BlackSocksRedTops

I keep seeing that he has been "offered" the job. Has he accepted yet?

8 minutes ago, BEARGER said:

Sell out new ground for first time ever today.

Good luck to them. Would rather St Mirren stay up. United should reap what they have sown for a few years yet

I wish him the best of luck for his future career but it was clear to all and sundry that he was not answer. 

Marshall?

Arsenal have apparently handed back some of their 6,000 tickets! Way to go UEFA. A major final with very few fans of the competing clubs present

At this rate I'll be happy if we leave this crap pitch without a serious injury

Regardless of the meaningless nature of the game, it's clear to see that the formation and personel we have adopted over the last bunch of games serves us better than this. Worrel should be nowhere near our team and Alfie has to go if we are to progress IMO. I'm genuinely bored with his antics

The sooner these pitches get banned the better. 

Just a different take on Klinsman Jr...he has "profile" of sorts and also is in line to play for the USA. Could be good marketing for the club? 

1 hour ago, pete said:

His posts are a fantastic read.

Agreed. You could compile these posts into a single volume/publication and I for one would not hesitate in parting with my cash. Fantastic work 26th. Take several well deserved bows sir

Unbefuckinglievable

52 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

I may be going out on a limb here but I can genuinely see us not just challenging but actually winning the title strongly next season.

 

BlackSocksRedTops, whilst I agree with your sentiment I think you have to also consider the other side of the coin.  Celtic will have a new manager and assuming this is not Lennon that may give them a bit of a lift.  It is likely that there will be at least some overhaul of their playing staff in the summer.  Judging from the results against ourselves and earlier ones  where they squeezed out a win it is apparent that their squad does not have the necessary strength.  The directors of Celtic I am sure will have been annoyed that they lost to us, since undoubtedly they want to go for ten in a row and see that this is now in jeopardy.  For that reason I can see considerable funds being made available to whoever becomes the manager.  Let us hope that they choose the wrong manager and that they buy flops.

Your reasons are valid but are exactly the reasons why I think we will win the league. Whoever they get as a manager will not be Rodgers or anywhere near his level. Their squad needs an overhaul so that requires money and a glut of new players which doesn't guarantee anything. IMO, this much change can go 50/50. I just hope we can capitalise if their manager and new players are struggling. For this time in years, I would say there is more uncertainty over the summer at Parkhead than Ibrox

I may be going out on a limb here but I can genuinely see us not just challenging but actually winning the title strongly next season. Celtic starting the season without Rodgers basically renders them back at square one IMO. Whether it's Lennon or a different manager, they won't have the same impact as Rodgers had on that team. On the other hand, we have team and management that seems to be learning from it's mistakes and with a season under belt and few quality additions we can only go from strength to strength. Our club has a feeling of positivity and momentum whereas the mob across the city have uncertainty and departures to entertain them during the summer. Ok they will go and win a treble treble this season. I care not about that as the architect of that success is nowhere to be seen. A good start is a no brainer next season and we have shown at the tail end of this season, we have the players and tools to beat everyone in this league. Let's not forget, we didn't lose the league due to the head to heads V Celtic. We lost the league due to naivety in winnable games V Aberdeen, Killie, Hibs etc.

Looking further ahead, I genuinely hope we can cash in on Morelos. Much of this season was side tracked by the circus that surrounds Alfie and I feel that if he is not there we will be more focused and we will have happy days ahead.

6 minutes ago, Gaffer said:

Again, it was something the Celtic TV pundits commented on.  They said it was a "slap in the face to the back 3" because we were effectively saying that we were happy to give them as much of the ball as they wanted.  It worked brilliantly and it was summed up for me when Brown had to go and pick the ball up from the left and right back positions.

 

However this only worked because of the workrate from Kent and Arfield.  They stood off them, but as soon as they crossed a certain line, both Arfield and Kent sprinted to close the ball down with the help of Flanagan and Tav, and whoever we had in midfield on that side.  It's those little tactical things that make such a massive difference.

 

On reflection, I think we had an excellent start to the season and it was clear we had worked on somethings during the summer camps.  However, we then had the Europa league games thick and fast and this meant we probably didn't spend much time developing the style until we had the winter break.  I wonder if these tactical changes (that we had obviously worked on during that two week break) were one of the reasons we lost our way in January, February and March because it does take some time to make them work.

