DMAA

Last time we debated Tavernier I said we couldn't improve on him with our budget. Well Celtic picked up Jeremie Frimpong (18) for about 300k apparently and it's very early days but he looks outstanding and unfortunately it looks to me like they have another big asset on their hands. Why Man City gave him away for next to nothing should be investigated, Mark Lawwell pulling some strings I think. Having said that, whilst I'd have no problem with Polster getting an opportunity in a lower risk game Tavernier needs the backing of the fans. Gerrard was right to call out the fans who were getting on his back unncessarily, that kind of thing is terrible for your confidence.

I’ve only seen highlights again but we would all have taken that result when it was 3 days after a game in Portugal against a Chanpions League level team. Those games after European fixtures (especially away) are going to be a real challenge and that’s 3 wins out of 3 so far.

We've got a huge squad, too big in my opinion. I'm just being realistic, it would be a major surprise if Docherty was brought in from the cold against Ross County never mind Porto away.

The same Greg Docherty who hasn't played a minute of league football all season and only made the bench once (in August). I've seen a few people saying this but we need to get real the gaffer has clearly decided he isn't up to it.

Very well. Kelly has been said to be the best midfielder in the league by a distance. Though it might have been Ian McCall who said that now that I think of it. I'm surprised too, especially by McPake. But I blame the club, Dundee are a shambles at the moment and young players don't often get a chance when clubs are desperate (remind you of anyone?). Ayr would have been perfect for him. No, not getting a game apparently after being tried at right back. He's a likeable guy with qualities but he is way overrated by our fans, he's not technical enough to play centre mid for Rangers. He did us a turn and deserves praise for that but we just don't need a destroyer in centre mid very often.

That is true. I only got to watch some of the game in the second half but I actually found it very similar to watch to the game when we beat them 2-1 there last December to go top of the league. We were lauded for a great performance that day but actually all we did was get the goals we needed and then saw the game out, we hardly played any football. We've only conceded 6 in the league and most haven't been down to bad defending per se. Kilmarnock - the only goal conceded which was plain old bad defending Hibs - a quality goal, hard to blame defence Celtic - 1 brainfreeze and 1 counter attack Livingston - just a silly penalty Hearts - bizarre brainfreeze again

Same, it really was a classic Kent moment that we saw very often last season. I hope he proves me wrong too but I think he may perform better in a slightly different role which takes emphasis off his weaknesses, maybe being played on the right instead of the left.

I don't know about that. Neither Kent or Jones are goalscorers. A title winning team needs real goalscorers in those positions. As I say all I saw was the highlights but Kent only featured in those to show that he still shoots like an injured centre back.

It is a bit strange that almost no Rangers fan would have started Ojo ahead of Stewart yet we could all predict that it would happen. He seems to me anyway to be a much better player, and if there is a ground in the world where you can guarantee you won't get to use your pace very much it is Tynecastle.

I haven’t seen the game, only the highlights and the match stats to go on. But both of those were very concerning, 1 shot on target against that lot is pathetic and Hearts had their share of chances. I’m still a bit concerned with the lack of quality in the attacking midfield positions. A strange thing to say given our position in the league yes but often away games are the real tests and we have struggled away so far.

Just in the way of an update on this, it has held up thus far. St Mirren have played 4 home league games not including us and haven’t conceded a single goal in those games, 2 wins and 2 draws. This makes this win seem more important and probably under appreciated at the time.

Yes, I had assumed it would be

My problem personally hasn't been that he starts the game but that he has lasted the full game when he should have been one of the first players subbed.

That's not really accurate. Jones got plenty game time before his injury, and Barker wasn't fully fit when he joined and picked up an injury after that so has been eased in. There hasn't really been a lot of competition for the starting spot so far. There is now with Stewart up to speed.

I don't think it's out of the question but it's far too early to be talking about that game, we have 17 games between now and then. He might prove himself worthy in that time but I expect Gerrard's preference to be to play Arfield and someone with pace.

I doubt it's a contractual requirement, however I definitely believe there will be pressure as there was with Ejaria and Kent. After all it's about maintaining the potential pipeline of future Liverpool loanees too. He's started every league game except St Mirren when he was injured. We've obviously had injury problems but I would prefer we played Arfield and Stewart more often tbh. Ojo has a role to play but it's clear to see he's struggling a bit, he looks every part the young academy player far too often.

