shot on target in a game we had to score 3 times to succeed in. I must be the only one not that impressed with the druggy works team, I though Braga were far superior, and I confidently predict they will go no further in the competition. Yes they were decent but we have beaten decent teams aplenty over last 2 years. Of course we lost the tie 5 months ago when the game shouldn’t have been played and we couldn’t beat Hamilton never mind Bayer, but I had hoped we would at least have a go or lay a glove on a side without a game in over a month. Yet we stood off them until they entered our half and let them get comfortable on the ball under no pressure. Another hopeless goal conceded from the same situation with the gaping chasm in between Tav & Goldson, how many goals is that now in Europe from the same ballin between them? Must be 10 at least and still both are first picks and our tactics remain to allow this ball in time and time again. However It has been an absolutely sensational achievement to get this far, with many fantastic performances and some incredible results, now we need to start again and repeat it, hoping for some luck in the draw with the change in format and make some new amazing memories again in 20-21 for as long as football can be played before everything is shut down again.

Superb article, loved reading that. We can only dream of a miracle while more realistically hoping for a decent performance and result on the night. It would be absolutely sensational to make this knock-out cup thingy that UEFA have concocted to complete this tournament. Of course, that 3rd goal at Ibrox when we were so out of form it was unrecognisable has taken any possible hope (barring miracles) out of it.

My only worry about that front 3 is none are anywhere close to being prolific. At 27, Roofe has never scored enough goals per games. Itten seems to have much better scoring stats over last couple of years so I was thinking it is him plus 2? Perhaps rotational but that doesnt always lead to consistency. It is a very difficult choice for SG to make, or perhaps one of them will just start with a bang and keep scoring to cement their place and it makes it easy for the gaffer.

Some great points being made on this thread bears, very interesting thread. I agree with mostly all of what is being said as well, especially the comments about tempo! You can tell in the first 5 minutes how good/bad a day we are going to have by the tempo we start the game at. Our biggest failing last season for me was the inability to put two good halves of football together. We can be excellent first half, then rubbish the second, and equally the other way around. Rarely do we put a really good 90 mins together at once. I put this squarely at SG's door as he continually goes on about it in post-match interviews where he slates one half and praises the other. He seems unable to change a game during the play, if we start poorly he seems to do nothing about it until HT, and if we played well first half but the second half is going badly, he rarely makes the right tactical/personnel changes required to put it right, or get more from the 11 on the park by giving instructions. He seems to be a spectator rather than a coach from the sidelines. Anyway, back to more positive points, and it is really exciting to think we will have many different attacking options now with (accepting Morelos is away) Itten, Roofe, Hagi, Kent, Defoe, Barker, Arfield, Stewart, and no doubt others I cant think of at present all looking for the 3 attacking slots. Not just different players, but vastly different styles and it should allow us to change mid-game from one style to another if the match requires it, or from game to game depending on opposition and venue. We still have issues with a few defensive positions, and we probably still need a box to box midfielder to compliment/cover for Aribo as neither Jack/Kamara have evolved into this despite both having the talent to do so IMO and showing it in small flashes, but it looks like we should be much more adaptable to the challenges to come and hopefully this means we dont drop the silly points as often (cheating referees aside!)

Yes, I should have said my comments related to 2018-19, I Didnt see much of them (if at all) in the season just ended. Thought Roofe was at Anderlecht in 19-20, and Leeds the season before? Thanks for the info on Roofe, sounds good If Roofe and Itten both play as you suggest could happen, who do you leave out? Is Roofe really so much better than Kent or Hagi that he becomes first pick over either of them, given the amount we spent on both of them and just recently at that?

I have heard of this guy at least from his time at Leeds but I must admit I don’t recall being overly impressed, either by him or his team. I hate the football on show in the Championship, it’s such poor quality with generally overpaid overhyped underachievers so I don’t watch much of it. Like I’ve said on the Itten thread, I prefer to wait until I’ve seen these guys in the flesh and how they fit into our side, so I wish Roofe the very best of luck and can’t wait to see him in our team. For those who know more about these 2 new signings and their positions and style of play, where do you see them fitting into our side? Is it one or the other? Can we play both and if so who misses out? What are their goal/assist stats like over last couple of seasons?

Must admit I’ve never heard of this guy but I see he gets our famous number 11 shirt so he has big boots to fill and I wish him all the luck in the world and hope he can be spoken of alongside the other famous number 11’s in our hearts and memories many years from now. I don’t watch YouTube video montages of players, from what I’ve heard they never tell you the full story about a player, I prefer to make my mind up by watching them in the flesh (or on tv due to this lockout). I look forward to seeing Itten play and hope he hits the ground running and becomes an instants success.

Glad to see the underlying positivity on here! Drug cartel 1 Rangers 3 fgs Aribo Bonus point for winning 5-4 on pens?

You know fine well @Bill that those of us so afflicted cannot do without our ST. It absolutely broke my heart (never mind cost me fantastic seats) when I, along with many thousands of others, refused to renew our books for the Ashley season where we were trying to get him out our club. I hope to never be without it again until I no longer breathe on this earth. It doesn’t stop me feeling the club have taken us for granted on ST renewals. They could have doubled the price and I’d still have paid it. I’ve said before I would have rather the club didn’t sell ST until they knew we could watch the games from inside the ground, and asked for donations to keep the club going in the meantime, alongside the players accepting pay cuts in line with our income drop. I would have happily given the club the £500 for no return had this happened. It’s not about the money, it’s the way they have gone about it I have a problem with.

Impressive line-up (not sure what Shelley Kerr is doing there?) and hopefully they deliver a professional broadcast on Sunday. It does stick in the throat a bit that I have paid around £25 for this game through my ST, but if I didnt renew I can get the exact same access for £9.99. Those of us who renewed are being taken for absolute mugs, again!

Just watched the Sky highlights there and it reminded me what a delight it was to have Super on comms alongside Crocker. I thought Crocker wasn’t his usual venomous self, perhaps as a result of having the legend beside him and not a twisted hateful scumbag? Good move by Sky for our games, I might not need to mute all our games that I can’t get in to watch! Also, and it might be because I watched the game in a busy bar, but I didn’t hear the dreadful fake crowd noise much. I hope that continues also. Good analysis as well from Fletcher & Boyd, fair and honest, not trying to be controversial, just giving proper analysis on the game. Such an improvement on the amateur pish provided by BT last year(s) with messrs Craigan Sutton Hartson etc all trying to be more anti-Rangers than the next.

I’m happy to concede if that is the case, I don’t want them to be pish! I said about 40 minutes in that I hadn’t noticed Kamara was playing at all, and Jack had done nothing of any note more than 30 yards from our goal. I was looking out for them as second half progressed and don’t recall any contribution of significance from either. They done their defensive roles well enough first half, but with our total domination of possession and territory both were not required to be as deep and we could have done with one of them pushing further forward and contributing in forward areas where we were having trouble breaking them down. Just the way I saw it.