Anchorman

Because chances are he will hardly play until the transfer window opens again, even if he stays, the way things are going. He is a massive ego. He would rather 'work his ticket' and blame others, then have his ego dented by sitting on the bench, in a league he thought he would 'cruise'. His ego is already hugely dented and he doesn't like it, even if its of his own making. You can't get 'working his ticket' "out of the way" as a "load of tosh" (I'm not talking about the book) because you are no wiser than any of the rest of us in your knowledge of the matter. I'm willing (and happy) to be proved totally wrong but my opinion is that I'm not, in the same way that your opinion is that you are right. Going on national radio and saying that Warburton's disciplinary decision is a "strange way to handle it", when he only had to wait 3 days with his gob shut before speaking to the manager, doesn't seem like the actions of a man whose sole ambition is to stay and fight for the cause. More like the actions of a man whose ego is winning the battle over any sound rationale.

Do you think he would even have tried it with his last manager 'Dichey'? No chance. I don't think MW is blameless though as he got too informal with him - these one to one chats on the park with cup of tea in hand before games and stuff, like he was the captain or even assistant. The other players must have looked on like "who the f#ck does he think he is?"

You could argue that it was started by the low life that decided to pass it on to the press, but regardless, Barton could have waited 3 more days to pronounce the 'storm in a teacup'. Instead he did what our club was, at one time, renowned for never doing - he went on national radio no less, and washed our dirty linen in public. My view is that he is 'buying his ticket' and the big speech today about his "only concern being Glasgow Rangers" was his parting attempt to portray himself as not being allowed to part his 'winning mentality' on a bunch of losers. Bollocks Joey - zip me up the back please mate before the foam falls out will you?

The point I was making is that I don't think Forrester has learned the art of 'well-directed (and timed) aggression'. Too many of his tackles are from behind the player or badly timed. I actually reckon that Windass would be the better option for this game if it was down to one or the other. I saying that, we need players on Saturday with pace and who don't need more than one touch on the ball. Halliday is probably the least effective in that department. Constantly too many touches on the ball, which is why it always looks like he is being clattered. Also players make runs looking for the first touch pass from him. It doesn't come and they are exposed out of position.

Forrester's temperament worries me for this game. He has lost his cool on more than one occasion and flailing tackles in conjunction with 50,000 wailing banshees will be met by instant cards.

I will happily take that as another reason for optimism

Exactly why I started the thread. Everyone has us beaten already.

Massive pressure on them. Even if its a draw they will go into meltdown. A few days later they will be destroyed by Barca and their honeymoon period will be over. We will gather momentum.

How refreshing it will be seeing us 'going for it' in their patch after years of parking the bus hoping for the best. Yes it may make us vulnerable but they wont be comfortable. Rodgers doesn't really know what his approach is. He doesn't know whether to sit or attack in this game. He went for Beer Sheva's jugular at home (and came close to blowing it remember after they scored twice). Then at their place he tried to sit in and got destroyed.

Bump - for the first time in years we have a free kick specialist brimming with confidence. Even if clear cut chances are few and far between, one foul outside the box and Tav could step up to the plate. Their crowd will be fearing that - make no mistake.

I hope there are no objections to starting a thread for optimistic comments only with regards to Sept 10th at Breezeblock Boulevard. I cant stop negative comments but it would be nice if we could build a thread that we could refer to if negativity sets in before the event. Anything positive is welcome, no matter how small. Starters for 10: They are already on phone-ins etc saying "can we beat 7-1?". Great - food and drink for motivating our guys and a repeat of Hampden last season. Warburton will be telling them - 'move the ball like lightning first 15 mins, run them around - like Hampden, their crowd will fall silent, then we will see where we go from there'. We get the first goal - whole complexion changes. Kenny Miller telling the stories to the players how good it is turning them over at their own patch and silencing their crowd, and how it's not that difficult as he's done it more than once. Our crowd giving it big licks relentlessly - no fear!

The Scottish press questioning is brain numbing.

Agreed - I actually think that is a good looking squad now. RANGERS SQUAD IN FULL: Goalkeepers Wes Foderingham Matt Gilks Defenders James Tavernier Clint Hill Rob Kiernan Lee Wallace Danny Wilson Lee Hodson Philippee Senderos Midfielders Joey Barton Harry Forrester Andy Halliday Jordan Rossiter Niko Kranjcar Matt Crooks Jason Holt Attackers Joe Garner Kenny Miller Barrie McKay Josh Windass Joe Dodoo Michael O’Halloran Martyn Waghorn

Anyone know if he is there this week?

Anybody know if Senderos is still training with us?

Toure got his medical done there

Cristian Gamboa is in Glasgow at the moment having a medical to sign for them

The ironic thing is I was at the game - with my French Tricolour in hand with Gazza's face in the middle. The point still stand though. Almost a whole league campaign undefeated, with zilch to show for it!

"Mediocre" Miller sould have been replaced by Jason Cummings? Rossiter, Kranjcar, Barton, are no better than what we had? Good night Rab, Dave King out???

'Undefeated' should not be heralded unless you are punching above your weight e.g. Leicester City. It's a lame excuse for 'we cant find a way to win games, or cant be arsed putting a 90 minute shift in'. It's why 2 points for a win was changed to 3 points. Ask Selik if 'undefeated' for a whole season won them the league under Tommy Burns. For us the word papers over the cracks of Hamilton at home, Motherwell at home, and Kilmarnock away. Three teams that can only dream of signing the players we have signed. "We are still gelling as a team though". Really?? Go tell Killie that. No team in this league has more players trying to fit in than them. Three games where our players "fight among themselves they are so motivated" couldn't be arsed motivating themselves until the half time rollicking because they were 1-0 down. There is something wrong with the chemistry i think. The players were a comfortable clique last year, constantly smiling enjoying their football, and annoyingly lazy after the league was won (apart from one Kenny Miller). They couldn't lift it again for the cup final and we know what happened. There is obviously a different dynamic to the dressing room. Kenny Miller was going ballistic at the cup final. Joey Barton, Clint Hill etc coming in very vocally. There are no happy faces out there now. Different dynamic. I think its that dynamic that is currently upsetting rhythm and will separate the men from the boys. Probably too late for a title challenge this year though unless we take at least a point in two weeks.

Explain what it means. Wife says I can't come to Scotland? Why has he been training with us for the last 2 weeks if he hasn't had 'family clearance'?

That very quickly became an irrelevant statistic for them under Tommy Burns. Wins you nothing league wise. Maybe under the old 2 points for a win it might have, but certainly not now!

So was the whole 'Senderos going through a medical' last night bollocks then??

I also can't see Rodgers bringing in any more big buys. If you were in charge of the coffers would you hand him money to try to make an impact in the CL? Barca and Man City? Then there is the small matter of Borussia M who battered BSC Young Boys 9-2 in aggregate. This is the same Young Boys who knocked out Shaktar Donetsk in the previous round. I think Rodgers will be told the spending is over for now.

Not having a pop at you Ian. It's just a bit of a 'bug bear' of mine - these FF'rs 'in the know'. Yes they sometimes get it right, but very frequently get it wrong. A broken clock is right twice a day.