It shows how far we've come when a player gets an excellent hattrick and there is a bit of debate over who the man of the match is. It's Defoe for me because those first 2 goals were outstanding wouldn't have been scored by most and his link up play is always first class. At times we were playing tika taka on the edge of the box and Defoe is key to that. It's brilliant to see Stewart get his breakthrough and I think once he's been more regular and is more settled his finishing will get there because he is normally a very good finisher. He will only get better.

So good to go into this break top of the league and with 7 wins from 8 games. A word of warning though, we have had 5 home games and 3 away and Celtic have had 3 home and 5 away. The league winner this season will be the team who manages to drop the least points away and/or the team who outperforms the other in Old Firm matches. Home games have been training matches for both sides but 2 of our 3 away games have been really tough games with 1 goal separating the sides. Only 4 of our next 11 league games will be at home. The opposite for Celtic, only 4 away games in their next 11. So we can not get carried away. We are only 2 points ahead so we need to prove we can avoid dropping points away from home. This is going to be a huge challenge considering we are going into a lot of those away games 3 days after European matches. We're going to Livingston after Porto at home, Tynecastle after Rotterdam, Motherwell at home after Porto away and Fir Park after Young Boys at home. A massive test but one I'm cautiously optimistic about for a change. We have great depth in this team and I think we have every reason to hope that Celtic will drop some more points too. I've been particularly pleased to see Stewart get his chance, I was very surprised he wasn't getting a chance because he's the kind of player we've really been missing and our fans are finally seeing that now. Edmundson is another one who was finally given his chance, I really really like him and for me he is your ideal centre back for home games because his possession play and distribution is far better than all the rest. Defoe I've spoken of before as our most underrated player, I still prefer him to Morelos (sorry). What an amazing player to be able to bring in to give Morelos a rest. And I think we can expect Morelos to perform better than last season now that we can rest him, not to mention the impact Defoe will be having on him. Could this even be contributing to his better discipline? Less pressure and stress knowing he's practically got the weekend off sometimes, he must be able to relax a lot more than when he was playing 90 every game and if he didn't score Rangers didn't score (very often).

Thanks for that, I haven’t kept up at all with Southampton but I had a look on their forum and they were talking about £250m being wasted on poor signings on his watch, exaggeration no doubt. I still think he sounds like an excellent appointment and will have a far better chance of success in recruitment here. We don’t get overcharged the way EPL clubs do when dealing with European clubs.

Yeh when you look at their signings the past few seasons and consequent league performance you can see why. They paid circa £16m for that guy Celtic have taken on loan for example. I’ll choose to believe he’ll be a success at our level though. He has a wealth of experience and contacts and Ian up to speed with all the modern working methods used at the top level.

Looking over more of the comments here, do people honestly think we can improve on Tavernier with our budget? This talk about replacing him, with who? A right back who will be brilliant going forward and flawless defensively? Why hasn't Gerrard thought of that before! Perspective has gone out the window. His contribution to the team is overwhelmingly positive, and that includes his defensive contribution. He very occasionally costs us a goal and I would suggest he costs us fewer than all the other defenders. Every single one of them have cost us goals this season, yes even Katic. it's just that the goals Tavernier costs us tend to be high profile like the second goal last night and the pass at Parkhead. And by the way Morelos has had countless brain farts in front of goal in big games and small but escapes the scrutiny that is applied to Tavernier. We are only a few days into October and he has already contributed 7 assists (leading the team again after contributing 20 last season), which is more than wonder boy Kent managed all of last season if you only include the real ones. He is certainly not on top form yet he is still racking up the assists and a big part of a defence who are conceding very few this season, equal to Celtic for the first time in a very long time by this stage of the season. I would be more inclined to replace Goldson with Katic than replace Tavernier with anyone.

Of course, it’s just that some of the comments are too far. He is a very good player who costs us goals occasionally. We aren’t going to get better than him with our budget, it’s as simple as that.

Knives are out for Tavernier. Perspective needed.

Gutted. I know it’s easy to start having a go at players after we lose a game but we’ve got a few underperforming in there. Goldson lacks aggression, he gives his man too much space for my liking. Ojo just looks a very young player. We know he can score from nowhere but you have to wonder if he should be keeping his place as a stick on starter. Tavernier obviously made two big mistakes. All in all just gutted we couldn’t hold onto a lead. We moan about rubbish teams making it hard for us to score by parking the bus most weeks but we don’t seem to be able to do that ourselves when we have to.

It would need to be a crazy bid early in the window and that won’t happen. I think he is still worth more to Rangers than to potential suitors.