der Berliner

BTW, at 1.08.00 in that video, a Rangers defenders cuts out a cross in the area, clearing it behind and hitting the arm of a fellow Rangers defender from close range. Anyone with an idea of how the rules on penalties work can tell me how that is a penalty? I have tried to check it but found no valid info so far.

Have cleaned the list of people we were linked with since the end of last season, as quite a few of these rumours became non-starters when people moved to other clubs: IN – Harry Wilson (24) – Liverpool, Wales, RW, contract 2023 – LINK - TM - went to Fulham 12,6m IN – Britt Assombalonga (28) - Middlesbrough, CF, free - LINK - TM - went to Adana Demirspor - free IN - Roko Simic (17) – Lok Zagreb, CF, contract 2023 – LINK - TM - to Red Bull Salzburg 3,6m, then loaned to Liefering IN - Santiago Moreno (21) - America de Cali, Colombian, RW, contract 2023 - LINK - TM - went to Portland Timbers 3,25m IN - Santos Borre (25) - River Plate, Colombia - ST, contract 2021 - LINK - TM - went to Eintracht Frankfurt on a free IN - Alhassan Yusuf (20) - Nigeria, IFK Gothenborg - DM, contract 11/2022 - LINK - TM - went to Royal Antwerp 1,35m

Will update the previous games soonish, this is a wee reminder that tonight`s friendly against Chelsea will be streamed for free on the clubs media channels ... RANGERS can confirm this evening’s friendly against Chelsea has sold out - but you can catch the action on our live stream for FREE.

I doubt anyone want Candeias to return.

At least this guy there last night got 9 out 10 attempted crosses past the first defender or into the area, as opposed to the chap on the right-hand side.

Maybe he has lost hope in his ever-present, "ever-reliable" Kent and Tavernier? He even said there won`t be wholesale changes for Friday, even though the League Cup is usually McAllister`s business. I assume we will see the return of Bassey and Patterson, Kamara and Roofe. Stick with the 4-2-3-1 and if the Pars stand tall, suffer more dire stuff. If you`d ask me, I`d adopt 3-4-3, chuck Tav and Barasic et al and play a strong attacking line. Dunfermline won`t be running over our defense and both of them hardly get a decent ball in these days, and sure we need more real strikers. When we play an attacking 3 up front, they should perform. Last night, Morelos and Wright caused constant danger, Kent not. Aribo was out of sorts too, after the first 30 mins, at least. McLaughlin Balogun - Goldson/Helander - Simpson Hagi - Davis - Kamara - Wright Roofe - Morelos/Itten - Sakala Keep them in their own half, cut them to pieces early on and then bring on people to hit them with pace on the counter. But, but, but ... our wingbacks?!?!!? Teams playing a 3-4-3 don`t play defenders on the wings as "makeshift" attackers. And when those wingbacks don`t perform in the attacking role anyway, why not use real wingers instead and ask them to track back should need arise. The three defenders should be able to mop up any threat, not least with Kamara in front of them. We have the players, we should use them.

We hit the same road of 4-3-3 with Warburton and how much was "make Plan A better" line laughed at. Once the opposition suss out the players in their positions, they adapt. We didn`t learn that in SG`s first season, when we fell away after the turn of the year. It was the same in the year of the vote, when we managed to go 13 points behind within 8 eight weeks or the like. Last season worked as Morelos and Roofe brought a new dimension with their interplay, plus Hagi, Kent and Co. all performing on a consistently good level. Primarily though, we didn`t shed too many goals, especially in those close affairs when we failed to break down the trench-diggers. And we had either Jack or Kamara to do the hard yards and they cleared much before it became a danger. While our midfield-to-front crew did their usual stuff, to an extent at least, our defence was jittery ever since Livingston and Real. That`s three games on the trott that we have lost, 2 for farcical defending ... by the "usual suspects". Tonight Malmö were as clinical as we were in Europe these last few seasons, making the best of the opportunities that presented themselves. Kudos to them. What I expect for Ross County is Roofe, Sakala and Morelos up front, Wright and Hagi in behind. And maybe a start for Patterson, Helander and Simpson. Chuck that 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 for a while - not least against the lesser lights of the Premiership - and go back to basics. EDIT: We actually play Dunfermline this Friday, an even greater opportunity for freshen things up ... and learn from that. EDIT 2: Whoever thought up the third kit and whoever made us wearing it tonight should be gelded. What a pain ...

