der Berliner

Well, reaching the group stages would have put a big smile on the faces of our accountants, yet, when you see the quality of football being played there, the Bears would probably have been in for a rough ride. As Goldson and Helander are out and Simpson not in the EL squad, it looks like Balogun and Bassey, as only Leon King and Tavernier are players for that position, and given Tav`s lapses in defence against Dundee, I doubt he will be there. That also means that it probably is Lundstram, Davis and Kamara in midfield. Roofe, Morelos and Hagi up top.

10k children probably all not jabbed et al ... surely tested of course, and attended to by the odd quiet adult. Yeah ... In any case, our European form - against clubs below or just about CL format have been rather good these recent seasons, yet, we need to cut out our mistakes at the back and have to take our chances. Lyon is no benchmark in the here and now, Sparta sure is. The players have to be up for that game and need to be concentrated for the whole 90 mins. Good to have Kamara and Roofe back, hopefully we'll start with Roofe, Morelos and Hagi, ... I`d actually put Sakala on the right and Hagi in creative AM.

Well, that carthorse comes in from the right and runs fully into Clark with no chance of getting or willing to play the ball. That`s a penalty any day of the week. (1.25 mins in)

Yeah, true enough. Objectivity is often lost, not least after a dire game or two. The old stereotype that the season is a marathon needs to be remembered, but we all know that sometimes recent "failure" or shortcomings is hard to take and the best way to let of some steam is pounding it into a fan board, if the local pub is far or houses no Bears to speak to. Then again, even with the above in mind, if something is awry, it needs to be pointed out. -> ... for as long as we win and are top of the league - not least come the end of the season - all is fine and well, despite a few fists being clenched along the way. Yet, the stuff we saw this season is not not new and has cost us ANY of the SG seasons before, ANY silverware bar that one (massive) title. Same tactics, same players (on or off form), hardly any tactical changes etc.. We far too often rely on one chap doing the super-skill stuff or providing a spark every now and then, instead of using the squad properly or changing formations against different opposition. That`s obviously my humble opinion. And no matter who is in charge at the club, or the odd "freak" result that cost us a cup game ... the stark reality is that we have fallen somewhat short of expectations in terms of trophies, not least when the Scum was out of the equation. That is also part of being objective. My gut feeling says that SG and Co. will persist with their formation and tactics, perhaps add a different player here and there ... and hope for the best.

First thing I`d drop would be that abysmal third choice strip.

We sure can play a 4-3-3, but with Roofe - Morelos - Sakala up front. All can play across the front line, take up dangerous positions and are more than willing to shoot. Hagi as the main creator behind them, the wingbacks (as per usual) joining the attack. Once we get in front and are comfortable, revert to our current 4-2-3-1 with pacy AMs like Kent and Wright and hit them on the counter. If we show up like yesterday in Prague, we`ll be rock bottom after 2 games.

Take the three points, consign the victory to the record books and erase the memories of the game from your mind. Lundstram had a good game ... and that`s essentially it.

Just noted that Madden is the ref, well well. As an aside, you would to read the minds of Adam and Cummings when Griffiths is about.

Tacitcal preview: What can Rangers expect from Dundee? A team lacking goals, underperforming their xG and stuck in the 'same old story'

Interesting: Recently Browsing 0 members No registered users viewing this page. Not even me ? Good 2nd half, Hagi brought his much needed creativity and spark, in the end we strolled it. Lundstram grows into our game, that back-line with him and Kamara just further up the park looked good. ... well yes, it was Livingston, but they beat the Scum at the weekend. On to Hampden!

Typical game against Livingston. How much I didn`t miss that babble of those two bampots on the microphones. Was it their station that DAZn wants to take over? Hopefully they clear the reporter's boxes of that trash.

I hope we play him, Sakala, and Roofe up front, with Wright and Hagi behind him. Some people (i.e. supporters) have actually thought of the idea of playing Patterson as wingback and Tavernier alongside either Kamara or Davis as right-sided DM with the license to move forward. He`s got the engine and runs into spaces vacated by our AMs (far too often), i.e. we lose those stray balls in that area instead of taking care of them in packed defenses.

On another day, when you score 2 or 3 goals in the first half from all those chances, teams may open up more and you can counter them for more goals. It is not like we didn`t have games like yetserday`s throughout the last few seasons, only that we managed to keep a lot of clean sheets in 20/21. Early doors yet, though I had hoped that we keep Itten as that sort of physical spear-head-striker that stays central, keeps their defenders busy while Morelos, Sakala, Roofe, Wright, Kent and Co. run them ragged.

Due to working commitments I haven`t seen a minute of today`s game, but really, Kent has had more mediocre, sub-standard and countable-stats-less games than Wright has minutes in a Rangers shirt. Maybe Wright didn`t perform up to his own standards today, but for some reasons our no-matter-what-all-time favourites like Kent and Tavernier get far too much adolation than quite a few of their performances justify. I relied on a live text feed and some comments from the German board and if that`s poor ... 4' Attempt missed. Scott Wright (Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Connor Goldson. 21' Attempt saved. Fashion Sakala (Rangers) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Scott Wright. 23' Attempt saved. Kemar Roofe (Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Scott Wright. 38' Attempt missed. Scott Wright (Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top right corner. 39' Attempt missed. Steven Davis (Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Scott Wright. 45' Scott Wright (Rangers) wins a free kick in the attacking half. 53' Attempt saved. Scott Wright (Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Joe Aribo. ... than I hope he has a few more poor games for us. We seemingly need that rock in midfield with the name Jack this season, as well as Hagi`s creativity, spark and shooting ability ... along with getting games into Sakala, Wright and seemingly Bacuna too.

