Uilleam

Nailing it to the door of the woman across the road.

We need three, last time I looked.

I'm cutting the head off the cock right now.

It might be!!!

If I was to hazard a guess: it's not happening, is it?

If I said 'wing half' and 'pivot' could you cope?

Might happen

Strong bench, too.

Rangers 4 - Union, etc. 1 After extra time. FGS: Lawrence.

We all have. But these disasters are, all, unique.......Levski Sofia, Sturm Graz, Victoria Zizkov, Progres Niederkorn etc.....and circumstances then, can't be brought to bear on current circumstances, They are in the past, now, and in the past they must remain. (Now where have I heard that before?). Courage, Brother, do not stumble.

The match, tonight, is more worrying than it ought to be. This is due, firstly, to the lousy performance and result in Brussels, a game where everything that could go wrong -from pre-match preparation to events on the pitch- did go wrong, including (Holy Mother of God!) that panjandrum and supposedly infallible panacea, VAR. So bad was the whole affair that that there are either no lessons, or a libary-full, to be taken. I think that, on balance,we have to ignore last Tuesday, as a never to be repeated one-off. We are all aware of the full horror, the potential damage, and we have all had our say. Does it get any worse than that? Really, it can't. Can it? Thus, at least arguably, we have to look at the two SPL games we have played for any pointers, and a second, although not necessarily secondary, concern emerges. In both these games we had more possession than in an Exorcist remake, and did, ultimately, little with it. This must not be an Omen for tonight. The team needs to start with energy, and keep up a quick tempo, with a high press, and smart passing, keeping these smug bastards on the back foot. An evening of slow and lumbering trundle ball in front of a drilled defence will lead, only, to the Europa League. It is doable, of course it is, provided the manager does not err on the side of caution, deploy two sitters, and ignore genuine pace, until it is too late. A little bit of boldness, please Gio, in formation and game plan. Rattle the Belgians early, and they will fold. I wonder if we might see Fashion Sakala. I kinda hope so: he is fast, unpredictable, can lift the crowd, and, of course, he came from the Jupiler League. It could, and, really, it should, be a(nother) famous night down Govan way. If the goals flow for The Famous, the mainstream media will be swallowing each other's tongues. Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

At risk of being condemned by the tweed wearing, pipe smoking, snifter loving Elders for liking flashy, glitzy and shiny new gee-gaws, I am going for Tillman, whose performance I enjoyed. The lad looks a player.

I don't get the need for 2 holders; against Killie; at Ibrox; esp when he has to win on Tues night.

Probably best to pick someone who wasn't playing. Kent.

I watched that debacle in the pub ( and, no, it didn't help). What went wrong? Only: preparation; formation; team selection; individual performances; inability to change anything. There is not much more to be said. However, Jack/Lundstram/Kamara doesn't work if you want to play attacking football, particularly when the full backs appear to have been told to defend, producing a back 5, with little in the way of linkage to your forwards, one of whom was clearly out of position. The opposition had a game plan, which you might say was better than ours, if we actually had one, which is moot. Basically, all that means is that they knew what they were doing, and, to be fair, could do it. A number of their players were, as they say 'technically good', and given our lethargy, could shimmie past our players and through our formation with embarrassing ease. Last night was 'unacceptable' and (one hopes) 'lessons will be learned'. As for next Tuesday, we will be doing well to get a win, far less take it to ET, or qualify. It looks like Thursday/Sunday for this season.

Yes; worrying. The obeah man says that the only way to counteract this is for Rousseau not to watch the match.

I'm trying to be positive! Let's neither over-estimate nor under-estimate this mob of chips and mayo munchers. Of course, if we haven't established superiority within 15 minutes this evening I could well be be in the Slough of Despond.

