der Berliner

Regarding Lammers, we could go back a few months and people on here were saying that e.g. Dessers is "no footballer".  Like many players before him. Dessers and Lammers obviously are footballers, for they make lots of money in that job, only that football is a team game and if things click, all is fine. It appears that the Utrecht side and Lammers click. Or the style of football they play, the style of the teams of this league play. It didn't click for him with us in a time of transition, squad- and management-wise. It's hard to say it ever will click with us - and our soothsayers are, on hindsight, usually way off the mark, but rarely admit to it later. As long as he's our player and does well, fine. Some guys need their confidence boost to get back on track, and it remains to be seen what Clement makes of this.

1 hour ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

A swallow does make summer.

He did so a few games back and essentially did not do much worse than others (namely Goldson & Tavernier) today either. I'd rather have him in these kind of games than McCausland or Cantwell getting an injury. Decent enough squad player.

Should have been more goals, would love to see Silva and Dessers alongside one another, the former likes to drop deep and his all action style (like Cantwell) may earn him a few cards (IMHO, he rode his luck with Collum today). Decent workout for Cortes, Diomande, Raskin, and Jack.

3 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

 Cortes looking very good so far, think he’s been very bright.

 

Raskin and diomande been quiet but wright has been poor. Final ball very low quality when things don’t break down with him.

 

 

Aside from sending Cortes away to supply Barisic? He's not much worse than others, maybe we should stop looking for faults where there are none or very few (not least compared to other players). 😎

Main thing of the first half: Jack is back to his best and looks fit.

With so many changes and new players, it's all a bit disjointed, but we still roll wave after wave of attack over them. 1-0 in the Cup is always perilous, yet, we should have been far and away by now and most likely will at the end.

Aberdeen bought Miovski 1.5 years ago for 650k. He's contracted till 2026. Guess what will be their asking price ...

2 hours ago, JohnMc said:

Among the many changes that Phillipe Clement has quietly affected at Rangers one has gone almost unmentioned. We finished the match last night with three 20 year olds and a 21 year old upfront, plus Yilmaz who is only 22. I'm not sure I recall Rangers ever having a younger side than the one that finished last night. Getting the best out of young players is not something every manager can do. We started this season with a side built around experience and height, somehow we now have a young, slim, quick side. Far from the finished article, but with a clear purpose and all knowing what they are meant to be doing. Huge credit to the big Belgian. 

 

Last night we saw a Rangers side show character. I think we all know we wouldn't have won that match 4 months ago. Not every player had their best game, but every player fought, showed intensity and worked very, very hard. We're not top, but this side is growing every week and they'll get another chance to take that top spot. 

So true. For decades we, managers and most fans alike, treated 20-22-year olds as youngsters, which most likely saw much talent being shuttled out of Rangers, remaining unexposed and held back by their new clubs, mainly low(er) key Scottish or English sides. Lowry showed up as a great prospect, yet we used him only sporadically, and his stint at Hearts obviously went sour. You wonder whether Clement and his staff can revitalize Lowry's talent like they have done with McCausland, who has been smashing for a player of his age (and under the scrutiny of 50odd thousand hypercritical fans). As Davis hanged up his boots with Rangers and Northern Ireland, we see another star rise, thankfully at our club. Such talent needs to be found, reared, and given the chance. More often than not, we only did the first part. 

I'd have kept Dessers on, we put them under so much pressure at times, but missed a finisher in the box. Obviously, Lawrence (the one I would have subbed ahead of Dessers) lashed one at their goal for Cantwell to finish it off. Karma 😱

But all we need to add to our game now is putting the chances away (nothing new) and keeping them stray runners out.

Daylight robbery goal ... and the old saying echoes round again and again. If you don't take your chances, you will get punished. Aberdeen deserve nothing from this half, but claw themselves back as  Goldson can't handle his opponent ion the one moment where he had to. 

Let's hope we hammer them now.

1 hour ago, weebluedevil said:

Is Cifuentes injured on just being selected in the squad? 

Ain't he on his way to Cruzeiros on loan already or soonish? Their transfer window is still open.

Looks like a 4-1-4-1 ... 

Butland

Tavernier - Goldson - Souttar - Ridvan

Lundstram

McCausland - Cantwell - Lawrence - Matondo

Dessers

... unless you make it a 4-4-2 with Matondo as second striker 😱

Much of our dealings with regard to the players we have - aside from any other targets - will depend on snatching 56 and essentially making sure of getting the CL group entrance fee.

IMHO, we are not worse off than before the window, with some players hopefully coming back sooner rather than later. A strike force of Sima, Dessers, Silva and Danilo would sure be much better than what we have in seasons before, at least on paper. Sima's played his part, Dessers' come good and Silva is sure making an impact. You would hope that even when all are fit, Clement utilizes not only one of them, but 2 or 3.

Goldson, Balogun and Souttar are a decent backbone in defence, with Davies and King standing ready, possibly even Lundstram or Sterling. Defensive midfield looks okay, with Raskin and Diomande (from the videos) being creative too. The "support department" does its job admirably of late, Matondo, Cantwell, Wright, and McCausland all prominent, Cortes to come.

As I said, right now, we're looking good. And Clement has them all focussed, which is probably the most important part.

Referee - Don Robertson

Assistants - David McGeachie and Daniel McFarlane

Fourth Official - Colin Steven

Video Assistant Referee - Greg Aitken

Assistant Video Assistant Referee - Alan Mulvanny

Missing -  Zak Lovelace (muscle - back late February), Danilo Pereira (knee - back April), Kemar Roofe (calf- back April), Kieran Dowell (foot - back March), Ben Davies (thigh - back early February), Abdallah Sima (foot- back April), Alex Lowry (foot- back March), Dujon Sterling (muscle - back early February), Leon Balogun (head - back late February), Ryan Jack (whatever)

Live on: Sky Sports Football and Rangers TV

Some referee selection ... again.

