MoodyBlue

McGregor is a good keeper, but i wouldn't be too distraught if he left.

alexander would be a more than capable replacement for the SPL.

We have bigger issues and priorities than our goalkeeping position - that's the least of our worries IMO. The goalkeeping position will take care of itself.

Just received a text message from a mate so this could possibly be a load of mince but Miller and McGregor are next to head off to pastures new.

 

Newcastle have targetted McGregor and an unnamed club fancy taking Miller back down to England.

 

wouldn't be surprised about McGregor to be honest. If his agents quotes are correct, he fancies another challenge away from SPL.

IMO, Edu - maybe not before end Aug, but poss by Jan will be another to leave. I can't see him looking to stay here much longer in all honesty. we're just a stepping stone for him IMO.

Mendes was always going to chase his WC dream by going back to Portugal.

additionally - did people not see him the Sky Sports studio thing at the hamilton game. He kept referring to us as 'Rangers' as opposed to 'we'.

Not surprised he's gone.

shame to lose a creative player though. Don't know if I can stomach Thomson/McCulloch for the rest of the season !!!

could have done a job for us if played in proper formation and proper position.

Showed in the game in Stuttgart that he is as good a footballer as we have at the club.

IMO, when he was on the ball, some of our players were not intelligent enough to make the necessary move for him.

he pisses all over Lafferty and Naismith when it comes to the left sided position.

The one curious think is this link's been going for a while and yet he was the pundit last night on Sky?

yep - watched it on SKY+ last night when I got home.

was it just me or did Mendes always refer to us a 'Rangers' - as opposed to 'we' ??

personally I think he'll leave - he'll want to cement his place in the Portgaul WC squad.

Davis goes missing for long spells - even in the middle - and I think his work-rate changes from game to game. Last night it looked to me like he was essentially played up front in the first half and he didn't do enough in that position.

 

Earlier in the season he was also very poor in that regard which is disappointing as he is one of our best and most mobile players when interested.

this is the big problem with the lad. he does go missing for long spells. he is a decent player and has got some good things to his game - but the frustrating thing is that he simply does not show up enough. He plays like his personality at times - quite withdrawn and a wee bit shy.

he's been needing to come fully out his shell for a long time now. He's at an age when he should be far more involved in the game than he his.

I don't understand the disrespect that people give to lower teams. Just because we spend more money does not mean that we can automatically piss all over lesser teams in the same top flight - we may have a successful history, but when has that ever been the case?

 

In the end it's 11 v 11 and just how much better can a Rangers team be than a team full of some of the best players produced by our country? Players who are in reality, one in a thousand from our towns and cities.

 

Anyone who understands football knows that on the day anyone can win - it just takes a good or lucky day by the lesser team when the better team are not playing so well. If it didn't happen football would be very boring - and in fact would collapse completely due to the lesser teams having no hope and therefore no supporters.

 

Cup games over the world are strewn with upsets including teams being beaten by lower divisions, which is in part due to the one off game scenario which is almost always more important to the lesser side. It's called "the romance of the cup" for those seemingly new to footballs nuances. Does no-one remember the Wee Rangers?

 

Playing the same team 3 times in just over a week doesn't help either and it's no surprise goals have been hard to come by after the initial 3 each draw.

 

The main thing in the cup is to get through to the next round and we've achieved that so I don't know what the fuss is about.

 

Some people seem to think Rangers should stroll through every game from Airdrie to Barcelona but that is a fantasy that doesn't exist - especially in today's environment. You can think what you like but that attitude just must make you the most miserable fans around, as you will rarely be happy and mostly pissed off - which makes football seem less than a healthy hobby.

 

Maybe you should try stepping into the shoes of a Hamilton fan and experience what that is like supporting a smaller club with more modest ambitions and bugger all finances. Then when you re-read your post, you may get angry about how disrespectful a fan of a bigger club can be when you've enjoyed watching your team give them a hard time.

i fully respect your point of view mate.