Never ever underestimate Scandinavian teams, they play summer football and those in the CL route are no mugs.

Back in the day, before the CL, we bowed out of Europe often enough early doors too. Or were handed our backsides by the teams of the day in the group stages. The last three seasons in Europe with SG were probably the most satisfying in many a long year, despite 2008 or some ventures under Advocaat.

Up next will be Alashkert or Almaty, Kasachstan or Armenia. By the way, we will be followed by Red Star Belgarde, Slavia and Sparta Prague, Genk, Olympiakos, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warzaw ...

A tactical lesson by a team 12 weeks more into their season than we are. 4 errors or blibs and you get punished - and the lad took his goals well today, as opposed to the farce over in Malmö. All those teams from the East, Belgium or Holland these last two seasons were not as far into their season, Scandinavian teams are always tricky. And by our displays so far this season, we`d be food and drink for any CL team with some class. The nigh slavic 4-2-3-1 approach backfired again, not least when they sat back like the teams in the Premiership, but with more quality. And with Kent, Tavernier and - dare I say it - Barasic`s crossing and passing that went from mediocre to abysmal, this system has run its course with these players. Hagi and Sakala instantly went on the offensive and caused havoc. You wonder what a Patterson might have done on the right flank. It very much looks like the Kudela Fiasco has hurt us more, with Kamara missing as the focal point in midfield, while Jack is still injured. An evening that ends in agony, not just because of the money lost from the CL, but also because we haven`t evolved or changed from the errors of the last month, and indeed last season. Onto the Europa League ... and truth be told, that is where we belong. The main aim this season needs to be retaining the title and go straight into the CL group phases mext season. Written on the 10th of August ... f@ck me ...

That McGregor "incident" was laughable. The linesman was yards behind the ball and from his angle he can only have assumed that Greegs was over the line, and he was exactly over it. That 2nd yellow was likewise rather debatable, as both went in equally hard and high. Our defenders should get their act together and clear the ball more deciseivly, far too often we invite them unto us with poor and short clearances ... Hope we see Hagi in the 2nd half.

Indeed. Yet, it makes you sick that Whyte could do what he did (despite being chased by HMRC when he entered Britain and walked along Edmiston Drive) and still walks along de facto free.

Tracking Robson would have been Tavernier`s job. He put in a bit of a challenge, than watched on what developed instead of spotting/following Robson running past him and then was out of sight.

According to some Turkish media chaps ... Right sided winger that would hopefully mean Hagi being moved more centrally and being played as the creative attacking midfielder that he is.

BTW, Jamie Robson looked quite good, both defensively, putting pressure on Tav and roving forward.

As often, you put your words into a different order without putting any answer or more meaning to it. We toiled in those 11 1-0 wins, had another 6 draws and in those games that we beat teams by 2 goals (another 6, which makes it 23 of 38) we usually scored when they opened up. When we are on song and put a few goals past teams early doors, we were able to hand out a hammering, well 3 or 4 goals every now and then even. Did I make out DU as world-beaters? Nope, I`m rather surprised how you come to that conclusion. I saw them on the same level as Livingston and Co. a solid team that packs defense and midfield and counter and press whenever possible. A style that we have not been comfortable with for ages. Maybe you are one of those people who can put these dozens of dire games out of memory, "since we won". And while I usually ban them from memory for the wasted hours of watching them, I don`t forget it. I`ve spoken out against that "4-3-3" against any Scottish team anywhere we play them time and again, even we two had enough "debates" on them. Yet we persist, toil on more often than not, and every now and then get an unkind reminder what happens when our defenders fail or those threesome up front fail to come up with the goods, usually because 2 of them are more often than not no strikers. No knee-jerking et al, just the observation. And one uttered dozen times before.

