pete

Spurs in transfer race with Liverpool, Arsenal and Rangers 16:41 December, 27, 2006 Tottenham are battling with the Reds, the Gunners and the Glasgow giants for the services of a young Romanian striker. According to reports, Marius Alexi is causing quite a stir. The 17-year-old Dinamo Bucharest striker has already played first-team football but could be up for grabs. The youngster has had a trial with Rangers, along with another teenage sensation: Lucian Filip. Barcelona are also thought to be interested.

Ally i am talking about the basic 4-4-2 setup when say the keeper has a bye-kick. In my way of thinking if every midfielder picks up his man which he should then that leaves 4 against 2, one central defender is used as a man-marker and one full back should pick up the second striker depending on which side he has taken up. That leaves a central defender to give cover to the other CB and the two fullbacks. Obviously things change in a game with midfielders coming through where the CB's will both have a man and that is where the fullbacks then have to offer back cover by moving in tighter. As i see Rangers playing at the moment then Svensson has been given the job as man-marker and Hemdani is taking up the sweeper role. I feel he is playing that role exellently since he came in and as i have said before he really does break up a lot of dangerous situations by having the vision to cut them out before they really get dangerous. Yes he does have some defensive weaknesses but he is new to that position and i believe that he can get better with a defensive coach helping him. Just my opinion

I got a complete history of Rangers scores, scorers, and teams on an exel sheet made by the Drum man while on the Gers forums last year( Gersnet was down). Does anyone have a copy with it updated to last season or is there anyone not as lazy as me who would like to update it. If anyone wants a copy i will e-mail it to Jon and he can pass it on.

Surely a flat back 4 dosn't mean all the defenders stand in one line and let the opposition get in behind us. In my opinion one CB attacks the ball and the other gives cover in the areas behind him. If you play with a double CH then normally one takes a left zone and the other a right zone If the ball is on the right then the left CB gives cover behind with the Left fullback also coming off the wing to an area roughly in line with the 16 mtr line to give extra cover. Rangers have nearly always played with one CH attacking the ball and a soort of sweeper. Ronnie Mckinnon attacking the ball - Dave smith sweeping behind Colin Jackson attacking the ball - Tom Forsyth covering behind I never seen many games with Gough and Butcher but i would imagine Butcher attacked the ball with Gough giving cover and the same with Roberts and Butcher. Amoruso also played slightly behind craig Moore i am sure I still can't imagine two fullbacks not marking anyone and the centrebacks one on one. That would indeed make us very vulnurable through the middle. It would mean if the two strikers are 30 yards apart our central defenders are 30 yards apart, surely that can't be true

Again i disagree Craig. that would be so simple for the strikers to create a hole down the middle. Great if the strikers stand next to each other, but they never do. Hutton ------svensson-------Hemdani---------Smith -------------------Striker--Striker------------------ Surely that never happens much? ----------<<<<<<Hemdani>>>>>>---------- Hutton>>>>>-------Svensson--------<<<<<Smith ----------(Striker)------Striker------(striker) Depending on the side the second striker takes up depends what back covers him. One is almost always in the middle but if both go wide both fullbacks pick them up with the CB's covering the gap behind. I have never seen in Scotland or Holland the two centrebacks picking up two strikers and the fullbacks covering the space behind them. -----------Fullback-----------------Fullback------ ---------------Centreback---centreback------ ----------------Striker----------Striker--------- Sorry guys that system is new to me. At least one fullback always has to mark a man in my vision.

sorry Craig i will have to agree to disagree on this one. A natural talent cannot be learned. One of those horrible singers in the first round of the X-factor cannot be taught to sing and someone who cannot kick a ball at 10 can't kick a ball at 20. Yes as i said they can improve but a natural talent is not something you can learn. Vinny Jones could never become Hendrick Larsson.

The two centre backs picking up the two strikers means we are going one on one every ball surely that is russian roulette. Sorry mate i have only seen teams going one on one if they are pushing for a equaliser or winner if needed. I see it as one of the centre backs needs to cover all defenders. You can play zone as you say and the right centreback covers right and left covers left. The other option is what we have now done is Svensson marking and Hemdani sweeping left and right. For me that is pretty normal but it is only the basic setup there will be times that Hemdani has to mark the CF and that is maybe when it can go wrong.

I will say i hope Rangers can become so dominant that he can show his goalscoring skill week in week out then he will be my first pick. I do however disagree that you can still learn basic ball control skills at 20+. I also think we should not try and change the skill that he has but i only see him as a super sub for us.