However, it's the easy acceptance of mediocrity by some bears that worries me. Come on - we should be all over a team like Hamilton. That's 3 games in a row where we've really struggled to get to grips with it. Not good enough for me. Simpy not good enough. As I've mentioned, I genuinely believe that they are no better than the standard in League 2 in England. Now surely you'd expect Glasgow Rangers to beat a league 2 side fairly comfortably - even with some players missing ??!

The sheer lack of cohesion and lack of ideas, pace and creativity is frightening. What ae they doing at Murray Park every day ??

I can't believe you're just disregarding the fact that we didn't have 5 really important players last night. Did you see the team at the end? Down to the absolute bare bones.

 

Wilson is good but to suggest he fills the hole Bougherra leaves is ludicrous.

 

Also to suggest that a midfield pairing of McCulloch and Kevin Thomson should be playing to the same level as Davis & Mendes could in there leaves me scratching my head.

 

Whats the relevance in your point about Mendes not playing since October? He was still missing and added to the other players missing it makes quite the considerable sum.

 

You thought our shooting was poor last night? Did you see the amount of saves the Hamilton goalkeeper had? Some of our link up play was good also

 

Some of your comments leave me to wonder if I was at the same game as you.

we were at the ame game mate - just have differing views on what we should expect.

yes - our shooting was pretty poor last night IMO. Cerny made a few Hollywood saves IMO. Not once di I think Nove was going to finish to be honest.

I still maintain that we should be far better than we were.

Mendes is out, yes, but he's not been around for over 3 months - so no use in saying that we didn;t do well because he wasn't playing.

And as for McCulloch - again - a performance where he did the minimum and offered very little. did he make a forward pass ??

We were missing what I would consider our 3 best players. Boyd, Bougherra & Mendes. When you take into account Beasley's form prior to his injury and the form Novo was in on the left wing then thats 5 positions which aren't being filled as best they can due to injury. No team could perform as well in that situation imo. I think you're being overly harsh.

mendes hasn't played since October - Wilson filled Boogies boots. Boyd was probably the main miss - and yes, DMB would more than likely start. However - i repeat - this was Hamilton - a piss poor side who would be in England's lowest league.

thought our touch, composure, passing, shooting was very poor last night - and in last few games generally. there was no fluency and virtually no cohesion.

We should be offering far more than we have been. We're led to believe that we have great motivators in the coaching staff - where has that been recently ?

Thought we played quite well last night. On another day we could have won 6-0.

 

Novo and Miller were very sharp in the first half and Papac and Davis backed them up really well.

 

Hamilton parked the bus after about 60 minutes and it was always going to be tough after that.

 

Considering the players we had out (and yes it does have an effect imo Moody Blue), I thought the performance was good. The best of the year probably (which doesn't exactly say much)

Mate - this was Hamilton we were playing - Hamilton. They are awful and would struggle in League 2 in England. In the last 3 games against them we've sunk to a worrying low IMO.

And - in terms if injuries - last night, only Boyd and Boogie (and maybe Mendes or DMB) would have been definite starters. 2 key players, yes - but in Wilson we had an adequate replacement. We should never use these type of excuses against the qualoity of opposition like Hamilton.

Also, it tells you alot about a players character when they can't perform in front of small crowds and no atmosphere. where's the hunger, drive, determination to play for the jersey ??

Sorry - not a happy bear this morning. I just find our performances (outwith Dec) unacceptable.

we can sit smug at the top of the table - which is great - but we should be concerned by many things on the park. we have alot of work to do.

thought we were poor again. a very dull, tired affair with very little quailty. was bored out my face for most of the game.

sorry, but we need a big kick up the arse. Last 3 performances - 4 if you include against the ****s have been shocking. Injuries or no injuries - we have to be better than that.

I reckon I'm somewhere in between on every player as I change my mind frequently depending on current performances...

 

One mistake that stands out for me though was watching Mladenovic on one of his first games at Ibrox and thinking he looked a great player. Erm...

i rember that as well. strolled through the game, looked very assured and comfortable on the ball, spraying passes etc. etc. the rest is history as they say !!

