DMAA

I’m a little concerned after seeing the line-up too. It shows how much the squad has been disrupted by injuries that our line-up is so irregular. You can understand the rationale in bringing Katic back in but if Killie press then he is a risk. This is a big game for Hagi too. If it doesn’t go well the narrative will b already written that he is lightweight and isn’t ready for these games, or even Scottish football. Hopefully he can show his quality in what is likely to be a game with little of it.

I reported Michael Stewart to Kick it Out for demanding proof that a young black player who claimed he was racially abused was in fact abused and even insinuating that it was made up. Only in Scotland could a BBC employee say that on national radio and go unchallenged.

Fantastic statement from the club. It has anger running all the way through it. Now that the Police have charged an individual with racially abusing Alfredo Morelos at the Old Firm game on 29 December, it is necessary to state yet again that racist abuse, indeed abuse of any form, must never be condoned or dismissed.The first thing to be made clear is that even though many others commented on the issue of abuse (racial and sectarian) directed towards Alfredo Morelos, Rangers had a duty of care not to say anything that might compromise a live Police Scotland investigation. What none of us should ever do, however, is dismiss, or trivialise abusive behaviour as too many media outlets, journalists, and pundits have done in this instance.Perhaps there might be a bout of contrition and one or two may feel a pang of guilt now that the evidence some of them so loudly demanded is there in the form of this charge.If enough of our media had been of a mind to treat the issue with the gravity required from the outset, as normally happens with these issues, there would have been none of the dismissive comments which have helped pollute social media, newspapers and broadcast platforms. Social media is, of course, largely lawless but some of the pieces written and broadcast around Alfredo Morelos in mainstream media were and remain disgraceful.He has been described as a waster, a cheat, an angry brat and one columnist/pundit actually wrote that if you can’t take the vitriol you are in the wrong city. The implication seems to be that the fault lies not with those who choose racism and abuse, but with a young immigrant who chose to come to our country. This is a deeply disturbing attitude and that it was actually expressed in a national newspaper defies belief.When a player is at the centre of an abuse claim he is treated with respect and sensitivity and given support. That is certainly the case in England, but not here and most certainly not with Alfredo Morelos, who is actually being demonised in many quarters of the media.A number of factually incorrect stories have been written and published about Alfredo recently causing a great deal of stress and anxiety within his family at a time when his heavily-pregnant wife should be calm and relaxed.A river of negative and hurtful attention has been flowing towards the Morelos family without thought or concern for the individuals involved and the way they have been treated is shameful. Especially vulgar is the manner in which claims of abuse, racist and sectarian, have been dismissed in some quarters – BBC Scotland in particular – where the overall situation has been mocked amid outrageous claims that Rangers were behind the leaking of certain stories. None of this shows our media and country in a good light.Perhaps now some people will take a long and honest look at themselves and who knows, they might even apologise, but all of this serves only to make Rangers even more committed to our Everyone Anyone campaign. We will not stop or slow our efforts to make Ibrox a place open and welcoming to all.Finally, Rangers would be more than happy to accommodate the young person involved in this latest incident on one of our courses designed to help people understand why racist and sectarian abuse is unacceptable. Indeed, if any of those journalists/pundits who got it so badly wrong would like to attend we’d also welcome and help them.

I'm biased too @craig but I actually think I would be perfect for the job.

He already plays in the middle but he has never looked comfortable there. He doesn't have the skillset. He wants too many touches and wants to dribble all the time, if there's no space to dribble he'll just pass the ball back where it came from or lose it. He's ball turnover stats are very high. A player who is natural centrally has good vision and passing ability which enables him to move the ball quickly and pass through teams. I still think Kent's most natural position is the right wing, where he can focus on hitting the byline. Leave the intricate stuff to those who have that skillset.

I still haven't seen the game so I can't comment on it, but what really frustrates me about Kent at times is that he doesn't get in the right attacking positions. He doesn't make off the ball runs in behind the defence to stretch them. Others like Aribo and even Arfield are better at getting in dangerous positions but Kent often defaults to a kind of left back position where his pace is useless and he ends up playing a neat and tidy type game where he takes the ball direct to feet and simply passes it back infield. In Kent's defence, I think the system we play is designed to pull opposition defenders inside to provide space for Barisic and Tavernier. You could say Kent is almost sacrificed in a system like that because he is there to distract defenders rather than to actually get through very much. However my counter argument to that is that there is a reason why he has been sacrified, because his final ball and decision making is very often hopeless. All things being equal though the system makes best use of the qualities of Barisic and Tavernier and on a good day makes best use of Kent's qualities which are pace and dribbling but not passing or crossing.