The one thing that makes our line-up yesterday more plausible was that we might want to keep Itten, Wright, Hagi and Co. unscathed and fit for Malmö, as this will be a far more important game for the club than 3 points at the start of the season. Let`s hope we come out all guns blazing for that game.

So we are down to the bare bones of stats now? You saw the line up today and thought that would be enough for Dundee United then? Before the game I wrote: As with previous seasons, you look at the line-up and see lots of workers, but the lethal, goalscoring bit, will again rests on the shoulders of a single striker and the hope that Aribo and Kent provide an end product to their work. There`s a reason we "only" won 11 league games by 1 goal, 6 more by 2 goals and drawing 6 more. I know it is lamenting on a high level, but the stats remain and we all remember these dire affairs of teams sitting deep and we toil along to break them up. Not sure whether some people`s memories are short, but today was exactly as those games mentioned above, dire affairs of toil. Quite a few of those 1-goal-wins happened when we brought a 2nd striker on. Yes, when we started the scoring early and teams opened up, we occasionally beat them handsomely, that 8-0 vs Hamilton will have blown the stat up a bit too. But help yourself to the game threads of last season and much of those will include "job done, no more no less". No smug comments will change that, nor will they help us improve games against Scottish opposition.

Both a pretty straight forward suggestions and not that hard to grasp. I often wonder if the length of comments, in here, is showing a direct proportion of understanding the topic.

Wait, you mean playing three defensive midfielders not known for their attacking prowess, a single striker and two hardly-lethal attacking midfielders against a packed defense and solid midfield was shrewd? Our three attack-minded players were easily mopped up by their defense time and again, and we hardly got anything going from deep or had supportive runners from midfield. And not for the first time. IMHO, that is far too defensive, not least if you want to keep the opposition in their half and dominate the game in a manner we could. So if we play a 4-3-3, I want our best attackers in the front line, and possibly one attack-minded behind them. Time and again we have relied on our wingbacks to act as supportive attacking players who swing in crosses, only that we have far too fw players at the receiving end. And when they (and not least Tav) provide no quality, things need to change. Yet we persist with the same system time and time again, despite it being hardly the one-and-only solution to play Scottish opposition. It failed for Warburton, and dare I say it, it also failed in our first two seasons under SG, even though people rather like to blame the players. Last season`s success, to a large extent, was built on our rock solid defence, not exactly us blowing the opposition apart. So yes, with all these new and better players, it would be good to see some tactical changes too. Ar least every now and then. But you are free to offer your own ideas. EDIT: No need for people throwing about cynical remarks regarding "us being in crisis" or the like. We are surely not, yet those who have their own opinions should be free to do so and I don`t see any need to level any "head-in-sands" comments out at those not of my opinion either.

While today was meant to give game time to Aribo and Morelos, who worked their socks off, the rest of the midfield line-up bar Kamara and Davis were hardly helping. Lundstram and Kent were not injecting anything into our forward play, and as much I and some people like Kent`s workrate, there are games (too many, TBH) where much of his work ends up with nothing. My biggest bone of contention though is that he`s nearly undroppable. Wright has been a breath of fresh air, Roofe looks dangerous and even Itten looks a threat on either flank. It is time to put up the strike-force we have on display, instead of playing "attackers" who don`t come up with the good. At least as long as they don`t. And maybe it is time to give Patterson a shift in the Premiership too.

Game plan disaster waiting to happen. Only a matter of time. It was looking like that 0-0 at the start of last season vs Livingston, until we ... nah .... some switched off again. The Arabs threw everything into it and held on to that goal with teeth and claw, we rallied far too late. Hopefully a wake-up call to change that dire far too defensive line-up for Scottish games, not least when supposed attackers fail to deliver countable results. There goes the unbeaten league record.

Imagine Tavernier had ran on and kept Robson in check, but no ...