der Berliner

Just came home from work and was actually looking for a better result - only for my text-service chap to let me down here. So the disappointment is doubled. Alas, I spared downloading the game (at that minimal rate right now), after the headline on this board gave the result away. Anyway, I've said it all along, despite Naismith's grand season, a lot of our people have been playing sub-standard (their own that is) and continue to do so. What really beggars belief is that Ally does and did not drop the likes of Davis and Whittaker when he should have, so the mediocre stuff continued throughout these last two months, despite the fact there was potential on the bench. And no matter what others think, these chaps like McKay, Fleck, Bendiksen and even Ortiz can't be that bad. This morning I read Davis and Ally bragging about us being good enough for a win. That has always been a bad omen, the last time someone in blue said somesuch it was Whittaker ahead of the Malmö games. Here we go again. Right now, I for one - despite all the emotion - would have no problem if we do decide to sell the likes of Jelavic and - dare I say it - Davis ... if that means that we bring in people who want to play football with heart and soul and give 110% each and every week. And I do not care whether these people come from Accrington Stanley, Barca or East Fife, as long as they do their job. As for the result ... sure, Timothy will be jumping up and down the streets, as they were last season. But much like back then, or when we were mathematically 15 points clear, nothing is won or lost in January. We just managed to throw a healthy lead away and if we lose this title, serious questions have to be asked, not just McCoist, but also the attitude of some - key - players. But May is a long time ahead and we have an interesting month of January coming up. As my signature says ... Fortune will have her way, and she alone choses it.

Ere some jumps on tribalfootball's bandwaggon with regard to us looking for a loan of Goodwillie ... he has played for two clubs already this season (United & Rovers) and cannot play for another team this season. End of that story.

Well, we don't know much about what happens at Auchenhowie, or many other sports grounds in Europe. I happened to watch a few mid-season training sessions of Hertha Berlin over here and these people do not exactly break out sweat either.

Playing a defensive formation worked for us when we had fast players who were on top of their form. For we are much better picking teams off this season than to dominate a game or be creative. Hence, we "strolled" through a mediocre early season with Wylde, Naismith, Lafferty and Jelavic taking on this mantle. Once Naismith was out and Lafferty toiling too, this whole system went out of the window. It was more or less hit and hope ... for some brilliance of Jelavic. As soon as sides stopped us from doing that - St. Johnstone, Killie et al, we stuttered along. Ally chopped and changed and persisted in playing a combative midfield instead of a creative one, Fleck and McKay are sure pretty annoyed folk these days ... and who can blame them? It looks bad and we do not have the people to play that system. So he did a good job and brought in Aluko and as soon as Sone hits the field we look dangerous again?! Only to be denied by some rather ominous new rule that hits our new momentum right in the solar plexus region. Even Ally must have seen that his recent tactics do not work and they will not work against the Hooped Horrors either. If St. Johnstone and St. Mirren can match our midfield, I do expect that theirs will do so too. If there is need for it, that is. For they simply can by-pass it altogether and use their wing-players. Against a weakened central defence and a Whittaker who is well short of his own form, the omens do not look good. So by all accounts, an Aluko and Jelavic in the front line is a must, matter of fact, a 4-4-2 would be a surprise for the lego-eater and his ilk. Hit them fast and hit them hard, that will take the sting out of their bluster. Alas, I'll be off to work so I will have to watch the game later on ... unless we get beaten, and thus I can spare me the "drama".

We are 20 games into the season ... and have lost a massive 2 of them. The current form is a problem, but we have seen similar in years gone by, even the NIAR ones. There's a habbit to only remember the good things and leave the bad memories (grand ones aside) in the shadow of our mind, but bleak spells such as these have always been there. You can look at the future in the most negative ways possible, or try to keep a cool head and wait and see what happens. While many cannot envisage this, should we triumph at the Scumhut, their momentum is gone and we're suddenly 4 points ahead again.

