der Berliner

We somehow stopped playing football in the second half, when we did we cut them open easily enough. A bit unlucky with Dessers' two offside calls, but solid 3 points on that turf. Balogun and that "Little Tiger" Ridvan MotM for me, Butland solid as ever.

Some slick play for the goals, the weather plays havoc at times, but we carve out some good chances, not random things. Might be well out of sight, let's hope we add some more while playing with the wind.

Thank heavens, they aren't playing for us!

You might have added that Union-Fans hold a x-mas singing every year. It started a few years back with some fans sneaking into the stadium and having some fun on the pitch, but was warmly greated by club and fans alike, turning nowadays into an event of 30odd thousand, which was streamed live yesterday on local TV (much to the "delight" of the Hertha-fans, no doubt) ...

Peterborough United ‘certain’ to sell Rangers-linked ‘wonderkid’ Ronnie Edwards in January, £4.5m-plus fee needed Peterborough United are “certain” to sell Rangers-linked Ronnie Edwards in the January transfer window, according to The Sun. The newspaper reported on its website on Thursday (21 December) that the Gers have sent scouts to watch the centre-back. The Sun added that Peterborough are expecting a fee of at least £4.5million, although they could want more than double that in add-ons. ... https://www.ibroxnews.com/2023/12/22/peterborough-united-certain-to-sell-rangers-linked-wonderkid-ronnie-edwards-in-january-4-5m-plus-fee-needed/ Like we would pay 4,5m for a centre-half. no idea what they smoked over at the Sun's HQ. Meanwhile ... Rangers look set to receive a £1.4million transfer windfall in January as part of a permanent deal for Malik Tillman to join PSV in January, according to the Daily Record. African Cup of Nations happens by early next year and by the looks of it, let's hope we do not lose Dessers (Nigeria) and/or Sima (Senegal). With Roofe out again and Lammers doing everything but score ...

Butland Tavernier - Goldson - Souttar - Ridvan Lundstram - Dowell McCausland - Lammers - Sima Roofe Subs: McCrorie, Dessers, Cantwell, Matondo, Sterling, Wright, Balogun, Barisic, King. Time will tell whether it was reasonable to field McCausland in so many games, same with Sima.

I provided the stats, and they both have played on either flank. I'd keep McCausland where he is right now.

I suggest playing people where they can play and have. McCausland and Wright have played and can play on either side easily enough. This will be a physical game, and they both are capable of that. Besides, I'd keep Sima fit and ready for the OF game.

Almost ... I'd start Wright, Dessers, Roofe, and McCausland, and play Ridvan instead of Borna. I'd also play only one DM, either Lundstram or Sterling. Hit them hard from the off and revert to normal later on.

Do we? I thought we need a back-up replacement for Tavernier, not least if we utilize Sterling in the same role as he performed against Aberdeen. Barisic has been rather steady of late, performance-wise in attack and defence, and IMHO, Ridvan is an able replacement. Not as tall, but more attack-minded. Meanwhile, all quite on the transfer-front, aside from some word from Turkey about Galatasaray's wish to get Ridvan, and the Shankland Instagram furore.

Ten mins of Highlights (SPFL) with no irritating babble from reporters and co-commentators ...

Well deserved victory, yet we again made hard work of it. That was Part 451 of: "Once they fall behind, they suddenly remember how to play football". 80 Mins of dross and kicking, then back to the game. They and theirs deserve exactly nothing!

Family may be, he never hid his joy pummelling our players in days past.

That Shinnie guy looks worse every time I have the misfortune to see him. Must be one of the few Aberdeen-at-heart brain-dead Rangers haters in their team that likes to hit our people while under protection of hopeless refs like Robertson. Whoever the co-commentator next to Ally is, he's talking some BS.

Last night will be forgotten if we fail on Sunday against the typical red "wall and sneak a counter-attack-goal" style we are facing in Scotland nearly every week. My biggest point of bother is not the quality of players we have, which has IMHO increased this summer, but the way we go about our business in most of the league games, player- and tactics-wise. Hence my remark about bringing Hagi back. People were and are saying that Shankland or Miovski shall be an option, back then and nowadays. Yet, had we played Shankland back then when he was first linked (and regarded not good enough) or would play him now like we do with Dessers, Danilo, Morelos et al, he would probably fail to deliver as well, up alone against packed defenses. For - outside the OF games - he hardly has to cope with that sort of defending. Get Dessers and Roofe on alongside one another on Sunday, one the physical threat, the other the predator, and we will reap the benefits. Wee remark: no doubt Kent had his qualities, but Sima is far more the left-sided goal-scoring attacker our current system requires and demanded for years.

Wee look to the Northeast ... Aberdeen did the unthinkable and beat Eintracht Frankfurt (who slaughtered Bayern 5-1 last weekend) 2-0 at home, effectively treating this game like any against us: parking the bus and waiting for the counter-attack. No football Eintracht is used to and they couldn't break the well-trained red curtain. So their tails might be up as well, hoping to frustrate us as best as they can and sneak the odd goal. German highlights:

You can just take a bow. Defense held, strikers scored, maybe, just maybe ...

First thing: bring Hagi back. We have next to no creativity left in midfield, and Cantwell being in and out of the team.

Referee - Srdjan Jovanović (SRB) Assistants - Uroš Stojković (SRB) and Milan Mihajlović (SRB) Fourth Official - Novak Simović (SRB) Video Assistant Referee - Pol van Boekel (NED) Assistant Video Assistant Referee - Clan Ruperti (NED) Missing - Steven Davis (knee), Zak Lovelace (muscle), Nicolas Raskin (ankle), Ryan Jack (muscle), Tom Lawrence (calf), Danilo Pereira (knee), Todd Cantwell (family reasons); Ridvan Yilmaz, Kieran Dowell, Leon Balogun (not in EL squad)

Added a few to the OP now ... IN - Connor Barron (21) - CM, Aberdeen, contract till 2024 - TM - LINK IN - Lennon Miller (17) - MF, Motherwell, contract till 2025 - TM - LINK IN - Noah Mbamba (18) - DM, Belgium, Bayer Leverkusen, contract till 2028 - TM - LINK (NB: signed for them for 100k, Jan 2023) ... and Santos has apparently released Morelos. 😱

Not sure which market Clement will look at, the Belgium one for out of contract players looks like this.

Lovelace only signed in summer 2022 and for some reason I doubt it was but a 2-year deal. Who knows ... Sima ... is getting serious game time and shows what he can do. Not just to us, but also Brighton. The better he develops, the less likely is it that he will go a) on the cheap and b) at all. That said, I have no idea how Brighton is set up right now.

Rumours doing the rounds in SM space ... Mason Holgate* (27) - Everton, CB, currently on loan to Soton - one of the LINKS Connor Barron (21) - Aberdeen, CM, contract till 2024, pre-contract rumoured Zach Lovelace and Archie Stevens want to go back to England and both not signing new deals, both expire end of this season. * re Holgate That should be affordable ...

Armstrong would be a decent addition to the squad. We do need solid, down-to-earth footballers who are physical and direct. We have quality people, but too many of them try the fancy rather than the simple/practical stuff. A few blow hot and cold performance-wise as well. Getting someone who performs week in and week out on a decent level would be good for our strength in depth. IMHO, Wright is not too dissimilar to Armstrong, physical and quality-wise. In physical and rain-wrecked games like those at the weekend, you need these type of footballers, not the Matondos, Lammers and the like.

Credit to Killie, they gave them a fight today and the highlights also don't show (for obvious reasons) the penalty they should have had ... (Nice weather) ... but it was fully unintentional: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0rF-OQsyqo/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again