Be afraid, be very afraid...... But we have nothing to fear, bar fear itself. Union Saint-Gilloise’s fairytale makes for riveting read Belgian minnows have come from nowhere to the brink of European football’s top table Robert O’Connor Tuesday August 02 2022, 12.01am, The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/union-saint-gilloises-fairytale-makes-for-riveting-read-qrf8g5vg2 The history of Union Saint-Gilloise reads a little like two pages have been turned over at once. Twelve months ago they had just emerged from Belgium’s second tier and were preparing to play their first season in the top division in 48 years. Not content to sit and stabilise in the league, Union raced ahead, finishing runners-up to champions Club Bruges to set up their first season in Europe, which begins against Rangers tonight at the Den Dreef stadium in nearby Leuven. The fairytale could have been more fantastical still. The team, which had remained largely the same as the one that won the second division at a canter, came first in the regular league table before finishing an agonising second in the four-way play-off for the title, undone by two defeats in three days to Bruges that toppled them from a position they had held virtually all season. The runners-up prize could prove incalculably valuable. The lucrative group stages of the Champions League are two rounds of qualifiers away, yet expectations are realistic. Most of the Union squad have never played a competitive European fixture, and they begin against a team fresh from last season’s Europa League final. But there is a callow naivety written into Union’s DNA that, next to the weighty expectations on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side to build on last season’s European run, could render Rangers’ visit to Belgium an unexpectedly tricky affair. “Most of us bar one or two have never done anything of this magnitude, playing for a place in the Champions League,” says Christian Burgess, the Union defender. “But we play good teams in our league; Anderlecht, Bruges and so on. We’ve played Feyenoord and Sporting Lisbon in pre-season, we’ve played Brighton. It will be a step up in terms of occasion. Rangers are a good side, but we’re getting more used to that. “We have massive underdog mentality. Our character means we relish these kinds of games. We played our best stuff of pre-season against Feyenoord’s first team. It was a massive boost to our confidence against a team that have just been in a European final.” Few in Belgium hold out much hope of Union repeating last season’s success. A consensus has been reached in the media that, with a small squad and modest resources, the added strain of European football will be a burden too far (they will drop into the Conference League if they lose to Rangers). Most predict a mid-table finish, with some bookies having the team that finished first in last season’s regular standings as seventh-favourites for the title. It is not anything that is likely to trouble Union. Many of these players have been recruited from clubs playing in the second and third divisions of countries abroad — Burgess himself was recruited from League One side Portsmouth. For many, they have been given an unexpected second chance to add an exciting new chapter to the story of their careers. Among the sky-high stakes that typically accompany Rangers’ European campaigns, Union have a free pass. “Rangers have a bigger pedigree, but they’ve also got a bigger squad and a bigger budget,” Burgess says. “They’ve just had an incredible run in Europe. They will be clear favourites. We’re also playing in a stadium we don’t call home in Leuven, but it will be a sell-out and it’s a decent pitch. We’re looking for any kind of result to take to Glasgow. Burgess, whose grandmother is a Rangers fan, was playing in the English third tier before being scouted by Union two years ago “I could argue that our naivety might help us. When something doesn’t go to plan and you can laugh at that, it helps you to take it in your stride. Our strength is in that there is no pressure on us. Not many people are expecting us to beat Rangers over two legs. “But we’re an honest group and there are points to prove. We’ve got a lot of players who have come up from the lower leagues in their countries. If you’re used to a bigger club and better facilities and smoothness of travel, the pressure might affect you. But we just look at it and laugh and get on with it.” There is still a sense of the surreal that pervades Union’s progress. Burgess is a case in point. Two years ago he was playing in England’s third tier, before he came onto the radar of Union’s data-driven scouting system. It has been a key feature of the club’s rise since the owner, Brighton chairman Tony Bloom, came onto the scene in 2018. For Burgess, the Champions League is one more unexpected twist on a mazy venture into the unknown. “It’s brilliant for me,” he said. “My grandmother is from Glasgow, she’s a Rangers fan. I’ve got family and friends who are travelling up from down south. I’ll be able to understand all the players on the pitch, which is not something I’m used to any more. It’ll be nice to feel back home. “I visited Glasgow once when I was a kid. She [his grandmother] is still very much Scottish in her mind, she’s proud of that part of her. She’s a little bit too old now to make it up there from Essex. She’ll have it on TV. “If we get past Rangers and get to the group stage it will be unbelievable. I think it will be an even better story than if we’d qualified by winning the league. But it’s going to need quite an effort.”

Pre season results don't count.

As for the Belgians: they had a dream first season in the big league, losing the title via a play off system, but the manager left for Anderlecht after the end of the season; their two best players were flogged in the summer; they are hosting the match in OH Leuwen's stadium, a good half hour away from their home turf; the defender, Siebe van der Heyden, said last week that they were used to playing Rangers on FIFA; the new manager likewise observed that the players may know Rangers from PlayStation, and that they will know them from television, and, on top of all that, I confidently predict that 'second season syndrome' will kick-in.

Never in doubt. It's just the subject of your expertise that remains unclear.

To think that some on here have been decrying media 'experts'.....

A friend of mine pointed out, if he hadn't got them into European competition, he would still be in a job. It's a funny old game, Saint. One might have thought that he had some credit in the bank, but M'well is owned and controlled by its supporters, the previous owner having gifted all his shares to 'The 'Well Nation' or somesuch group, maybe 4 years ago, and this may explain the precipitate action. Could care more.

El capitan. Won us the game, and the points. Not much more to say, really.

I haven't watched, or listened to, more than a few minutes of BBC Sport Scotland in years. From what I can gather, from reading on-line observations, and from comments of friends/acquaintances, its output is far from "drivel". What is described is, for the most part, too studied, and too infused with malice, to qualify for this accolade. It seems , almost, to approach the sinister. There is an agenda, which is nothing new, and I expect little or no change for the foreseeable future.