Rousseau

That's easy: remove Zola and Materazzi, draft in Mertesacker and Ozil. German XI: Lehmann Rudiger - Mertesacker - Boateng Ballack - Schweinsteiger - Gundogan Ozil Gnabry - Klinsmann - Sane Italian XI: Cudicini Panucci - Materazzi - Ranocchia - Emerson Di Matteo - Jorginho - Acquilani Zola Vialli - Montella Acquilani was absolute rubbish at Liverpool, but he's a talented metronome, as shown by his performances in Italy. Most of these guys have not been that great in the PL.

I had Cudicini down, but then I thought Lehmann won more; the former was more of back-up 'keeper too.

I got too excited...

German / Italian combined XI: Lehmann Rudiger - Materazzi - Boateng Ballack - Schweinsteiger - Gundogan Zola Gnabry - Klinsmann - Sane I could add Mertesacker and Ozil and then there's no spot for an Italian -- I can't leave out Zola, though.

My French XI: Lloris Laporte - Blanc - Desailly Viera - Makalele - Deschamps Ginola Cantona - Henry - Anelka

It's his style. I prefer the technical ability over a Davids-type player.

I need to go 3-3-1-3 a la Bielsa to get the players in I want! Van der Sar Stam - Martins Indi - Van Dijk Wijnaldum - Blind - de Guzman Van der Vaart Robben - Van Nistlerooy - Overmars You're not getting the ball off that team. Bobby Petta just misses out.

Is that Mario Melchiot you are picking? I didn't think he was that great. Is it going by their time in the PL, or what they did at their peak? Janmaat is a better RB. Reiziger played for Middlesbrough towards the end of his career.

I forgot how attacking that formation was. It was a front three of Arveladze, Mols and Cannigia, with DeBoer playing in behind. I noticed it was from Amoruso to the front three quite often. I wonder if that is what people mean when they want it played forward quicker? I appreciate the sentiment but it's not the most stable way of playing.

Teams still play that way, but it's not the starting formation, it's the formation they transition into when they are attacking. Guardiola has his teams playing that way, in essence.

Are they not showing it on the TV this weekend? @ian1964

Greaves recorded 6 hat-tricks, so 18 of those 44 goals came in just 6 games. (I believe those hat-tricks came against some of the same sides too.) Clearly he shone bright, but surely Rooney gets bonus points for longevity? What does 'greatest' actually mean? Is Negri our greatest striker for his one wonder season, or is McCoist for doing it over several seasons? (Can you tell I'm bored... ?)

I was going to say crossing is overrated, but I wonder if it's because you very rarely see it done well now? The top sides prefer a cut back to the edge of the box. There are very few natural target men now, too.

I went with '59-64. Objectively, they were the most successful of our list Also: Baxter. I love the effortless, almost laid back playmakers.

@MacK1950 - What are you playing at?! You picked the '01-03 side?!

I'm at a loss. I grew up with the 90s sides, so they'll always hold a special place in my heart, but my gut feeling is that those 60s and 70s sides are better, despite having only seen the odd clip of them here and there -- those iconic names just jump out at me. Why is that?

Looks like we've got all the sides we'll get, so let's have a vote! I reckon there will be a lot of personal preference involved, but if we look at it objectively, there's only one winner:

That's interesting. I've added a '91-93 and '94-97 side, removing the 88-90 stuff. I've tweaked the teams too.

I tried to split the 90s side between the early Souness side and the later Smith side. Could it be split further? Maybe: '88-90, '91-94 and '95-98? Are they sufficiently different sides?

I just went with a cup final side. He was probably injured at the time?

It is mental when you see it listed like that. Testament to the management - and a bit of luck. (The Ferguson in the '90s side is Ian Ferguson.)

Well... this topic went well. Any more great Rangers sides of yesteryear?

The '59-64 side is added to the list.

It was actually just to get the teams, because I couldn't find a team for specific league games. In any 'great side', league titles have to count. Did that team have a longer period of success than just '63? I see we won the league in '58/59, '60/61, '62/63 and '63/64, alongside 4 Scottish cups and a couple of League cups in that spell from '58-64 - was that the same team?

For my next annoying attempt at generating some discussion: What is the Greatest Rangers side? I was inspired by an article listing the greatest sides of all time, where the Ajax '65-73 side won out over teams like Brazil '70, Milan '87-91, Madrid '50-60, Ajax '92-96 and Barcelona '08-11 etc. I thought, first, we could generate a list of the greatest Ranges sides. Then we can have a poll! I'll need some help here, to generate the list and fill in the teams. Thus far, I have: Rangers '94-97: Goram, Cleland, Robertson, Gough, McLaren, Brown, Gascoigne, Ferguson, McCall, Laudrup, McCoist / Durie Rangers '91-93: Goram, Brown, Gough, McPherson, Robertson, McCall, Ferguson, Durant, Murray / Steven (?), McCoist, Hateley Rangers '07/08: Alexander, Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac, Whittaker, Ferguson, Hemdani, Thomson, Davis, Darcheville Rangers '01-03: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Moore, Numan, Ferguson, DeBoer, Malcolm, Arveladze, McCann, Mols Rangers '71/72: McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, Johnstone, Smith, McLean, Conn, Stein, MacDonald, Johnston Rangers '75-78: McCloy, Jardine, Jackson, Greig, Forsyth, McLean, Russell, MacDonald, Cooper, Johnstone, Smith Rangers '98-00: Klos, Reyna, Moore, Vidmar, Numan, Kanchelskis, Ferguson, Van Bronckhorst, Albertz, Wallace, Dodds Rangers '59-64: Ritchie, Shearer, Provan, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand, Wilson What do you think about splitting the '90s side? It seems quite different from Souness' early side to Smith's later side? I'll need help with the above times periods and teams. I've taken the teams from cup finals so they will be different from the typical league side. What are some more great Rangers sides?