 

Either way we are better for it now and we now look like a team in control during the big matches.  With 3 quality additions in the summer (and a clearout of the wasters), we should be in great shape for the new season.  My only concern at this stage is that we may lose Arfield, Tav and Kamara.  All 3 have looked top quality in recent weeks and they would be almost impossible to replace without spending big money, so I hope we can get a good price for them if forced to sell.

 

We are all sure Morelos will be going but at least I'm confident that the sum we get for him will adequately cover the cost of his replacement.

I think if we can get anywhere near 10 million for Morelos it would be great business. We can then use that to try and pick up another striker for 2/3 million. I definitely would look at the Balkan leagues. Their players are not over priced (compared to England 2nd and 3rd tiers) and they generally have a great technical ability. There must be a striker somewhere in Serbia/Croatia who could fill that void? Look at Mitrovic at Fulham. A player in that mould would be great for us. I'm not saying him directly but we need to be looking for the next Mitrovic

9 minutes ago, BEARGER said:

You’re correct all their possession was at the back.

I definitely think this was a deliberate tactic from SG. Have their 3 least effective players with more of the ball. It shows that SG is learning and has come on leaps and bounds from the powderpuff performance at CP early in the season.

4 minutes ago, ranger_syntax said:

Can't understand it myself.

 

Have you tried singing something else to drown them out?

Wasn't at the game today mate. Just heard about through this thread tbh. 

1 minute ago, Gonzo79 said:

Aye.  We should be nice and hope the scum follow on.

 

 

So not singing about recently deceased people is being "nice"? That sounds normal to me

13 minutes ago, cooponthewing said:

Yeh, the MSM are all over it when the sheep and the scum sing about it, aren’t they.................? Incidentally, I find it distasteful too but, it’s the hypocrisy and selectarianism” that has the usual jaundice.

That sounds like a different conversation and one that is a lazy way to condone these songs IMO. Instead of excelling in shooting ourselves in the foot, why don't we ever box clever?

Just now, cooponthewing said:

Yeh, the MSM are all over it when the sheep and the scum sing about it, aren’t they.................?

So because other fans sing vile songs we have to join the party? Surely if we avoid this nonsense, we have the upper hand if there other fans doing it

2 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Winding up opposition fans.

 

Mental eh.

Would you be saying that if there were opposition fans singing about the Ibrox disaster?

Stick to football ffs. This stuff is distasteful 

3 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

The Lisbon lions won't see 10 in a row 

Wtf? We bossed the game. We won the game. We scored 2. They scored nowt. And this is what people want to sing? 

Thought we did all the hard work well today: pressing, winning 2nd balls etc (which ultimately wins OF games for me). Our passing was a wee bit off tbh and if we had a wee bit more quality in the killer areas we could have murdered them today. They were truly garbage. 2-0 is great score in any OF game. Well done Rangers

27 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Milner would certainly add a lot of steel and class to our midfield.  He'd have to take a Hell of a pay cut to come here though, so I'd say it's highly unlikely.

Is he not a Rangers fan? Not that would mean much tbh. 

1 minute ago, Scott7 said:

That’s an interesting fact.

 

I wonder how many of the third place finishers had fallen out of the top two and how many had surged up from lower places.

 

This isn’t a demand for clarity, BSRT. If I’m too lazy to check for myself, I’ll just have to wonder.

I'm not sure Scott7 tbh. With regards to the overall point of "momentum" I wonder do teams get more momentum/confidence from a good semi final victory as opposed to just scraping through? I suppose at the end of the day it comes who turns up on that particular day.

4 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

The tactics of the team have changed recently so is it really the formation that looks better rather than the fact that Defoe is in the team? 

 

I also have my doubts about the suitability of that formation against Celtic, but despite that, I believe we need a physical challenge next week and Defoe doesn't provide that. 

 

The fact that Morelos is refereed differently from other players is certainly a reason for considering Defoe, which, to me, is a far bigger issue than his discipline. 

They way he is refereed is out of our control so if we concentrate on how we can influence the game, removing Morelos from another potential red card would be the sensible choice