On a sidenote, rumour on FF has it that we have put forward (on Friday) documents to the SPL to make two Aluko-contract-style signings this or next week. Different people with no reason to disbelief have made these statements, the sources did not tell them / had no knowledge of who these people were. Must have been either freebies (hence Aluko-style contracts). Just two freebies spring instantly to mind, for O'Connor and Allan are only available in January. Another rumour says that McCoist and Durrant were down in England today to have a look at Doncaster's Billy Sharp and Burnley's Rodriguez. The latter just your average rumour though.

I actually asumed that Ally tested various line-ups ahead of this game and you can safely say that it was a hazardous experiment. We will see a defensive formation at the Scumhut, of that I have no doubt. IMHO though, we should attack the Hooped Horrors as this is the area where they are most vulnerable. So Lafferty, Jelavic, Wylde, and Aluko are a must for me.

Ortiz, Wallace, Aluko, Goian, Bocanegra ... yep, you might have no point. Or do you mean those we acquired as - by common board opinion - as squad players? As for Jelavic, I don't know whether he would want to go to QPR if Liverpool has shown interest. In any case, I would hope that if he goes it will be sooner rather than later, so we have enough time to get replacements (!) in. As I said somewhere else, imagine he goes for 9m and we sign up three freebies like O'Connor, Boyd, and "worst of the lot" Riordan! 90% of the boards would be empty, as the members would have vanished into orbit ... BTW, I do think that while most talk is about Jelavic, we may also receive bids for Davis (AV) and Whittaker (Fulham) again. And as much as it hurts to say, for all their importance to the team, all three of them have played sub-their-own-standard this season. While you can accept some rustiness during the early stages of the campaign, we are now 20 matchdays into the season and they show no improvement whatsoever. And rest assured, I will be happy to eat my words come May, should these folk actually get their act together and deliver what they are capable of.

You know what? Rangers will be there come Thursday morning, come August 2012, and for a long time thereafter. No matter whether there'll be a 55th flag of St. Andrew's in the trophy room or not. That is all that counts to me. I for one have seen far darker days than these* and people back then - as they should now - have read these words and kept believing in Rangers FC: In that spirit, Merry Christmas. * Yep, we must be truly a shyte side compared to other Rangers teams in living (sic!) memory! 2 defeats in 20 games, dear me!

I would actually say that Davis and McCulloch were more or less in control of midfield, until the ref stepped in. Edu was running about like a headless chicken and his passing was again rather sub-standard. Davis failed to pick the right passes and when we actually got nearer to the penalty area, Jelavic squandered possession and gilt-edge opportunities. As it usually is, a number of factors that lead to our fall today. And credit to the Saints who played to the best of their abilities. What next? An attack-minded line-up against the Scum. Full stop.

I always say - no matter whether it is us or them who leads the pack - that nothing is decided until April or May. Nothing will be decided by the end of December or even January. We saw the Scum maul us left right and centre (with a little help from certain quarters) in January this year and if you go back to that time, the comments on here would be the same as they are now. The way we started the game today it looked good, chalking off a good goal and sending McCulloch off for essentially nothing changed the game. You would hope that Saints take heart from their display and go at other SPL opposition as they did with us. We clawed our way back into the game and once again, I have to say, poor decision-making by some of our stalwarts cost us a draw - at the very least. The Scum and their heralds will go on and boast about all our recent problems ahead of the game, declare how good they are and whatnot - as if they have not witnessed their own, rather mediocre displays of late. The only thing they did better than us is that they carved out results when needed. I for one am still hopeful that McCoist picks a team that is able to put them in their place again ... ere the transfer window opens and we get a chance to enhance our squad.

No use debating this on here tonight ... and sure not on x-mas eve. OF games have their own rules.

McCulloch came on last weekend and steadied a midfield ship that was rocking while Edu was in there. McCulloch has its uses, as does Edu, the two of them in midfield are of no use though. It was proven last season time and again - no matter whether we won the title or not. Obviously, the recent "slump" in form went hand in hand with injuries to Lafferty and Aluko's ban, as well as a continuation of Davis' inability to reach his own standards on a consistent basis. We can thank our solid defence for providing Ally with his bemusing selections of recent weeks. And we can hope that he sooner rather than later switches back to a 4-4-2 and selects players in their correct positions.