I said before the game he should be dropped. I didn’t see the game but I’m not surprised Hagi came up with a goal.

Delighted with that team. I hope Aribo plays on the right of the central 3 though.

A bit skeptical of that stat. Helander is our tallest defender and has always looked very comfortable in the air, more so than Katic for defensive aerial duels at least. It looks like this stat is about quantity only instead of % of aerial duels won.

I would add Kent to that. Aribo has produced more than him in the final third and it wouldn't be fair to drop him for Hagi. I don't think it would be a bad thing to remind him of the competition either. I agree with you that Gerrard tends to stick with his men but I think Katic is the most vulnerable tonight with Edmundson chomping at the bit for an opportunity. Anyway, I expect a return to winning ways tonight and we'll get over this hump.

Saw this one too

Apologies from journalists are meaningless, they are only ever given when coerced by lawyers.

Where did you see that?

I would like to see that team but Gerrard is so reluctant to make changes I'm not sure it will happen. I'd like to see Stewart starting to get game time too ahead of Ojo.

To be fair, he's not that kind of player.... Interesting trend isn't it. Michael Stewart uses his position on Sportscene to set the tone of the debate around those kinds of incidents. That's two blatantly deliberate stamps on players from Griffiths and Michael Stewart plays it down and shuts down the debate before it can get going. The worst thing is those incidents are unprovoked. Morelos retaliates, whether that is to McKenna barging him off the ball or Scott Brown raking his studs down the back of his ankle off the ball, and Michael Stewarts whips the press up into a frenzy. That's not to mention the referees. Griffiths doesn't get booked for the Aberdeen stamp. That's the game Cosgrove for sent off in when he won the ball. Griffiths doesn't get booked for the Hamilton one either (we can only assume his booked was for the aftermath given that's what Gogic was booked for). Again this was in a game a Hamilton player did get sent off after Griffiths fell down from very minimal contact. Of course he escapes a second booking later for clear dive too.

So he gets away with it. What do I know, these guys are "experts".

The Griffiths one at the weekend is probably the most inexplicable. It is the most blatant red card you will ever see, not to mention cowardly intimidation of a man lying on the ground. Morelos got a straight red for a retaliatory kick at McKenna's shinpad which didn't even make him flinch. He got another straight red for a flick at McKenna as they tangled. It wasn't clear he even achieved contact from the replays. Griffiths pulls a man to the ground and stamps on him right in front of the referee. To add insult to injury the referee books Gogic who comes to the aid of his teammate and pushes Griffiths away. Absolutely astounding, he did well to push him and not punch him. There is no stronger argument for bias than the comparison of those incidents.

Absolutely astounding that Griffiths was not sent off that stamp. Not so astounding that Michael Stewart says it was a yellow card offence. Morelos would be crucified for that he has been sent off for things nowhere near as bad as that.

We’ve missed Helander but it’s surely time for Edmundson to be given a chance. His superior technique and passing could make a difference at Ibrox in particular.

On this form we need Hagi chucked in and we shouldn’t be afraid to rotate Kent out. 15 games and 0 assists just suggests he hasn’t had that final pass too often. For comparison Aribo has 8. That’s not to blame him but sometimes you Just have to try something different.

Most of his career appearances have been for Cowdenbeath pre 2014 where he primarily played up front, but since Dundee in 2014 he’s primarily been a winger or attacking midfielder. Ryan Jack used to be a right back and Graeme Shinie used to be a left back but players change over time. That said I’ve always said I’m fine with him a 3rd striker because you don’t need one very often.

That’ll be what he means. A lot of people felt we should have already had 3 as Stewart isn’t a natural striker. In our financial position I think 3 is fine. You can attract a higher calibre of player when they aren’t coming to be 4th choice too.

Midfield was their Achilles heel and they desperately needed to strengthen. They had to give us Kamberi to get Docherty and they managed to bring in a striker to replace him anyway. It’s a case of you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours and I for one prefer it when we are doing this with Hibs rather than Celtic.

“Always been a dream of mine to play for Rangers”. “Rangers fans are the best in the world”. “Ibrox has the best atmosphere I’ve ever played in”.

Definitely not.