Tannochsidebear

Well we got 21 points out of the 30. we beat Motherwell, Livingston, Hearts, Hamilton, St Johnstone and of course the bheasts, while we drew with Dundee, and Hibs twice with our sole loss in the 10 games being the calamitous home defeat to Dolly. Nobody got 21 so nobody wins the stale turkey and flat beer! Might try this again for the next group of league fixtures before we get going again after the break.

Rangers 2 bheasts 1 fgs Morelos

The lack of creativity was again evident, but I’m going to cut SG some slack here and say that from the squad he assembled the creative players are Arfield, Dorrans, Kent, Murphy, Ejaria, Grezda and all 6 were unavailable today. He promoted Middleton due to his performances and he insists on playing the ever wasteful Candieas as a defensive winger and that is it. Throw in the Sadiq failure as well that we expected a lot more from. normally that should be enough to create chances and chip in with goals at this level but for all the above to have missed huge chunks of the season couldn’t have been predicted. Try taking Rogic Forrest Sinclair and 4 more out the bheasts team and see what they create? Yes we can all have a justified moan at SG being unable to make changes that make a difference or for our defence to hold out against a couple of crosses, and with more experience this might come. Perhaps he needs to be highlighting the huge injury list more often as it appears we are forgetting just how many good players we have that aren’t currently available. just think what the noise is going to be like going into the break when we are 9 behind the bheasts and also behind Killie after 20 games, it’s deafening already. Might be time for us all to take a break!

McGregor arfield Morelos are my top 3 tav goldson barisic katic arfield dorrans murphy kent morelos Middleton are all players I like a lot fod mcaulay halliday coulibaly mccrorie jack rossiter lafferty candieas Grezda have all done ok but I don’t think are as good as the first lot flanagan worrell can both leave anytime they like and wouldn’t be missed might have missed some but that’s all I can think of at this time of night! What would your list look like by comparison @Rousseau?

Think I’m definitely in the minority on this one! He is not anywhere near the Kenny Miller level of annoyance as I like Ryan Jack, I just don’t think he is as good as everyone raves about him. i have watched him quite closely in recent games as guys on the bus, on here etc are saying he was great and I didn’t notice anything decent from him, and I remain to be convinced he is anything more than bang average, or any better than McCrorie or Coulibaly in that defensive holding role. i don’t sigh when I see he is in the team like I did with Miller! He will do as decent a job as anyone else in that role, I just have never noticed anything outstanding or MOTM about him. Like others have said and as I said in my previous post, if SG thinks he is worthy of a new deal, that’s fine by me, I’m just not going to be over-excited about it, but not annoyed either.

Dont see he has done anything to merit a new deal. Last season was abysmal, and his sporadic outings this season have been up and down. His recent form in the last few games can now at least be understood, he was in contract negotiations! Seen this all too often, sadly. Ricksen is the prime example of a player who was shit until contract talks started then he looks like a player! Hopefully he can up his game and earn his no doubt hefty wage rise. I dont think he is any better than McCrorie or Rossiter but will be on a lot more than both. However it is good to see the club being active in this area in tying down the players SG wants well in advance of their contract expiring. I dont expect any bids for Jack, but at least if one did come in it would need to be decent with 2.5years of a contract to go.

Yet another superb piece @26th of foot, of a quality and style that could only be dreamed of by those actually getting paid by BBC (or the Rhebel/Sun tabloids) to do so. Cap doffed again!

I thought that was Jack's best game for us and I still wouldnt have him as MOTM. On a dismal team performance such as this (first 20 mins apart which I quite enjoyed), it is hard to get inspired to present a MOTM gong, but the only time we seemed to get the ball moving with enough speed and accuracy was when Barisic and Grezda were given the ball in a bit of space down the left. So either of them for me. Arfield had a quieter game than normal but was still the pick of the midfield 3, and Candieas, goal apart, was poor going forward but is one of the best defensive wingers I have ever seen. Shame thats not his main job.