The one thing here is that you really don`t know how Lyon would actually play, unless you see them often. We went for a midfield of craft (which they did), and an attacking three that were essentually Morelos up top and two people interchanging positions and dropping deep every now and then. By default, that means we were blunt up top. Once we knew how Lyon played, we should have put on another quick guy to run into the space that was there, one attacker who goes for goal. Kent was far too often far too deep ... and when we had the ball in the box, we were usually still outnumbered as our craftsmen didn`t support the frontline that hard and run into spaces. When we play 4-3-3, we should play 3 attackers up front ... and for a good few weeks now, Kent is too blunt in front of goals to get a starting slot ahead of Wright, Sakala or Roofe. BTW, we also missed Hagi tonight. Dunno whether Bassey and Patterson would have faredthat well against the likey of Lyon, but against other teams, they can sure step up. Having said that, both Barisic and Tavernier were okay tonight, given then opposition. It was more a case of the DMS/CMs not taking up their men every now and then.

First off, if that ref is international standard, so too is Collum. He was buying any shit from the Lyon chaps. Speaking of the latter, they had some decent spells but where hardly that great either. At the end of the day, a Sunday-afternoon-goal as we say over here and a mighty scramble in our goal-area gave them the goals that counted, but chances-wise we should have been in that game too. Kent ... well, that`s two goals he essentially gave away, first loosing the ball, then working back well but instead of clearing it, looked up and the ball was away in the danger-zone. When you see Wright instead of him, it makes you wonder why it needs an injury that means Kent is benched for a while and others are given a chance?! He and Aribo were also guilty of holding onto the ball when an opposing player was next to him, only to learn that this is international level, and in case of Lyon, de-facto CL-level ... not the Premiership. Likewise, as has been said, too many stray passes that ended up short (maybe the weather, since the Lyon guys weren`t any much better). Lundstram came into the game as Davis dropped out, I assume a few more of these games and he will come good in Europe too. Our wingbacks did okay, as did our centre-halfs. The crux of the matter remains that having Aribo and Kent alongside a single striker, not least when the two drop deep or into a variety of positions, make us a blunt weapon up front. It should be Morelos, Roofe and Wright or Sakala up front, and the rest can work behind that. People that drive at goal at every opportunity and shoot if there is a slight option. Aribo and Kent far too often look for a pass too many before actually taking a shot ... and truth be told, while both can hit the odd cool strike, the strike-rate is not that great. As such, the game should have been different, given how average Lyon has shown up. As I noted on the German board: if CL quality means such play-acting along with the odd bit of brilliance, I wonder whether it is better to stay in the Premiership.

It`s good when your commentator speaks Russian then ... ?

Well, apart from that one peach-eh-won`t-score-again-this-season, there is not really much between the teams. Chances at either eand, Kent, who lost the ball for their goal, had a brilliant chance and Lundstram just wide. We need to be sharp at the back, as they twice went through like butter. Hoping for Roofe and Wright later on.

Had a quick check of their squad, just three big money transfers, lots of people from their youth teams (0) and a few freebies. GK - Lopes (0), Pollersbek (225k), Bonnevie (?) DEF - Emerson (loan), Boateng (free), Henrique (free), Denayer (9m), Diomande (0), Da Silva (free), Luekba (0), Gusto (0) MF - Aquar (0), Bruno G. (18m), Caqueret (0), Keita (0), Paqueta (18m), Shaqiri (5,4m) ST - Cherki (0), Barcola (0), Slimani (free), Toko (10,35m) Interesting that their biggest signings, them two Brazilians at 18m each, were given exception to travel to Scotland. Gut feeling says that this could go well down the way the Leverkusen games wnet. Then again, in Europe under SG we have been quite good against many a team that "should" walked over us. Let`s just hope for the best.

Those are three points you really make to work for and we were made to work for. Hopefully Helander is okay, him and Goldson out for Thursday wouldn`t be good.

Players in prominent roles shall perform up to their level, so there is reason that they start in prominent roles. If they don`t, they are the first some (sic!) FLAK is aimed at. We sure need some more cohesion in our attacking play, not rely on happenstance or the odd bit of individual brilliance for too long.

He is here there and everywhere, but hardly in it. Wonder when we see Wright and/or Sakala.

Could we apply for a rule change that we get an extra point for dominating posession by more than 50+ %?

Remember Sheriff Kenneth Hogg? The one who essentially cleared a Hibs-Fan of attempted assault of Lee Wallace, and assaulting a Rangers-Fan and another woman with a chair? That same Kenneth Hogg cleared a Yahoo from using sectarian language despite knowing it better, ignoring the witness accounts of policemen and putting all emphasis on not super-clearly hearing the video-recordings ... so the Yahoo was told he is a naughty boy and that`s that. With people like that in power ...

I am pretty sure that in rugby, the rules are much stricter than in football? You don`t be aggressive in any such game for long. Maybe hurling or Aussie rules football is different?