der Berliner

Sorry, I'am not of the Tavernier fan-club nor do I see him as irreplacable. Reasons for my idea are given above. And BTW, Tav has had rotten games and yet came away with the odd assist to paper over the rest of his performance. You know that as well as I do. He`s doing well as an auxilliary winger and works his socks off, no doubt. But there is no reason to suggest that a real winger wouldn't get the same amount of assists and goals, nor that Patterson is de facto incapable of matching Tav`s return in the offensive department - given that Patterson is actually a converted right-winger.

It will depend on who actually watches the pictures. Given how Madden and Co. time and again blatantly get decisions wrong, yet bravely soldier on as top tier referees and linesmen, what can we expect from de facto other Scottish referees sitting behind the screens. Name and shame more of them, of course, but would that change anything? Wee sidenote, the linesman at the Scumhut that gave TJC`s goal is said to be a former Scumhut ST holder, who is no stranger to controversial decisions.

If Gio can "drop" Kent and Davis to reduce their workload, so too can we "drop" Tavernier. There is no indication that Patterson cannot defend "any worse" than Tav nor cross and attack like the Tav. So why not give the lad a a chance in games such like yesterday? All Premiership sides know how what Tav will do and how he plays and how to get him caught out. Why not mix that up with a different player ... who - in addition - has Patterson`s ability?! NB: Was it just me or did Muir blow the whistle after exactly 93. mins when he gave 4 mins of extra time?

It was but Dundee, but those little changes against teams sitting deep worked well enough. Next game in France will be entirely different, yet with neither team needing to have a go, maybe we are in for a wee surprise. NB: What a sad creature the racist is ...

Should be 3 or 4 up and we hardly look in danger. Gio did what I asked for all season, just one DM and Arfield and Aribo playing behind the strikers. That is, the 2 strikers! And IMHO, Sakala and Morelos work well enough and only a bit more accuracy from either striker, we would be in easy street.

Referee – Alan Muir Assistants – Dougie Potter and Sean Carr Fourth Official – Scott Lambie Missing: Filip Helander (knee), Nnamdi Ofoborh (heart), Leon Balogun (thigh) - Kent & Davis (rested) Live on Rangers TV

Maybe we keep this thread on the transfer rumours track? OUT - Joe Aribo - Crystal Palace / Brentford / Watford - LINK (30 Nov) IN - Xavi Simons - Barcelona - dismissed LINK

Man, that was some brutal stuff at times. Simplest passes go astray like you would expect on plastic pitches, people losing the ball and no composure and/or too much trickery at times. A typical game where our DMs passed the ball between one another yet hardly went forward, while Aribo and Kent worked about, but once more with no end product whatsoever. 3 points, hopefully a lesson learned and onwards we soldier ...

... Makaay already told him that tricks are for the circus. Hopefully he tells him that again at HT.

That looks like a good old cup stramash, lots of fight and physical wrangling, hardly any good football. We`ve got down to Hibs` level and are not good at that. Transistion play is far too slow (well, Kamara and Davis were not exactly known for anything else), Morelos somewhere on the flank and far too deep ... that could well become a long night if we don`t score what might come our way. BTW, some aweful simulation by Campbell, Porteous and Co. trying to get Alfredo booked. One is tempted to call them Slavia for the night.

McGregor Tavernier - Goldson - Bassey - Barišić Davis - Kamara Hagi - Aribo - Kent Morelos Subs: McLaughlin, Patterson, Lundstram, Arfield, Wright, Sakala, Roofe That`s SG`s selection all over again. Well, perhaps "okay" for Hibs away, yet we hav to hope that our attackers keep up their form of the last couple of games ...

Let`s start with the officials et al ... Hibernian FC vs Rangers FC Easter Road, KO 19.45 Referee – John Beaton 😝 Assistants – Frank Connor and David McGeachie Fourth Official – Nick Walsh Missing: Filip Helander (Knee), Nnamdi Ofoborh (Heart), Leon Balogun (Thigh) Doubtful: Kemar Roofe (knock on the leg, trained) Live on Sky Sports Football and Rangers TV

Balogun - Goldson - Bassey can very well do that. The latter may need a touch of coaching, but sure is a decent enough left-sided defender. And we have seen Balogun play well on the right side.

First piece of rumour have Galatasaray apparently looking to get Hagi (who`s grown up in Istanbul and is a Gala fan ... so they say). SabahSpor is the Twitter link, 160k followers. Gala is AFAIK not exactly rich right now, and has hardly paid above 5m in recent seasons ... OUT - Ianis Hagi - Galatasaray - LINK

Point is, for long spells we play with 2 CHs, usually 2 DMs (deep CMs) and 2 fullbacks as auxilliary wingers. That leaves us with far too few real attackers - as countless games against low blocks have shown. Possible 3MD (3-man-defence) against low blocks might be ... Balogun/Tavernier - Goldson/Helander - Bassey Either defender on the side could rove forward every now and then, with the others taking up the usual central defence double, with ONE DM (e.g. Jack or Kamara) dropping back too. Midfield could be ... Patterson/Hagi - Hagi - Jack/Kamara - Aribo - Kent/Wright ... with either winger asked to track back if needed, Jack the destroyer, Hagi and Aribo the creative/run-into-spaces type of guys. Up front ... Morelos - Sakala/Roofe That would be 3 defenders with the option that 1 could join the attack. One DM to clear the danger, and 5-6 primary attacking players.

