der Berliner

Nah, only for the obvious.

IMHO, Diomande is some sort of upgrade of Glen Kamara. An equally good footballer who loves to play the game. But love for the game and good technique is not required, if you don't put it into countable figures. What PC sees in him in games like the last one and today's is utterly beyond me.

45+10 mins that might give you hope, but we have had so many false dawns in recent history. Coming to think of it, it weren't that many. Too little to live, too much to die ...

Sterling gets a yellow ... because Mr. Captain is somewhere else.

That's twice we rode our luck ... better start playing some football now.

Easy, the lad had his hand on Butland's shoulder. Alas, Maclean on the screen had his bright moment, as opposed to Clancy.

That's how you do it: replace a striker who was let down by his fellows with another striker (rather than a fellow), and a AM shoe-horned into right wing with a right-winger. While the left-winger is firing blanks ...

Wee sidenote ... nice (random) schedule: Away St. Mirren (last season: Home St. Johnstone 2-0) Away Motherwell (Away Motherwell 2-0) Home Scum (Away Scum 1-2) Away Hibs (Home Killie 3-1 ... any bets which will be his last game. The question remains whether the players are actually with the manager any more. Which, in turn, means: which of these players is mentally Rangers standard.

... well, we have had those years after our return, and some of the performances there need some beating. Still, we play far too open for a team like Motherwell and thus get caught out far too easily. This can be addressed rather quickly, but we don't do so. Cortes is clearly not fit, Diomande in the ball-dancer role ... mind you, even Kamara would be better for today. Putting on 7 "new" faces away to Motherwell was asking for trouble, refereeing and ill-luck aside. We can lament about our centre-halfs as much as we like, the only "option" today is King. I'd put him in as a solid DM, remove Diomande, and Cortes for Cerny. Put Raskin and Dowell ahead of King.

You see Cortes and ask yourself, why PC did not field him in the 2nd half in midweek. He's clearly not at the races ... and no help whatsoever.

They don't get the ball that often, and Dowell is playing what, right winger? Not his job.

Whatever rode Sterling to head the ball back into the danger area, Tav's attempt at defending was even worse ...

"Deemed" is a pre-VAR-phrase. It was clear handball and the green filth on the pitch and behind the screen knew it.

Merely a clear handball ... who cares ...

We've rotated more managers in the last decade than during the previous 100 years. One of the bigger mistakes were that we handed so many people the job and gave them time to build their own version, that we lost the leagues (refereeing interference aside) during their trainee period time and again. You might blame all the managers in person, but they usually dragged a whole bunch of people to our club, all with football brains (you would have hoped), yet none came up with a pragmatic approach to the realities in Scotland. How can these 4 or more people in every managing staff time and again fail in spotting the obvious? If I were the CEO (with not that big a football brain), I'd get some football experts around me, have their opinion, and then ask the manager what he thinks needs to change. If this approach is not in line to the realities and other opinions, I'd think about someone doing it better. Clement got a contract till 2028, so was obviously earmarked for a transition process. A horrific injury record sure didn't help, but no matter who was available, we toil along with no change in the approach, half a handful of games aside. So, where's the transition? You come to a point where you ask yourself that whomever we may sign in January is essentially irrelevant, as long as we don't adapt the system in a way we should.

Our problem is not our defence. It is our setup and the fact that we don't score enough from the chances we create. Play people who can score goals rather than people who might score, and that's that. BTW, I don't mind having Shankland in the side (probably the reason we didn't go for another striker last summer). Even if he's as mobile as a fridge, he will always have a couple of defenders around him and thus weakens a defence. You obviously need a Danilo or Igamane or both next to him in the attack line.

Since the English league sides probably face a similar "problem", unless the "EPL u23" (if they have it) is a success, why not set up a league structure for them? That is, a way to give them challenges against talented / quality sides rather than Lowland league footballers? Set up a northern British league, and a southern one, and have play-off at the end of the season for the u23 championship title. Our biggest problem under Walter and his followers was that we bought far too much "quality", and thus hardly ever gave any talented youngsters a real chance to progress. And IMHO, most young talents grow better by playing with equally talented "veterans" / first teamers. Lowry showed up quite brightly, yet we send him packing to Hearts rather than keeping him, now he's essentially done. I have no idea what the problem with McCausland is, who was fully dumped after the arrival of Cerny. Probably more to do with Clement than McCausland himself. (Mind you, I'd put him in behind Cerny during such affairs like Sunday's or vs Dundee at home. No use having a RB there who fails to cover and hardly provides much these days bar consternation.) Mind you, we rather play Bajrami on the wing, or Hagi, than real wingers. The problem remains the same as always. We don't rear truly talented youngsters in the way we should, back in the days of Walter because there was no necessity. Nowadays because of structural failure or ignorance on part of the managers.

It is an admin over there indeed. Alas, I never made excuses for PC anyway. He got his time ... and is contracted till 2028. Some project we are in.

... nor is he that good at defending. He's more often in or near the opposition box than where he needs to be if the call comes. The last attack ran over his right flank, and it was Cerny chasing the attacker.

Sunday away to Motherwell won't be a jot easier, then the Scum (who play at home to St. Johnstone). Some fixture selection ... Maybe we have some players in and out after January, so we can try our luck with the cup. Mr. Stewart, the floor is yours.

Nah, I leave you with your opinion on Ridvan and Jefte and whomever you like. And I'll keep mine.

Just look at the goal we lost against the second Ulsterman this evening ... and answer that question for yourself. Ahead of going after a chap who's just back and overhits three crosses.

That should teach you, my friend. You may sleep under the stairs with Harry tonight.

Thank heaven our right-back superstar was no-where to be seen too

Where do Scottish teams get all these refrigerator-throwers and train them to play football?