BlackSocksRedTops

1 hour ago, Gonzo79 said:

Just get the win, preferably with at least a couple of goals and no injuries. 

 

🟥⬜🟦

Order of priorities...

1. Win the 3pts

2. No injuries 

3. Everything else (level of performance, clean sheet, etc.) is a bonus. 

A wee bonus today as the Tims have dropped points in Edinburgh so a win tomorrow is more vital than it was before 3 pm today. Cmon Rangers!!! Make it count!

PS. Brenda Rogers has never won a league game at Easter Rd. 

46 minutes ago, Bill said:

He plays like Morelos IN glue.

What's the bets he'll play and score tomorrow? Clement looks like the kind of guy who will make it his mission to get the best out of ALL his players. 

Doesn't sound like Danilo will start therefore I would start with the same team that beat Hibs but swap Cantwell for Lammars and Ridvan for Borna. 

Sima for me. Work tirelessly in a different position. Butland was good but did what every Rangers goalie should be doing as the bare minimum. 

Just wanted to add a wee comment about the opposition last night. Despite us playing ourselves into trouble a few times, I thought Sparta were half decent and will present a tough match at Ibrox IMO. It's also worth noting that they average 2.5 goals per game in the Czech league and did hammer Dinamo Zagreb 4-1 at home in the play offs. I still think we can beat them but it won't be easy.

Oh and that lad Birmančević looked decent. I was wondering where I had seen him before? Some digging and later I discovered the Serbian played for Malmo when the beat us at Ibrox. He's currently a Toulouse player on loan at Sparta.

2 hours ago, Bill said:

It seems no time since I was reading such wisdom about Beale .... "there's a manager in there, I think he'll come good".

 

There wasn't and he didn't. It will be the same with Dessers and Lammers. We might want them to come good but, like Beale, it isn't going to happen. They're not up to what's required of them and no amount of wishful thinking is ever going to change that. Trust your eyes.

It's easier to get rid of a manager that's underperforming than players on 3/4 year deals who are not cutting it.

I might take pelters for this but here goes...Butland was great last night but did he do anything that's not expected from our goalkeeper? The bulk of the shots were close to him or directly at him. 

If you cast your mind back to the last time we faced Sparta in Prague, Macgregor pulled off a genuine world class save amongst a raft of top class stops in our 1-0 defeat. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy Butland is there as he is an assured and commanding figure but I wouldn't expect anything less from a Rangers goalie.

A lot to process from tonight's performance but ultimately we secured a valuable point at a ground where we have previously known defeat. For me it was a carbon copy of the 21/22 fixture with our goalie having to keep us competitive in the game due to some calamitous defending and poor ball retention. Hopefully we have given ourselves a fighting chance of qualification with back to back home games coming up.

Much for Clement to ponder and my hope is that he's learned more from tonight than he did from Saturdays win over Hibs. Onto to Sunday!

21 minutes ago, Frankie said:

In the end that's a decent point after a much better second half where the players grew in confidence. In fact we could have won it but for two fine saves from their keeper.

 

I don't think we learned anything new tonight but we move onto Sunday.

I disagree Frankie. I think that performance showed a sense of unity and togetherness that's been missing IMO.

Be interesting to see how the atmosphere unfolds. Listening to that Czech journalist the other day talking about the united hatred for Rangers in the Czech Republic was strange. Hatred based on the fact that we called them out as racists and then were fully vindicated when kids were targeting our black players. 

2 minutes ago, yuddie said:

Could listen to him all day when he's not covering Rangers - I think he's sunny side down when covering us, doesn't help that he's best mates with Sutton.

Not quite sure if he's best mates with Mutton? 

Sparta Prague 1 Rangers 2

FGS Sima

4 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Davies at left-back but staying back to create a situational back-three? 

 

Clement liked that at Monaco. 

 

Tavernier and Sima providing the width. 

This

13 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Look at that bench ffs our squad building for Europe has been rotten and Ross Wilson should be heavily accountable as should some previous managers

Calm down. Barasic, Ridvan, Sterling. Roofe, Matondo and Lawrence missing. All would feature or be on bench.

3 hours ago, SykseyBear said:

Really need to win this imo. Aris was the gimme away tie and we the club f*cked that up so this one is the next winnable away tie, and it's quite simply a must win if we want Euro football after Xmas. IMHO. Don't make it tougher than it needs to be. Go out, pick strongest 11 and win the game. A reminder it's Sparta Prague and not Athletico Madrid we are playing. 

Hyperbolic as per usual. We have 2 very winnable home games after this therefore a draw would not be the end of the world. A draw also prevents Sparta from pulling away from us and Aris won't pick up many more IMO. We should be going out to win but if we came back with a draw I would be pretty chuffed to be honest.

Hard game IMO. It will be hostile over there due to both Prague teams general hatred of Rangers. I would take a draw right now to be honest to ensure Sparta don't gain any ground on us in the section. Like Saturday, I am looking for a general increase in tempo, desire and physicality. 

Despite the stuttering start, it's hard to believe we have the best defensive record in the league. We've got 6 clean sheets from 9 games and only conceded 5 goals. 

It's nice to see that it wasn't Jack Butland again. The fact that he has been in the conversation for MOTM in so many "standard" SPFL games was damning to be honest. 

1 hour ago, Bill said:

Raskin was transformed. You have to wonder just how bad things had got in the dressing room under Beale for a player like this to have sunk so low.

I get the feeling we will be typing these words a lot over the next few weeks (in relation to several players).

3 minutes ago, SykseyBear said:

That's a poor result tbh. We had such a strong team out. 

Do you see everything as a glass half empty? They are a Europa conference team that have literally just finished their season. The score is not that important IMO. Minutes in the legs for people returning and great experience for the youngsters. 

Danilio, Davies and few others played in B team game this afternoon against Europa Conference side Breidablik. Any news on this? 

39 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

It's astonishing how unfit we are. 

 

We've gone from being supreme under Gerrard to blowing after 10 minutes. 

Considering how fit we were come the end of the Europa League season, the drop off is staggering. That season we finished so strongly in 3 major 120 minute ties in the space of 4/5 weeks. 

Rangers 3 Hibs 0 

FGS Dessers

The only tangible thing that I feel we might see tomorrow is a change in tempo. Its too early to see a massive change but our slow, aimless and ponderous tempo must change.