Can i ask what the two wide midfielders are doing in your system if the backs need to mark the wide wingers|midfielders. You have got them doing nothing. Where i learned football the back 4 is like an accordian all four move to cover each other it is not a case of two guys stuck out wide and two in the middle. If you have 4 against 2 then there is always a player free in my view.

I have never said that Boyd is the cause of all our troubles he certainly isn't. Yes we would all love 11 Scots on the field but looking at it seriously the chance of that happening in the next 5 maybe 10 years is unlikely to say the least. Unless of course you want to go up to Montrose in the winter months. I would love to see Boyd coming good believe me but i just can't see anyone who can't control a ball within 5 metres ever being a hit with a top club. As i said before he will be great in a dominant team that mostly play in the opposition half but when you need all hands on deck then he is worse than a man short. I remember standing on the terraces with a 15.000 support in the 70's praying we would buy a foreigner because we were so poor so i don't want us going back down that road. We need a striker that can score and also hold the ball up. That is just my opinion.That skill is born in a player you cannot coach him to do it. He will improve with coaching but not to the level Boyd needs to do. Sorry my opinion i hope he proves me wrong.

I have lost this. We play 4-4-2. The opposition have two strikers. Who the fuck are the two other defenders marking or is there someone that dosn't need to mark at the back. The idea in a 4-4-2 in my opinion is that you defend with three men and have one free at all times to mop up(not always the sweeper). Or do we say to the midfielders, och we only have two up here let a few of your players run through,the midfield don't need to mark. Your tactics have got me guy's.

Of course no one is exorinated from blame but in the system we are playing where Hemdani is almost playing as sweeper the main job for Svensson is to win the aerial battles. That of course does not mean that hemdani can wash his hands of any aerial duels but all the high punts up the park should be met by the head of Svensson with Hemdani mopping up any knock-on's.

Never believe much printed in the sun so this is probably more crap.

I think it is all down to us seeing things differently Ian,as has been said a lot on here lately. If Boyd scores a goal but we lose 2-1 because we are basically playing with ten men then his goal is pointless. Modern football has become so fast that you cannot play game after game with ten men. The fact is his basic skill to stop a ball lies roughly at schoolboy level. Yes he does score easily but how often have we leaked goals because the forwards can't keep possesion. You have to weigh the one up with the other and i think our point total gives the answer. It will be interesting to see what he does in a 4-4-2.

The main sponsers of Juventus,Tamoil have let them know they will be stopping next season. It was worth 230 mil euro's to them. I think as a serie B team they will find it difficult to get the same sort of deal. Probably a fitting penalty for a team that tried to fix everything in the game.

He wasn't even sold , he was released. We got SFA for him apart from his wage reduction.

Yeh i have been reading him for a while as well. his posts are witty and although long definately not boring. First class read.

The thing with Arveladze you also get a great link man. He is always in space and free to accept the ball. He loves quick 1-2's about the box. I don't think he will ever come back and falls into the catagory of give Rangers a good player and we will ruin him.

I think if we have a dominant midfield and Boyd can play in the box then he will always be a danger but it is the games where we need the sleeves rolled up and every man fighting that he will become a passenger. These are the games you need someone up front to hold a ball up to ease the pressure and give the midfield a break and time to join up. Personally i would prefer someone who can do both but do we have the money for a player of that class?

Les Reed is the perfect example of knowing the theory but not having a clue how to put it into practice. Theory and practice don't always walk hand in hand.

Ado den Haag(hague) I was reading a fc Utrecht site where they love mols. One of their songs, when he was leaving to come to us was(translated): Michael Mols we wish you success Go and give the Celtic a Les(son). I also know that since he played for us there is a Utrecht supporters Rangers support. So when watching dutch football give a bit of support to Utrecht.

Alves plays down the left and is strong fast and can hit a ball like the hammer. he reminds me of the hammer but not as lazy and very much quicker. He will score in any league. He is a Brazilian bye the way not that that makes him a good footballer.

Scored what everyone thought was a brilliant header. It wasn't until the post match analysis that someone noticed it was scored with his hand. When asked about it he did admit the truth though, that it was his hand. Another talking point about him was that the usually quiet Mols stood for about a minute and a half shouting aggressivly at one of his own team mates telling him what he thought about him. Totally out of character or is he also becoming a grumpy old man.

I am surprised that the Gersnet bet boys never had a few quid on that as it was almost a certainty. Oh yeh i forgot they only back the donkey's on here.

I will keep shouting Afonso Alves of Herenveen hopefully someone at Ibrox is also noticing him. He will be cuptied for the UEFA though.