der Berliner

Tavernier was in a comfort zone, nearly undroppable, even with Patterson waiting behind him. Patterson is the one great finds amongst our own players since SG has arrived, instantly made me forget Tav when he was on the park. Enthusiasm, drive, willingness to shoot ... like Tav in his first couple of seasons. Borna had a torried time pre and after the EC this summer, and Bassey does his job well. Patterson should be the same on the right wing. He`s the future and a big target for SG.

I`d hate if Patterson joins to trek to Birmingham, TBH.

You would hope players like Davis and Jack will make sure the team is up for the next game(s). Dunno what will happen to Defoe, all a big waiting game. Also wonder what might go through the minds of all the international players, jetting off with SG at the helm and now coming back without being able to say good-bye or indeed having a manager. All in all some surreal feel to it.

Onwards!

Our ship under him took a while to find its course, had to navigate a fair amount of dire straits along the way till it reached its first nautical milestone. We are on our way to the next milestone and - as it stands - the bridge crew and engineering has jumped ship ... and only the nautical officer is there and needs to plot a new course through a fog bank that just appeared straight ahead. Remember that scene in 13th Warrior, where one viking shoots a burning arrow into the fog and leader calls out for Ooooodiiiiin ... awaiting an echo.

Oh, there seemingly is movement ...

And then we hear no approach to Rangers so far. That is all a bit strange.

On the contrary. A change from 4-2-3-1 would be more than welcome ...

TBH, quite a few current and former EPL managers are essentially no-names who won FO in their lifetime as a manager or coach. And quite few of the same ilk won stuff because they threw money about them like confetti and let the quality on the park do the talking for them. I for one doubt we will get or go after any of those guys who are truly quality managers who train a current EPL team (not least because we wouldn`t pay the buyout sum).

Jesus is dead, man, Jesus is dead.

Wonder who`s joining up with him. Didn`t Beale move his family to Scotland?

First, I miss Neil McCann. Second, why`s the poll not giving Gary McAllister a "Sir-Walteresque" chance of taking up the place at the helm? With Mr. Beale at his side? Third, I would expect that we`ll chose a manager who knows the Scottish game as well as the constraints of it ... and us. Quite a few of those listed will probably expect a backing that we can, in the here and now, not give them. Obviously, SG might do us a final favour and take Kent to Villa in January for, say 15m. That would "ease" the monetary stuff a little.

Gut feeling says that he won`t leave the ship right now, at least not before January - just don`t think he`s that kind of person. Saying that, if he does, it would give him the option of preparing for a full January transfer window. And us (no laughing at the back).

You have to admire the old guy`s eye-sight, since he sees the bullet coming ...

You would hope SG stays at least as long as the end of this season. Maybe getting us 56 and into the CL group stages is as much as he/one can - at this moment in time - achieve with us. We have to be objective here. Likewise, he`s been here for quite some time already and will probably be the first to admit that we have, domestically, underachieved somewhat. What I do fear that if he goes, a lot of the staff he has assembled at Ibrox might follow suit and thus will leave a bigger whole to plug than "just" SG`s.

They had 2 shots on target, both goals. Clinical! TBF, their kept plugging away while we went a gear or two down, despite some decent chances. Good 3 points nonetheless.

Just said that he hasn`t had a pre-season and McCann and Hutton agree that people without that need time to get up to fitness and speed. But you need people for different games and so far, he looks good. Most do, actually. Smart-eyed linesman for their goal BTW ... as opposed to the one over at Dens Park earlier.

It's being noted on FF that these loans have an 6 % interest ... and I wonder whether there is actually some law/guideline for that. Don`t know how many - if not all - of these loans will actually be transferred into shares anyway, so there is no "real" payback at hand.

After that goal from the lumb of wood of Motherwell, I checked our stats in this regard, i.e. how many shots we had this season in the Premiership, how many of them were on target and how many goals came of it. Same with the opposition ... Rangers after 12 games Shots: 236 (most vs Motherwell (30), least St. Johnstone (10)) Shots on target: 78 (most vs Motherwell (12), least vs DU (2)) Goals scored: 25 (32 % of those on target) Opposition Shots: 74 (most by Dundee (14), least by Livingston (2)) Shots on target: 30 (most by Dundee (6), least by Livingston (0)) Goals scored: 11 (36 % of those on target) ... in short, we are far from lethal with the amount of chances we create and the opposition scores far too much from the few chances they get. These dire defensive examples include the last two games, where the stats read: Rangers vs Aberdeen Shots: 18 vs 6 Shots on target: 4 vs 3 Goals scored: 2 vs 2 Motherwell vs Rangers Shots: 30 vs 3 Shots on target: 12 vs 2 Goals scored: 6-1 (Stats taken from the BBC match fixture pages)

Same with me, after watching the short German highlights. He has the ball on the inner edge of the corner triangle and than crosses behind the goal to meet Morelos` head 2m from the by-line?

Thing is, the Yahoos have sold players for ridiculous sums for the best part of the last decade, not least to balance their books during our absence as well a Covid-19. I see that people point out that we should have cashed in on this or that player, yet, AFAIK, we only received real offers for Morelos. We can`t whip up buyers just because we want them. "Funnily" enough, I remarked yesterday over in the Bröndby thread that this season`s EL is just a bonus and we have to concentrate fully on 56 this season, as it buys us direct entry into the Group stage of next season`s CL. Mainly thanks to our excursions into Europe under SG ... which we all should keep in mind. The rest of the Scottish sides did hardly contribute anything. I would assume that this season`s return of crowds will impact on the next accounts ... and who knows what the January transfer window will bring.

You see Lyon just going a gear up and dismantle the rest of this group`s teams at will. I saw one half of Leverkusen, who are stumbling along in the BL of late, hammering Betis Seville 4-0 with some slick passing and fast attacking football. Then you know that no matter what, EL footie is pure bonus in a season of making sure No. 56 comes home next May. SG gave us so much joy in Europe these last three years, he`s got enough credit there for many months to come. To play anywhere close to that level, we need at least one season in the CL group phase, of which none other than SG has made sure these last few years.

He deserve no more a starting slot than Roofe or Sakala. Now that Kent is back, he will get his 24/7 starting slot no matter what, as we know, so it remains to be seen, whether we keep Sakala and perhaps Roofe through the middle. Today, we hardly made any ground with Aribo on the right, I was actually surprised that he was kept on instead of Arfield. Patterson and Bassey should also get a chance, as neither of our fullbacks clad themselves in any glory ... and Tav`s goal and assist against Motherwell shouldn`t really help his case, if this kind of contribution is far too erratic these days (weeks, months).

After pounding their central defence with too many short passes, a quick punt from the back and 2 passes was all that was required. Not really convinced that Barisic can hold his place in the starting line-up when he plays like tonight. That said, Tav likewise shone with stray passes and the ability to hit the first man. Alas, one vital saving tackle in the 2nd half. Lyon did what they must and kept Prague in striking distance. Next games will be more difficult though.

Ahead of Roofe and Wright, yet straight from the rehab? Well well ...