Maybe we don`t allow away fans to go to games who`s mental age is below 10?

Only that Forrest was about a yard offside ... (of course, Arfield touched the ball on the way, but that only counts for Scum offside goals) Livi doing what worked for all plastic-pitch teams: long balls, hope for a strange bounce and grab what chance you get from that. Anderson a bit lucky that the save from McGregor landed perfectly for him. Anyway, we still look in control, just need to stop these slack passes ... then, again, the pitch doesn`t help. Arfield, Hagi and Aribo good at keeping the high press and run into dangerous areas.

These are the games where we will see what impact Gio will have on our game. Europe has never been a problem for our tactics and players, it remains to be seen whether Gio changes it against the trench diggers and hammerthrowers. IMHO, we should revert to 3 at the back, make that Tavernier - Goldson - Bassey, with either sided "CH" may every now and then join the attack. Keep Kamara or Jack as the DM who pops up when and where needed. Send Kent to the left wing - with the order to track back when needed, put Patterson on the right flank - same order. Play Aribo as a 10, Arfield LM, Hagi RM ... and Sakala and Morelos up top. And no goalie. Well, okay, its just Morelos up top then.

Our main problem this season - even partly last season too - was that Morelos moved to the wings or deeper (and correctly drawing defenders out of position), yet those who should take his place and run into danger areas either failed to deliver or simply weren`t there*. You hardly know what Arbibo`s best position is, given where he pops up on the park, while Kent is also roving about ... and our midfielders don`t really join the attack, bar Hagi and Arfield perhaps. Likewise, the "roving fullbacks" can cross all day long (and hopefully beyond the first man), if there`s hardly anyone in the box ... Hence I recently said that we went from a 4 attacker line up (2 wingers, 2 strikers) to one with something like 0,5*-3 attackers ... which is essentially the worst way of opening up "low blocks", 5-4-1s and the like. Hence - you may remember - we oftentimes toiled badly unless we scored early.

Some choreo, BTW ...

As I noted elsewhere, at 38 he`s probably ready to make a step up. His knowledge of youth players in the Netherlands will also come in handy. While I noted that Gio said that he has seen quite a few of our games, you would hope some of our local eye-witnesses (e.g. Neil McCann or Kevin Thomson) can give him some insight into the midset and setup of Scottish teams (and managers).

It needs to be remembered too that Europe has never really been a problem under SG. It is those Scottish teams who play us every few weeks/months that know how we play and our players play that give us bother. Unless we score early and they open up, they'll load their boxes and the midfield and we need more firepower and people up front to open that tactic. Livingston away will give us a stern test and we'll have to wait and see how Gio and Co. tackle that.

Going by form and enthusiasm ... 4-3-3 Patterson - Goldson - Balogun - Bassey Jack Hagi - Arfield Sakala - Morelos - Wright 3-4-3 Balogun - Goldson - Bassey Patterson - Hagi - Jack - Arfield/Kent Sakala - Morelos - Wright

After 10 years at Ajay and aged 38, you wonder whether he might be deemed good enough and sees himself more than able to step up and coach the big ones? His knowledge of the Dutch youth players will sure come in handy, and I reckon that he will sure have a look at our youngsters too in any case. NB: Seen quite few of those in the current training videos.

