der Berliner

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!

36 minutes ago, SykseyBear said:

Always thought he was from a Rangers family. His brother was telling the boys at Livi they were. 

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.

6 hours ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Bit of a blow. Both involved in the England youth setup so a well paid gig at a premiership club academy beckons. Hopefully we make a good case for a development fee.

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

Quote

 

Per a report from Football Insider, Rangers are in a 'three way race'  with EFL Championship sides Middlesbrough and Watford to sign Everton defender Mason Holgate in January. The 27-year old is currently on loan at Southampton but the Toffees apparently want to end that spell early due to his lack of regular game time. 

Holgate, a former England under 21 international, has made over 100 Premier League appearances for the Merseyside club since signing from Barnsley in 2015. The 27-year old reportedly earns £70,00 per week at Goodison Park so would represent a significant wage investment for any of the three clubs linked with another loan move expected. 

 

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

SPFL Highlights

Still unconvinced that it was intentional or unintentional "serious foul play" by Cifuentes.

Games like today's remind me of a commentary I heard in the mid-1990s, when we beat Dundee United 3-0 (HT 3-0) away and co-commentator Simon Stainrod said at the end: "Well, Rangers' defenders played as admirably in the second half as their attackers did in the first." 

No sleep lost on players not coming or being signed. Bologna paid Aberdeen Euro 2m for Ferguson, but make that 4m if we had tried to sign him. He's away, so that's that.

Kirkland at the screen called it a possible serious foul play. Heck, Maeda wrecked Cantwell and it wasn't even a foul, never mind a penalty. 

But truth be told, going by the circus that is called Scottish refereeing, you have to be content that not more is being fiddled in the games ...

13 minutes ago, CammyF said:

So Shankland a go'er now then? Hearts have just added another million to the asking price.......

As I wrote in the transfer thread, I doubt he will fare much better as previous strikers, if we play him alone up front. Hearts usually do not face brickwall-style football.

All quiet right now, only Leon King's exit on loan seems on the cards.

Saw people swoon over Shankland, but truth be told, if he's asked to play for Rangers in the lone-striker rule, he'll be as ineffective as many before him.

Danilo out again, so maybe a return of Roofe in games to come. I'd put him alongside Dessers, as Roofe is more a predator type of striker. Dundee might be a perfect game to try that.

Thank the heavens for Butland, who essentially kept us getting these three points (again). Can't, for the love of the game, understand, why we keep to this lone striker thing that failed us time and again. Saviour this season so far is Sima, but what happens if he's injured ...

Difficult ground, three points, clean sheet, grab and run! 

Tonight will be the return of Roofe, no doubt! (No laughing at the back!) We need a goalscorer up there.

Is Lawrence our midfield version of Roofe? Lawrence's last 5 years with Derby has seen him play 39, 33, 37, 23, and 38 games respectively. And we replace him today with Cifuentes? How's that supposed to work out? Ach well ...

4 hours ago, Rousseau said:

"Thomspon Ishaka". ps/

 

"Nicola Raskin". s/

 

4/5.

See, that's how you bait people to do your job 😜

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

@der Berliner you have Ross McCausland twice and Kamara signed for Leeds.

You missed Cyrell though, hence, just 2 out of 3.