Without Morelos leading the line we look awfully inept. Take out Kent as well from our creative pool and we are left with pretty much Arfield. This is going to be a tough watch, but we simply must get the sleeves rolled up and get the 3 points anyway we can. An early goal would be a huge relief, but if that doesnt come we must remain patient and keep working away. The crowd will be unforgiving due to recent results if passes start going astray if we are still deadlocked (or worse!) after half an hour. I just dont see where the chances are going to be made from. Candieas doesnt create much, Lafferty will work hard and win his headers but if more than Arfield are not supporting him we are going to struggle. Jack, McCrorie, Rossiter etc dont create anything and only one of this lot should play but our lack of creative players means probably more than one will play. Jack must stop hiding in midfield and get forward to support the forward. Jockeying for position in the midfield when we dont have the ball is only half the job, and he is completely posted missing at the other half in my view, and he has to step up now. I expect Middleton to start and after a couple of poor games we could really do with his direct running and attacking play to be on fire today. That would be a big help but I dont like to ask too much of kids who are still very raw and early in their development. Our best chance might come from set pieces. Goldson and McAulay will be a threat in their box and if we can get Tav back to his dead-ball best we can have good chances here. Barasic may well be rested after 90 mins on Thursday, so Halliday should come back in (please not the bombscare Scouser!). After our last 3 games, performances and results, we could hardly have hand-picked a better opponent at home for our next game to get our confidence back against a really struggling poor side. I dont expect a classic, but I want to see a reaction, effort, pace and direction from our side today. If we can pass the ball quickly with a real zip on it, we will beat most sides, and I think this has been missing in recent weeks as our defensive midfielders have not made space to collect the ball from the CH and carry it into space, or create space to receive the ball. We were doing this well at the start of the season, with many of the same players, so I hope SG has been banging this into them that this has to happen for us to get success. Another cold wet miserable day will no doubt hear me say at least 5 times how I despair we dont play Mar-Nov, but lets get the 3 points Gers and move on to some really big tough games coming up.

Just like Odowu, has certainly got some talent, good skills, but nothing special and will be a journeyman pro. Hope he finds a level he is comfortable at and in a side that will bring out the best in him and fans that wont moan when he does three reverse movements in a row to try to find space and all his teammates are standing watching instead of moving into space for receive a pass. Will be remembered for a lovely goal in Russia v Ufa that booked our place in the group stages. Thanks Ovie, and good luck to you young man.

Doesnt matter what they are saying, it was fairly clear to anyone he was sent off for a reckless tackle on the ankle of an opponent. It wouldnt have mattered where on the pitch that tackle went in, it was late, high and reckless. A red card all day long. If Dundee's appeal was based on the notion he was sent off for being last man, its an even bigger waste of a grand than I thought before!

Back from Vienna absolutely gutted that we didnt make it through. It was a very tight game with nothing between the sides, but our lack of creativity again was the difference. A creative midfielder and another striker or 2 are on every Bears January window wish-list. With Sadiq & Ejaria already gone to free up wages, hopefully these new players come in on Jan 1 and have the break away to settle in before the action starts again. 2 defeats in 14 European games this season is an incredible achievement, and if you look at the Europa League as 2-legged ties we beat 2 out of the 3 teams and should have beaten the other too. We will take some comfort when the dust settles from this I am sure. The team is in a bit of a rut at the moment, of that there is no doubt, and this is when a rookie manager will feel the pressure the most. I hope his large team around him are earning their crust, as this is when it matters most. With 5 games to go until the mini-break it is vital we dont drop many more silly points. Of course the game on the 29th is looming large and we simply must show up for that one and beat them. However Hamilton are up first and simply must be dispatched with a minimum of fuss (and I think they will be) before a visit to Easter Road against a team who, like Dolly recently, will already be looking forward to our visit in an attempt to kickstart their season and give their rancid following (and manager) their seasonal highlight. I'm sure we will discuss that more nearer the time.

Thought that was a strange appeal, it was a red card all day long for me. Waste of a grand for Dundee that.

more proof of the total contempt we are held in by the SPFL & SFA. Do you think he would run away from Brendan or Neil? Never heard of Jim Neil, must be somebodys pal somewhere (and it wont be ours!)

SIX changes to the team today mcgregor tav goldson worrell Halliday jack rossiter Kent grezda lafferty candieas lets do this Bears!

Bravo Dundee, I hope they sell a large number of them. Good choice of game to launch it as well for maximum publicity.

i'm no biting!!