The Winter 2021/22 Rangers Transfer Window Rumours and Deals - Thread A month ahead of x-mas, this is what many have craved for. So off we go ... LINK to a rumour source TM is the TransferMarkt stats side for that player SIGNED in Winter 2020/21: IN - James Sands -New York City, 21, CB, USA, contract till 2026 - LINK - TM - DONE DEAL (05 Jan) IN - Cedric Itten - loan to Greuter Fürth cut short - LINK (12 Jan) IN - Pre-Contract - John Souttar - Heart of Midlothian, 25, CB, Scotland, 4-year deal - LINK (14 Jan) IN - Amad Diallo - Manchester United, 19, RW, Ivory Coast/Italy, 6-month loan - signed LINK - TM IN - Mateusz Zukowski - Lech Gdansk, 20, RB, Poland, ct till 6/2022, 3,5-year deal - TM - DONE DEAL IN - Aaron Ramsey - Juventus, 31, AM, Wales, ct till 6/2023 - loaned till 6/2021 - LINK - TM - DONE DEAL GONE in Winter 2021 OUT - Nathan Patterson - Everton - LINK (21 Dec) - deal close (2 Jan) - DONE DEAL OUT - Jermaine Defoe - (released) - LINK (12 Jan) - signed for Sunderland (31 Jan) OUT on loan - Stephen Kelly (21) - to Salford City till end of season - LINK OUT - Juninho Bacuna (24) - A/CM - contract 6/2023 - signed for Birmingham City, undisclosed - LINK OUT - Brandon Barker (25) – contract terminated 31 Jan. - LINK OUT - Jake Hastie (23) - loaned to Linfield till 6/2022, contract at Rangers till 2023 RUMOURS: IN - Jeando Fuchs - Dundee United, 24, CM, Cameroon, contract till 6/2022 - LINK - TM IN - Francis Amuzu RSC Anderlecht, 22, RW, Ghana, contract till 6/2024 - LINK - TM IN - Pablo Torre - Real Santander, 18, AM, Spain, contract till 2025 - LINK - TM IN - Crysencio Summerville - Leeds United, 20, RW, Dutch, contract till 2023 - LINK - TM IN - John Souttar - 25, CH, Scottish, contract till 2022 - LINK (05 Jan) new LINK (09 Jan)- TM IN - Danilho Doekhi - 23, CH, Dutch/Suriname, contract till 2022 - LINK (09 Jan) - TM IN - Frank Castaneda - 27, ST, Colombia, freebie - LINK (09 Jan) - TM OUT - Ianis Hagi - Galatasaray - LINK OUT -Joe Aribo - Crystal Palace / Brentford / Watford - LINK (30 Nov) OUT - Borna Barisic - Watford - LINK (26 Dec) OUT - Alfredo Morelos - Newcastle, Everton, Leicester - LINK (04 Jan 22) OUT - Jack Simpson - Middlesbrough - LINK (10 Jan) (If there`s anything in some official channel, outlet, paper et al, it will appear here. So far there are just murmurs like SG wanting Barisic or Patterson, but only on fan-run sites.) CONTRACT EXTENSIONS - Jon McLaughlin till 2024 - LINK NON-STARTERS: IN - Xavi Simons - Barcelona - dismissed LINK (03 Dec) IN - Andreas Skov Olsen - Bologna, 21, RW, Denmark, contract till 6/2024 - LINK - new LINK- TM - signed for Club Bruges IN - James McAtee - ManCity, 19, AM, England, 6-months loan, LINK - TM - remains at Man City LOANS 2021/22 Lewis Mayo - Partick Thistle - season long loan, option 01/22; contract at Rangersl 2023 Kai Kennedy - Dunfermline Athletic - (as above) James Maxwell - Ayr United - (as above) Josh McPake (19) - RM/RW - 6/2024 - loaned to Morecombe (January option) - LINK [Jake Hastie (23) – LW/RW - 6/2023 - loaned to Partick till January - LINK ] Glenn Middleton (21) – LW - 6/2023 - loaned to St. Johnstone - LINK [Cedric Itten (24) - ST - contract 6/2024 - loaned to Greuther Fürth (January option, 3m buy option) - LINK ] Nikola Katic (24) - CH - contract 6/2023 - loaned to Hajduk Split (January option) - LINK SQUAD as of 20 / 08 / 2021 Squad listed in order of remaining length of contract & primary position Full squad list at Transfermarkt Squad by primary and optional position at Transfermarkt Goal: Allan McGregor (40) – contract 6/2022 Andy Firth (25) - contract 6/2022 Robby McCrorie (23) - contract 6/2023 Jon McLaughlin (34) - contract 6/2024 Defence Leon Balogun (33) - CH/RB - contract 6/2022 Connor Goldson (28) - CH - contract 6/2022 James Sands (21) - CH/DM - loan till 6/2022 plus excl. buy option Filip Helander (28) - CH - contract 6/2023 James Tavernier (30) – RB- contract 6/2024 Borna Barisic (29) - LB - contract 6/2024 Calvin Bassey (21) - LB/CH - contract 6/2024 Leon King (17) - CH - contract till 6/2024 IN - Mateusz Zukowski (20) - RB, contract till 6/2024 Jack Simpson (24) - CH - contract till 6/2025 Midfield Steven Davis (36) – CM - contract 6/2022 Scott Arfield (33) – C/LM - contract 6/2022 Brandon Barker (25) – LW - contract 6/2022 Amad Diallo (19) - RW - loan 2022 Aaron Ramsey (30) - CM - loan 2022 Ryan Jack (29) – CM - contract 6/2023 Joe Aribo (25) – AM - contract 6/2023 Ryan Kent (25) – LW/AM - contract 6/2023 Ianis Hagi (23) - AM – contract 6/2024 John Lundstram (27) - CM - contract 2024 Nnamdi Ofoborh (22) – (CM) – contract 6/2025 Scott Wright (24) - LW/AM - contract till 6/2025 Glen Kamara (26) – CM - contract 6/2025 Strikers Alfredo Morelos (25) – ST - contract 6/2023 Cedric Itten (25) - ST - contract 6/2024 Kemar Roofe (28) - ST - contract 6/2024 Fashion Sakala (24) – ST – contract 6/2025 Coaching Staff Check out the club's home page Academy / B Side -> https://www.Rangers.co.uk/article/academy-restructure/4skGYIfqugwK1CvGZUHFH0 Leon King (see above) - given new contract till 2024 and promoted to first team squad Women's Side -> https://rangers.co.uk/teams/ladies-senior/