SPFL highlights ...

We may very well hammer them, but it is once more a far too defensive line-up. Jack and Lundstram can play the ball, but all along the area instead of shooting or filling the spaces. If a cross comes in, time and again the one striker is being swamped and the danger cleared.

Another non-look at VAR for that rather obvious handball. Well, well ...

The problem with Roofe is that even if he is fit, he'll only last a dozen minutes or so. If he is actually used.

Stasi he said 

Not sure whether some chaps might indeed still leave, e.g. the Turkish transfer window is still open. Dunno about the Brazilian one. So perhaps we might see some movement still. And there obviously is the freebie option.

We're left with a couple of fit strikers, of whom Silva probably still needs some time to adjust. We've seen all the talk about Dessers (to name but one of many) and he took some time to settle (or find his form). Sadly, it looks like we cannot afford to give Silva as much time till he finds his goalscoring touch (if any). With Sima out, we are also bereft of another regular scorer. Cantwell, Lawrence, Matondo, and Wright all know how to score, but don't do that regularly enough. Cortes obviously is an unknown quantity, but that also holds true for the Scottish defenders he is up against. Wait and see (and hope) is the name of the game.

Diomande looks to be another piece of the new midfield puzzle, should fit right in besides Raskin.

Glad that we kept Ridvan, as he looks in form these days, and more positive than Barisic. I assume that we will monitor Jefte till the end of the season and either one of the aforementioned two will be for the off in the summer.

All in all, we are not worse off than before, which is the main thing.

Sometimes you sit back and wonder what we've done wrong to suffer such a horrendous streak of injuries to important players. Helander, Roofe, Lawrence, Dowell, Raskin, Danilo, and Sima. So much talent and money benched for long and important spells. It's time we get a break here ...

By the looks of it, we'll get Jefte and Cortes before the deadline, whereas Cifuentes will be off. Lowry possibly too, even though nothing has been said so far.

There is virtually zero chance that we let Butland or Dessers go anywhere, unless it is silly money on offer. Signing Jefte would mean that either Barisic or Ridvan could be off, but that's as much tea-bag swinging as is the Shankland "mystery".

With Danilo, Roofe, and Sima out, we are seriously short of striking power, essentially an injury away from chaos. We can but hope that much like Sima, someone steps up and delivers, maybe Cortes is that guy, or Silva.

Scott McKenna off to Kopenhagen, it seems. Was rather unlikely anyway.

Dessers took a while to get going, he's looking good now. Others never got going and left, or are loaned. Who knows what will happen to Lammers, or Danilo for that matter.

Silva needs his time too, you see that he needs players around him that think as quickly as he does. Which is also a problem that needs to be considered. Unless you put "aligned" people out there, folk like Silva, Lammers, or Cantwell may either be brilliant or abysmal, as their fellow players are not on the same wave-lengths. This is just a general remark, I don't want to compare either guy's "qualities".

Same with Shankland. He's on fire right now, scores from all angles. Maybe he can carry this to us, should  we sign him, maybe not. As per usual, we won't know until we try. I'd hate to see our in-form striker (no matter whom) get benched to trial any newcomer. I still hope to see the 9 and the 10 playing alongside each other again in a two-striker attack though. Likewise, I am confident that we might shift Dessers into a wider (if not much) role next to a central striker. Sima was playing like that, and Roofe. No matter what, we need people up there to score goals. Sima's done that, now Dessers does. We need two or three consistent scorers though.

Cortes is playing across the front-line, going by his stats - similar to Cantwell and Lammers. He's been most lethal for the Colombia u20s, playing mostly on the right. I was about to write that he's sure a "project player" by his age, but remembered that e.g. quite a number of the RB Leipzig or Borussia Dortmund players are not much older than him and doing well.

A bit of rumours, for a change ...

Rangers have agreed a deal with Lens for 20-year-old Colombia winger Oscar Cortes - signed by the French club for £4m last summer - to go on loan to Ibrox with an option to buy. (The Herald)

Rangers are also hoping to sign 20-year-old Fluminense left-back Jefte - on loan at APOEL but unable to be bought by the Cypriot club because of a transfer embargo - this week. (The Scotsman)

Oscar Cortes (21) - AM, RC Lens, Colombia, contract till 2028 - TM - TM Stats - LINK

If Clement expected St. Mirren to play like they did, he did everything well. Only that I doubt that. We essentially put a 7-man defence in front of Butland, and of the three attackers, only Wright and Dessers did their job. The game completely passed Cantwell by, mainly because he is just roving about. Wouldn't be surprised to see him subbed at HT.

Added to OP ...

IN - Jefte (20) - LB, Brazil, Fluminense - on loan at APOEL Nicosia, contract till 2026 - TM - TM stats - LINK

Let's wait till APOEL says Yes!

4 hours ago, Rousseau said:

Tillman was just an 'option to buy', iirc.

Yeah, an option to re-buy by Bayern should we decide to sell him later. Somehow, the deal was more structured than that (and as was known), as we have seen since. That was my point.

1 hour ago, Frankie said:

 

Another right out of the blue thing than no-one heard a whisper till "a deal was in place". Don't we love that? Don't we hate that? 🤪

Now that we have a left-back, we can move Ridvan to left-wing till Sima is back! He's of the right size and has all the abilities.