der Berliner

Well, the 4m for Sands will be due in January, the 5m next summer, if correct. We snapped up some coin yesterday when Mr. Gilmour left Chelsea in a 9m deal for Brighton, methinks a bit north of 1m. Edminston House I have no clue about, but the costs will be stretched out over a certain course of time. We made roughly 16m in transfer income, excluding Katic, Middleton, and Gilmour. That`s the money we can really speak about. EL money from last season has been raked in this summer, we can roughly evaluate what we get from the first 4 CL games*, plus reaching the group phase. At which point that money will arrive is anyone's guess. *That means UEFA price money plus 2+3 certain home-game income.

The one position that I would now call a bit weak is right back. With Zukowski gone, we have only have youngster Devine (who IMHO was solid the other day, but that might change under league or EL pressure and 50k Bears looking on), and stand ins who have played there in days gone by, King, Soutar, Jack, and Goldson. My gut-feeling says that Matondo will come good, or at least he will deliver in the league.

There will be freebies available after today still. Just saying. If all are fit, well most of the better players at least, we have a good enough squad to challenge for the title. Even if we manage to get beaten on Saturday (though the Scum haven`t faced any decent team so far). IMHO, we haven`t lost anyone we haven`t replaced so far, even if Kamara leaves today, we can compensate. For we still have Jack, Lundstram, Davis, Sands, and McCann, who can all play in his place - and have done so.

Should have had 4 or 5 yesterday. He is getting in the right positions, as Jason Hold did in his first season, before being used ever deeper in midfield. Tillman and Lawrence too, so there is a "new" threat from that area. Likewise, despite a rather mediocre showing yesterday, Matondo also likes to get into the area AND likes to shoot. So there is a threat that we haven`t really had for some time, even though Wright grew into that role and likes a pop at goal too. Things Aribo and Kamara haven`t done or don`t do that much. Another thing, Ridvan looked rather willing too. I actually wondered whether we might think about playing him ahead of Barisic, for he likes to take on players and have a pop himself. He is 20, fearless and willing. Our older players, Kent, Kamara, Aribo and Co. started to think rather than play, losing the advantage the situation presents and rather often, get crowded out or closed down. Hence, young and new blood is needed - every now and then. I for one look forward to see Hagi and Tillman play along one another, as much as I look forward to see another proper striker alongside Colak.

Need to get into the game this thrown together band, but they cope well. Ridvan`s touch and jumping ability are quite cool. Davis pulling the strings expertly, someone needs to tell Kamara to shoot, at least every now and then. Sakala with 2,5 assists and trying.

Truth be told, I haven`t seen (live) that much of him on either side, but he was marked as a right sided attacker when he was signed. We have quite a few players who offer us options, yet we hardly utilize them all. The players, not the options they have. Hence, today I expect to see Matondo, Ridvan, Sakala, Morelos and quite a few others.

Wee reminder of the squad how it stands ... by position. TM Rangers Squad by Position For I see a lot of people asking for a right winger when we actually have signed Matondo for exactly that slot. You can click on any player, then open the STATS pull-down and click on ALL SEASONS. You will get a screen that lists the positions (amongst many other things) where that player has played in throughout his career. That in turn makes TM to put him primarily in one slot, while also offering alternative slots. E.g. Matondo played most of last season as a right winger and was pretty decent. It overtook his use as a left winger, but he can play across the attack line, which is one reason we signed him. While Wright was mostly used as a left winger by Aberdeen, due to the irreplacable Kent, and the loss of Hagi, we shoe-horned him into the right winger role, hence he is now listed as right winger. There are also some misconceptions about Lawrence, whom we utilized in an leftish AM role, but who played most of his games for Derby as a left winger (perhaps not in recent memory). And he is rather versatile too, as we have seen. We do have a number of people capable of playing across the front line and, e.g. you see in his goal return that Colak is an out and out central striker. He hardly ventures to the wings and is there where he has to be. Would love to see him paired with Morelos up top.

As noted in the TM link in the OP: Current club: Rangers FC Joined: Jul 15, 2022 Contract expires: May 31, 2023 Contract option: Buy-option with buy-back option On loan from: Bayern Munich Contract there expires: Jun 30, 2024 The one thing that is never mentioned is the asking price of Bayern, yet, Tillman would only have a year left of his deal and he was not in Bayern's plans in July 2022. One thing is for sure: there is massive talent in the u23s of certain Bundesliga clubs waiting to let loose. Quite a few of them know that they will not get/have a good chance at their parent clubs, who, like we did, rather sign even better and/or experienced players for their first team squad.