Superb article, the like of which Jackson et al could only dream of writing, yet they continue to steal a wage from a soon-to-be-bust-hopefully gutter tabloid. Make no mistake, this is absolutely 100% to do with keeping Morelos transfer value down as low as possible to prevent us from competing with the bheasts. While the Rhebel and others praise the likes of wee fat Forrest, new superstar Christie (2/3 good games in 5 years), and super-duper-star Tierney (while ignoring he cant defend) etc to try to ensure that the bheasts get top dollar (Dembele dollars?) from their player sales, they narrative always has to be to ensure we cannot get a good price for any of our players. Agents, other clubs, etc all read the local papers for insight into players that come on their radar, and all they ever read is that tim players are all worth fortunes and Rangers players are worth nothing. Until this is resolved, parity remains a long way away.

It seems Dave King's "man of the year" has another fan! That is a lovely touch by Murty and will have made that young boy's day. Usually these things are just done without publicity or looking for praise, just because they have the profile and time to be able to do it and make a difference. (by those at our club anyway - watch out for the wall to wall coverage later this month when some celtic players drop in at a hospital)

I agree with the sentiments that this is a huge opportunity that we simply MUST grasp. It is in our recent DNA to royally balls up any good opportunity like this (see the LCSF as the latest evidence) and we really must show some testicular fortitude in these big games or we will continue to be hailed as big game bottlers. Hearts form has gone since losing the big centre forward whose name escapes me (not Lafferty, the other big guy!) and who was very impressive any time I seen him, as well as Naismith and Berra has shown that their depth is not as good as others and they have struggled. I am not sure if any of those 3 are back (Berra is I think) for tomorrow but the other 2 will be a big miss. No matter how they line up, it is well within our capabilities to go there and win given what is at stake. To go top will force the media and the bheasts to wake up and realise there could very well be a title race for this first time in 8 years, not to mention give us some confidence that this could be possible. Tynecastle is always a good atmosphere and a tough challenge, but good Rangers sides have usually done well there. Heres hoping we are all searching for copies of the league table come full time and then I will gladly take a Dolly victory at Hampden to stop all talk of another treble and put more pressure on Brendan who I believe will crack if we can put sustained pressure on him. Its up to us, lets get it done!

I am looking forward to the game tonight despite the horrific weather. I am however doubtful that we will get anything from the game. We could have been destroyed in the first half in Spain, but rode our luck and were much better second half. Since then our form domestically hasnt been as solid, especially defensively IMO, and we have now lost the element of surprise from our first meeting. A lot of it may depend on how seriously our opponents take this Euro campaign with some indifferent domestic form surely taking precedent for them. A half fit Barisic would get the nod for me as I have been having nightmares contemplating a Flanagan return tonight. Its that bad I am hoping it is Halliday at LB! I would go with; McGregor Tav Goldson McAulay Barisic Coulibaly Jack Candieas Ejaria Grezda Morelos That is a little unfair on Arfield particularly but we need 2 holding midfielders tonight instead of Arfields forward runs. If Arfield & Ejaria are swapped round I would be quite happy as well but I think Ejaria is slightly more creative and accurate with his passing, whereras Arfield's runs in behind are probably not going to be utilised so much in the first hour of the game. Avoid defeat and we should still be in with a chance come Vienna. I would certainly have taken that at the start of the campaign and I would have said you were mad if you had told me that would be the case back in warmer days when we were drawn against Shkupi and then Osijek, and Maribor! Lets hope we get a performance like the one in the second half in Spain or the Vienna game at Ibrox and take our chances when they come along while not giving away gifts (are you listening Flano?) when defending. Lets Go Gers!

I thought Alnwick was sold rather than loaned? If he is due to come back then it makes even more sense to allow Wes to go for the right price.

The price is still £2-£3M, would love him to move on for that type of money that we can invest elsewhere in the team. McCrorie is adequate backup.

If that loss = 0 column is still intact come Hogmanay I will be absolutely delighted, if fact if the loss column is still empty on Friday morning I will be delighted.

Wow, one of the best articles from the Scottish papers I have read on Scottish football in years, and it remarkably comes from Provo. I wholeheartedly agree with him on this.