From the off I have always said that Lafferty, McCulloch and Naismith were players we simply did not need to buy - and I stand by that 100%.

These guys cost us around �£7m plus around �£2.5m a year in wages. In our position that is absolutely criminal !!!

this could be tricky. If we can't get our act together against a pishy wee team like Hamilton then we're going to struggle gainst Hearts if we continue this dire set of performances.

Much as I'm not a fan of McCulloch in any way shape or form - he should be played up front against Hearts.

If that is the case Moody... how do you explain the constant bombscares that Celtic defenders have been going through all season ?

very good point mate :spl:

he'll probably do ok up here tbh. he certainly won't come up against the class of striker he's used to - nowhere near it. SPHell strikers are dire so a player like Senderos will have far less bombscare moments to deal with.

That's the reason why players like Boogie shine in the SPHell - the forwards they are playing against pose very little threat compared to EPL and even Championship.

I guess we lost the lottery then.

unfortunately we did mate.

if any so called Rangers fan says that he'd consider playing for them, then he's not a real Ger in my eyes. If he's a true bear, he'd never even think about it.

Good idea, but like the other poster said i probably wouldn't go if it was in Edinburgh.

i think plenty bears would though. Say St J got 5000 tickets and we got the rest we'd easily get 12k bears making the trip through there.

But hey, it's hypothetical as the game's at Hampden

I doubt I would be able to make it if it was in Edinburgh, whereas I'll be going to it at Hampden.

i hear what you're saying mate, but in order to make it a more attractive event, IMO Tynecastel would have been a better venue. Hampden will only be filled to half its' capacity, whereas Tynecastle would be bursting at the seams with a real cup tie atmospehre filling the ground. It would be a bettro occassion for those at the game and those watching on TV. Also, Edinburgh isn't a million miles away.

Exactly.

 

16-18/19 you can blame age.

 

Not 22 though

absolutely mate. He cannot keep being excused 'because he's still young'. He's at an age where he should be delivering.

But IMO, he just will never deliever in a Rangers jersey. He's just not very good - and you can see from recent interviews and actions on and off the field that the guy does not have the right attitude to be a Ranger.

I'd love if we sold him in this window. If we could get anything like �£1m, i'd bite your hand off.

Smith needs to take responsibilty for this failed signing.

Also, before he signed for us, didn't he say he'd play for either Rangers of Celtic ?? There's just something about the lad that irks me.

I would have played this game at Tynecastle.

It would have been packed to the rafters, there would have been a better atmosphere and there would have been more of a sense of occassion IMO.

Instead, we're going to be rattling round Hampden with no atmposphere again and just going through the motions.

I still reckon we'll struggle to get over 25k.

Third game in less than 10 days against Hamilton, midweek (so less kids), cold, 3rd round, unattractive opposition, live on Sky.

If you take all the money Smith has spent, a more talented manager could have assembled a quality side.

 

Add up whats been spent on Mendes, Davis, Edu, Lafferty, Miller etc and it's serious cash and no wonder we're in this financial situation once again.

absolutely spot on. even if we did have money right now, the last man I'd want to be spending it would be Smith. He's had a hell of alot of money given to him to spend, but wasted a hell of alot of it !

IMO Lafferty will never come good for us - he's just not very good, simple as that.

People go on about him being young., That's nonsense. Take James Milner as an example - same age, running rings round many sides in EPL, trains hard and is well respected by his fellow pros. Lafferty is the opposite of all that.

Not totally true he lifted his hands to his head when we played Aberdeen.

that's true mate - how could I forget that ?!

when he comes out with the quote about 'not paying someone for something he doesn't deserve' I nearly choked.

This is the guy who hasn't lifted a finger in his time at Rangers, yet is on around �£15k a week !!! you couldn't make it up. This guy is more trouble than he's worth. we should look to punt him asap IMO.