So first it was Lennon saying that he would think about signing Boyd, now the club says that it has rejected a move after being sounded out? What next? Will we (re-)sign a "Celtic reject" soon? Sometimes you simply cannot make this up.

There's hardly a more strange enigma when it comes to team selections this season. I simply cannot fathom what McKay has done wrong ... when you compare the sub-standard displays of Davis, the use of Edulloch and even Papac in midfield. If there was a fall out between them, credit to both that they keep their dignity so far ...

That would indeed be Peter Lövenkrands, you are correct!

I honestly have no clue whatsoever about his current form. Age is not a relevance to me, I have seen Weir, Berg, and even a "striker" like Caniggia doing well way beyond the 30s. We still have no real right sided attacker ... then again, you wonder what Ally thinks of Ortiz and Bedoya ...

Of course, we don't even need to sell anyone to sign Boyd up for e.g. 6 months. And then imagine a frontline with Wylde, Aluko, and/or Lafferty, with Jela and Boyd to feed from. Which reminds me that we need a creative midfielder ... unless Ally finally gives McKay a chance.

Just imagine, January comes around, Jelavic goes for 8m and we sign three freebies with Boyd, Riordan and O'Connor to replace him! Half of the existing boards members would vanish into orbit in no-time! Matter of fact, if Jelavic goes and we can agree reasonable fees and wages for say Jordan Rhodes and Boyd, as well as adding Jamie Murphy for creativity, I would be happy. In the striking department. Since we still have Lafferty and Hemmings there. We desperately need cover in midfield ... if Ally decides to keep McKay on the bench (he becomes a greater mysterium than Paul Ritchie ever was). Creative midfield that is.

Heck, I almost forgot about Kerkar again! On a sidenote, only one source is repeated all over again and thet photo with Smith can be photoshopped by anyone. Sceptical Loyal

He's been a decent servant to the club, but his pre-season contract wrangle got him in my bad books. Not that this keeps me from being objective. Then - with his new bumper deal under his belt - he essentially managed to single-handedly destroy our ambitions for the Champions' League (giving the ball away at Ibrox in the lead up to the Malmö goal), then, after going on about "we can beat Malmö", he got himself send off needlessly midway through the first half in Sweden. That was followed by a string of sub-standard performances and overall, this has not become much better. And we have mid-December now. Of course, the whole team seems to look for some sort of form and inspiration, but as a seasoned pro (he's 27, mind you) he should at least give the 100% he has. As has been said, there is a creeping feeling that some people in the squad will play no matter what (whether because they are favourites or on high contracts or whatnot), be that Whittaker, McCulloch, or Davis. While others, who show sparks of talent are benched or even terraced time and again, get hardly any playing time at all, be that McMillan (right back?), Cole (right back), Ortiz (right back and wing), Hemmings (striker), Fleck (creative midfield), Mckay (creative midfield), or Bedoya (right back & wing). There was hope when Ally handed Bendiksen some playing time in recent weeks, but at home against ICT, he puts Papac in the engine room and leaves Jela with virtually no real support bar a link-up player who hardly got a game before. If these were friendlies or tests, fair enough (and Mckay did well against Liverpool), but at home against ICT, St. Mirren or St. Johnstone ...

Whohoo ... someone signed and even Willie Vass did not spot him at Murray Park (or was asked not to show a photograph?) during the trial period? That's a change of events. Then again ... unless someone else reports it, I take it with the proverbial pinch of salt, for google gave me this ...

We won't need Kris Boyd. Ally's got his game plan fixed now and they already train for it at MP.

WBA ... well, all I would argue against them is the essentially frozen-out Dorrans (and against England as such: Goodwillie). I'd assume he would like to play some football and I doubt he will get that much as an untried Scot in a multi-million pound team. Of course, money at this age has its lure ...

Have to admit that despite all the furore, I haven't seen him thus far and do not know whether he's actually that good. Anyone got any insights here? Would signing him spell the end of the road for ... say Fleck? At least for the time being?