Gribz

Horror show going on in defence. Davis is covering the middle and RB. Seems we signed the wrong player from Hearts. McGowan at RB looks good and much better than Whittaker. Templeton impressive again.

Poor defending Whittaker. Still gobsmacked as to why McCoist thought he was an important player.

Sound system sounds better on the TV. Jelavic looking trimmer and fitter than last season, can only be good. That clown Webster playing for them, 4 years at Rangers and 3 games. Ian Cocker...fux sake

Team McGregor; Whittaker, Bougherra, Broadfoot, Papac; Davis, Edu, McCulloch, Ortiz; Naismith; Jelavic. SUBS: Alexander, Healy, Fleck, Wallace, Wylde, Hemmings, Bendiksen.

Beers in fridge, will give them an hour to cool then have an early start. Live on Goal TV at 7:30pm for overseas viewers who have this channel. Will have a flutter on 2-1 Gers.

Nothing on Cuellar yet? Thats 2-3 days he has been mulling over it. Perhaps he has agreed and wants to wait until match day tomorrow to give the fans an extra lift before the game....and is one of the Signings Gav got told about?? (optimistic loyal) :smile:

If Papac is injured and Weir suspended Id look at this team tomorrow. :kb::sw::mb: :jmo::sd::lm::gw: :sn::nj: First game is important so id include the experienced McCulloch but id be looking for Hutton and Ness to challenge him for his place in the coming weeks. Also prefer Naismith at RM but with the Miller signing looking unlikely and Lafferty injured he is next best option to partner Jelavic. We desperately need a centre half, after that we have good back up all over the park. McCoist seems to have covered the wide positions with kerkar given a new deal plus the American coming in January.

All of a sudden I love James Beattie

The SPL remain clueless. They think 1 or 2 weeks early for the first game then have a break for friendlies helps. They are getting more stupid. If the really wanted to help clubs in Europe then do what the Russians and Scandinavians do, start the season in March.

Didnt you post this 3 years ago also? Never been the same player after his bad leg break. He peaked at Leeds, was ok for Man Utd and barely been noticed at Newcastle. If he is fit and would take a decent wage he might be an ok signing for 1 season, would be better than Beattie anyway. But as someone said he would be picking up a lot of bookings.

Cant say I can recall seeing him play but to have cover all over the defence now is only good.

Dissapointed if Miller has gone to Cardiff. After Cuellar id say Miller would have been next on my wish list.

Pretty embarrassing but the way UEFA have set up the European competitions does nobody favours except the big 8 clubs in the CL. Scrapping the Cup Winners Cup was an error as now all those sides have to go into the Europa qualifiers which means a silly amount of teams just have to qualify. But it shows the level of SPL now that Dunder Utd cant get past an unheard Polish team. Yet in the late 80s Utd were knocking out Barcelona in the Semis of this cup.

If Miller is desperate to get out of Turkey then he will accept the Cardiff offer even if he would prefer to come back to Ibrox as he simply would rather be in Wales than Turkey. We should have offered 600k which was the reported asking price. we arent going to get anyone better than him for less than 2m IMO.

By reading the posts here Im more than convinced Broadfoot is a full back and shouldnt play centre half again. Always does a good job RB or LB. I still recall how good he was at Old trafford last season in CL. Seems AM likes Naismith upfront rather then RM, if we get Miller back that will be an interesting one, personally id have Naismith RM.

Liking that team a lot. Would possibly have Ness or Hutton in for McCulloch though. And if Cuellar agrees terms swap him in for Weir and its a strong team.

He's got competition. Vermaelen is first choice then its one from Squillachi, Koscielny, Djourou, Bartley and Henderson and thats if Wenger doesnt buy 1 more. Another season developing with us playing in the CL and winning another title would be the best way for Bartley

I get fed up of Barca and Real during the summers with their tapping of players. Henry, Fabregas and Ronaldo for last 6 years has been poor even if the players want to go. Another excellent piece of 'business' by Wenger but after I backed them to win the league last season Im doubting a top 4 finish for Arsenal this year. Still no keeper although Szczesny looked decent last season and they still need a top partner for Vermaelen. Djourou, Squillachi and Koscienly are decent back up but nothing compared to Chelsea, Man U or Man Citys defence. Seems Nasri wants to go also, but the papers are saying Ribery is close to joining them which would be a boost. I thought losing Clichy was a loss but Arsenal have a cracking history of LBs (Samson, Winterburn, Silvinho, Even Van Bronkhorst played there, A Cole) and Kieron Gibbs is potentially the next top one.

WS and AM must rate KM, he was their first non-player signing when WS took over.

Kirk is an awful centre half but going on his performances pre-injury id have him at RB ahead of Whittaker. But on the other hand id have Whittaker at centre half miles ahead of Broadfoot.

That sounds crazy when you think of it. Its like lending him to Turkey and we pay 700k but they pay his wages. I do want him back and Id rather Miller for 1.1m that Goodwillie for 1.5m - 2m.

Europe is more hard to judge until we are a) in the CL proper and b) know who is in our group. The minimum should be to reach the group stages for this season though. But unlike the SPL where we know our opposition and know we are good enough to win that, we are guessing in the CL as we could end up with 3 top Euro teams in which there is probably no expectation. But if drawing an average group we should be in the top 3.

I believe its McDowall. But like you Danny id prefer someone like Wilkins. IMO the No.2 is in some cases as important as the manager and having an experienced No.2 is key. McDowall will be good around the place though.

I think plenty on here mentioned a one year playing / coaching deal was the best for all. Ive previously always thought we should have had Gough as a defensive coach.

Thats the summer weekends with no football over and its full steam ahead as the season kicks off this coming Saturday and the league flag will be unfurled. :spl: As usual we will have our expectations of the team going into a new season. With a new (ish) management team in place they are likely to have different ideas about how we play but with not much difference in the squad thus far Im hoping Ally carries the baton from where Walter left off. We finished last season on a high and we were scoring for fun. We showed that when we played to our strengths and attack teams that we are a huge distance above 10 of the other SPL teams. With a number of players signing new lenghty deals it can only settle things. I expect a few new faces coming in this week, ideally Cuellar will agree personal terms and if we can get Bougherra to sign on also then our defensive woes will be disappearing. The defence is the most concerning area of the pitch at the moment. We are still in the market for possibly one futher defender with the names of Rodriguez and Bartley being touted. One major boost at the back is the long term deal of Allan McGregor. Good enough for any team in England The New Goalie will be between the sticks at Ibrox for 6 more seasons which still means I cant ever remember Rangers having anything less than a top class first choice keeper since I started following. 3 youngsters made good progress last season and established themselves in the squad. Hutton, Ness and Wylde all have a full season under their belt now they should be kicking onto the next level. We picked up 2 of the 3 domestic trophies last season and for me that should be expected every season with the league title always being one of them. Last season I said at the time that winning the league cup was possibly the better cup to win than the Scottish Cup as it was at a time when we were out of Europe therefore the focus could be 100% on the league. We have to negotatiate 2 rounds of qualifiers for the Champions League where the 10m windfall is hugely important for the near future planning of the team. I fully expect to get past the first game against the likely opposition of Malmo. If Torshavn turn that tie around then id expect victory even more. For me, my expectations are: SPL - Winners Scottish Cup - Winners (or vice versa with the League Cup) League Cup - Good run Europe - Champions League Group Stages. Brand of Football - Similar to the last 6 games of last season. Attack minded, pacey but still solid at the back. So what is the expectations of everyone else: SPL - Scottish Cup - League Cup - Europe - Brand of football -