Raskin ... from his stats he looks like someone to challenge Davis, Kamara, Jack and Lundstram for a position, and my gut feeling says that unless someone moves on soonish, that`s a no-goer. Then again, Davis* and Jack won`t get younger (or are injured) and there was interest in Kamara before. EDIT: Some suggestions that Raskin is a deep midfield playmaker type of guy. * Always astonished at the stamina levels of Davis and Arfield.

Bayern meets Lewandowksi, Dortmund meets Haaland, and we Bassey. 😱

Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli and us ... well, nice. If anything, Ibrox will be rocking.

IMHO, they could just give us the title here and now ...

Well, even our friends at the BBC saw us having 14 shots at goal (compared to their 16), of which 3 where on target (4). I reckon he might have slept through Lawrence`s shot at bar and post ... Maybe the un-excitement got him last night.

Draw at UEFA https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/draws/2023/2001673/

While we are waiting, here`s Colak`s goal again ... https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/video/0278-15f261c96cf0-1389a379ff5f-1000--antonio-colak-s-winner-for-rangers/

UEFA has a nice picture on their website for the respective pots. I guess the Yahoos won`t like it ... https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0278-15f376ebc327-0c4b38261a3a-1000--champions-league-group-stage-draw-pot-4/

Colak is born and bred in Germany, played all his youth in Germany too. Very similar to Leon Balogun who plays for Nigeria and is a born Berliner,or indeed Malik Tillman, who now plays for the US of A.

Snatched from the German board: Here`s stuff for a sweet dream or nightmare ... Pot 1: Real Madrid (Spanien), Eintracht Frankfurt (Deutschland), Manchester City (England), Bayern München (Deutschland), AC Mailand (Italien), Paris St. Germain (Frankreich), FC Porto (Portugal), Ajax Amsterdam (Niederlande) Pot 2: FC Liverpool (England), FC Chelsea (England), FC Barcelona (Spanien), Juventus Turin (Italien), Atletico Madrid (Spanien), FC Sevilla (Spanien), RB Leipzig (Deutschland), Tottenham Hotspur (England) Pot 3: Borussia Dortmund (Deutschland), FC Salzburg (Österreich), Schachtjor Donezk (Ukraine), Inter Mailand (Italien), SSC Neapel (Italien), Benfica Lissabon (Portugal), Sporting Lissabon (Portugal), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Deutschland) Pot 4: Olympique Marseille (Frankreich), FC Brügge (Belgien), Celtic Glasgow (Schottland), Viktoria Pilsen (Tschechien), Maccabi Haifa (Israel), Rangers FC (Schottland), Sieger FK Bodö/Glimt - Dinamo Zagreb, FC Kopenhagen (Dänemark)

I would assume that Sands and Tillman deals will be done ASAP, i.e. at the end of the year and season respectively. Both had a great game, but Sands was immense, my MOTM.

The night Rangers send two Glasgow sides into the Champions League, only that we did it the hard way. 😎 Truth be told, we did a marvellous job of not letting them into any sort of rhythm and hit where when possible. We might have sneaked even more goals, yet McLaughlin was great with these two or three saves. Here`s to the team!

So far, so good. As long as we don`t let them play, we can handle them. A couple of good chances for Lundstram and Lawrence, DeJong and some other guy for PSV. Let`s hope Gio has his cudgel in the dressing room and give those defenders something in the neck for another few attempts at suicidal defending. This passing amongst themselves ... 🥵

While cards are interesting, more interesting is the amount of goals the Yahoos score through/after dubious decisions, or, indeed, free-kicks and penalties denied to the opposition, even the most glaring ones. Methinks last season alone, they got away with almost 10 decisions that went their way before they got their act together, with clear penalties denied to the opposition or goals where scored by the Yahoos from offside positions. While you would not go as far as denying that we managed to throw away our lead over the course of a 3 or 4 week spell, they could easily have stood with 10 to 15 points less too.

WE CAN TAKE CONFIDENCE INTO TODAY’S GAME And she duly scored ... MATCH REPORT: PAOK 0-4 RANGERS

Seen a few hatchet jobs on Matondo over on FF too. He`s been here for a few months. The chap on the opposite side of the field, playing most games since signing, on the other hand, can`t do wrong. He was, again, a no-show yesterday, and had it been Wright or Sakala and not Kent, they´d be ripped apart in no time.