T-1000

I would go for McGregor.

With Katic, Barisic and Wallace being given some game time today I thought Rossiter might also have been in the lineup especially since he was not even on the bench on Sunday. At one of his press conferences SG seemed to mention Rossiter as an afterthought which is a bit worrying as we thought his injury problems were behind him and that he was ready to kick-on.

I agree with you on this but having deemed the second yellow card against Candeias was justified and having recently charged Steve Clarke for comments, the SFA so as not to be seen to be favouring Rangers might have felt obliged to cite SG and Rangers. It is also possible that Kilmarnock raised the issue with the SFA. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I agree with this but also think Katic looked a bit nervy and lacking in confidence.

A agree with you to some extent re Kent. By his direct approach he draws players in and that should allow more space for other players. But as you suggest he does try to overdo it when he should be looking for a smart pass. Being able to do the latter, however does also depend on other players being in a position where they can receive a pass which allows them the possibility of a shot on goal or a pass across the box. With respect to Middleton he looks a promising player but from what I have seen his greatest asset is his directness and pace. Unfortunately, in packed defences his pace becomes less useable because there is no space to run into. I also think that defenders now know that he looks to hit the ball behind them and beat them pace and have adjusted accordingly. He needs to vary his game and his crossfield pass in the last minute against Spartak shows he has the ability to do that. We have to hope he continues to develop and have realistic expectations about what we expect from him.

I thought all three of you made a valuable contribution and suggest you ignore trite comments.

It was a good delivery into a very crowded part of the area and therefore I suspect McGregor might have had a problem trying to go for the ball. A more dominant goalkeeper might have come, flattening players on the way but McGregor is not that sort of keeper.

Did you seen Goldson complain? There is always lots of pushing and shoving at corners, sometimes it is picked up by referees and at other times it is not. Unfortunately, in this case it was either not spotted by the referee or else he believed Ferguson made a clean jump.

I seem to recall that Ferguson had a bit of a run on the ball and so could attack it which probably gave him some advantage over Goldson.

Rangers 2 Hearts 1 FGS: Morelos

With two offensive full-backs/wing backs in Tavernier and Barisic would Rangers benefit from playing three at the back; Goldson, Katic and Worrall?

Gerrard is partly through a rebuilding process. He has strengthened the defence and we can see a definite improvement there particularly at centre-back. The next stage of the rebuilding process, unless Dorrans and Rossiter come good, is some quality permanent (and creative) signings in midfield. At the moment we are relying on relatively inexperienced players , such as, Ejaria and Kent. We should reflect on the fact that celtic bring on a Scottish internationalist in the shape of Griffiths whereas we being on Middleton who is just barely out the youth ranks as an indicator of lack of strength in depth. In this game I think our midfield was not as active as in other games but this might be partly down to low energy levels, this was particularly so for Ejaria. I also believe that players like Ejaria, Kent and Boracic will have gained from the experience. Although disappointed by both the defeat and the level of performance this game will have provided Gerrard with some insight into where we need to improve to give celtic more of a game when we next meet.

The defence were outstanding today with Katic immense showing that he is a real find. The only downside of today is the energy levels expended prior to the weekend match.

Ejaria has some nice skills but I felt the game passed him by today, though part of this have been due to us hitting a lot of long balls. Tav wasn't as effective as he normally is when he is in offensive mode. I feel that Morelos looked as though he was starting to tire in the second half (I thought this was also the case in the Maribor game). Other teams will have seen we have trouble coping when the opposition is continually in our face making it difficult to get our passing game going and that if you send in sufficient sufficient crosses to our box at some point one or two of them will be fruitful.

Has it been reported what the additional cash inflow to the club will be as opposed to the conversion of loans to equity.

Yes, but Murphy wasn't helped by a poor pass from Barisic.

It is difficult to gauge how Sadiq will turn out because he has had limited time on the pitch and only then we have been down to 10 players which affects our approach. However, based on what we have seen he seems to lack co-ordination and is let down by poor control. Hopefully as he has more playing time we will find out if he adds another dimension to the team.

Very promising performance but still a few areas where improvements can be made. I felt at times Maribor's strikers found space a bit too easily especially between the lines and were dangerous at corner kicks and balls into the box where at times we looked a bit static and were not attacking the ball sufficiently.

The striker is a difficult one. Ideally, we want another signing adding that enhances the quality we already have. Lafferty would be ok but doesn't strike me as having much wow factor. Perhaps to achieve that would be too costly and therefore we might have to settle for Lafferty or a loan deal.

This looks a good acquisition, adding to the quality we have already brought in this year and providing us with additional options in defence.

Aberdeen 1 Rangers 2 FGS: Morelos

If they are thinking of terminating their contracts the club probably has to be seen to be following due process which would include a full investigation, including interviews, of the circumstances relating to the incident.

When Paul Murray and Barry Scott resigned from the board this was seen as being done to provide space for new directors who would be investing money in the club. Since it appears that, for the moment, there are no new investors why did Murray and Scott resign?

It looks as though there are a number of positives about having SG as manager. He will be demanding, a good motivator and have the respect of the players. He may also be a factor in convincing transfer targets to come to Ibrox when otherwise they would not be interested in trying out Scottish football, though the main factor in new signings tends to be money. The unknown with Gerrard is whether tactically he will be an astute manager, can he forge his method of playing on the players and can he see the need to change formation when it is needed. Having listened to him commenting on BT sport it is difficult to assess with any great certainty how insightful he is in analysing a game though I tended to think Lampard's comments were a touch more astute.

I always thought there was only one Steven Gerrard but perhaps he has been cloned. Will we know which one turns up at Ibrox?