DMAA

We are far better insulated from bad luck with injuries than I ever thought possible. To be honest I think we could still trim players from the squad for financial reasons but currently our second 11 would actually give our first 11 a decent game. Depending on individual choices you could easily have our second 11 as; Foderingham Flanagan Katic Edmundson Halliday Docherty Polster Kamara Stewart/Hastie Murphy/Jones/Middleton Defoe Ok they wouldn't win the Champions League but that is an incredible second 11 compared with a last season and certainly the season before. We have so many attacking midfielders I had to just list them all.

Last season Morelos had to play a full 90 every game, we couldn’t afford to sub him. On Thursday Defoe lifted the team when he came on, he was sharp and injected new life into us. Morelos did the same when he came on against Derby. How many points will that be worth for us this season? Imagine the dread for a centre back after an hour of chasing Defoe’s shadow and just when he’s finally starting to tire he sees Morelos’s number on the board. Or after an hour of being ragdolled by Morelos and he’s finally starting to make less off the ball runs and suddenly the master of off the ball runs has taken off his training jacket and is on the touchline. I’m looking forward to this season.

To be fair I don’t think anyone really has him as 4th choice, quite simply I don’t think any of us can be sure at this stage what our best pairing is.

It was interesting to see Aribo play further forward against Derby, have to say he played it very well, boy can pick a pass. A very interesting option (above).

I wonder what kind of fee we got for him. A good prospect by all accounts. Good move for him though if he’s walking into a starting lineup.

It's an excellent analysis. And after years of little to no tactical identity how exciting is it to read an article like that when it is about Rangers!

I agree that we could strenghten in the position but my preference would be someone who is a natural central attacking midfielder rather than a natural winger.

I was actually getting him mixed up with the guy who did the Gers report who has written several articles on this website too

Anyone know the author? He must be a Rangers fan.

Outstanding analysis of our formation and tactics. Hope this puts to bed the confusion over the formation we play. https://www.modernfitba.com/blogs/2019/7/23/rangers-tactical-report

Yes both fair points. I'm being a bit hopeful starting Barisic but the main reason I've got him in mine is that in the vast majority of our games we need the left back to operate as a winger and that means it is crucial that he is good at crossing. Pace helps too. Barisic beats Halliday there hands down. I'm still to see the final half hour of yesterday's game. Morelos is a big threat and great goalscorer, he just frustrates the life out of me with his poor ball retention, normally passing.

I'd love to see him get up to speed. Stewart is a really good player and that position Ojo has really suits his style. I'd say the same for Murphy but unfortunately he looks to be about a month behind in terms of fitness. This formation is great for Murphy because it puts far less emphasis on pace than the 4-3-3. I'm a bit concerned that we might be expecting too much of Jones at this stage. I have to admit I really don't rate him, good pace off the bench to beat tired defenders maybe but to be a bit harsh he's a bit of a poor man's Ryan Kent...

I'm watching it bit by bit on RTV and have only reached the 70th minute so far. Helander had next to nothing to do but my first impression is that he's more of an old fashioned centre back, good at defending but would prefer not to be on the ball too much.

With the centre backs I have to admit that I simply don't know. I've put Goldson and Helander due to reputation as much as anything. Edmundson has looked the best out of the lot (by a distance on the ball) but that wasn't against strong opposition. The centre mid is very much a case of horses for courses, @Gaffer had a good post on this earlier in the thread. I've put Jack back in because I think Kamara's natural position is actually the deeper role which Davis is doing whereas Jack is better at bursting forward and supporting the attack, which is what we need more often than not. Docherty is brilliant at this too and should contribute very well this season when he steps in. Ojo gets the nod alongside Arfield because despite not impressing much in his all round game he has two goals. Your job is to create and score in that position and so far Ojo has shown he can at least score. Defoe is our best all round striker, his link up play is outstanding. McGregor Tavernier - Goldson - Helander - Barisic Jack - Davis - Aribo Ojo - Arfield Defoe

Sources from Liverpool said right at the beginning of the summer that the plan was to sell as many fringe players as possible to raise money for the first team. A lot of click bait between now and then but here we are back back where we started. Hope this puts the endless talk to bed.

True. I just think the people making the “worst player we’ve ever had” type comments didn’t watch the Wyscout video when he signed. Ability wasn’t his downfall and if he goes to Ligue 1 I’ll be vindicated on that one.

You must be smart enough to stay off Follow Follow

Fans forums have become an echo chamber on Grezda, it’s accepted as fact that he can hardly play football. Good player, bad attitude and very bad luck. Not surprised we got decent money for him and I think he’ll go on to have a good career.

We’re ruining the transfer thread aren’t we

I was mainly responding to the suggestion that he won’t be needed as much going forward this season, at least in this formation I think the opposite. I see what you are saying with this though, I can’t say I paid attention to the shape in this regard but I would agree that the full backs should always return to their positions and come from deep. Much less likely you will be picked up when you do this too. Also agree with @Rousseau that his end product was the main problem. The formation really seemed to provide him with opportunities to get in great positions but his end product was uncharacteristically poor.

Last season Tavernier had Candeias in front of him so arguably he shouldn't have been needed as much going forward. The way I see the 4-3-2-1 is that the full backs provide the width and turn into wingers when we are attacking so they can't just stay back. With 5 midfielders playing pretty much central, space is created wide that wasn't there before because with clever triangle passing in the middle you are pulling the full backs inside to cover an Ojo or Arfield and then suddenly you switch it out to Tavernier/Barisic who are in acres of space. Think of Barisic's assist for Jack in Gibralter for example.

I think it was 5 non-penalties, which is itself impressive. Only 1 goal less than Candeias and Kent. Speaking of which, Ojo is already a third of the way to matching Candeias and Kent's totals from last season I think I'm going to like this guy

Let's not get carried away. The season has barely started, traditionally we would still be in pre-season right now. I know this is an opinion you've held for a long time but I think his strong performances will return when the league season starts. A reminder of the final assists standings from last season... AssistsTav - 20Candeias - 10Arfield - 7Jack - 6Kent - 6

Going back to Edmundson, when I saw his pace last night I thought he could be the ideal Rangers centre back because of the high line we play. The majority of the goals we lose are counter attacks so pace is a far more important attribute for a Rangers centre back to have than it is for other clubs.

I remember a European game last season when I felt Worrall bailed out Goldson repeatedly but I can't remember which one it was. Goldson was a wee bit lucky last season because he definitely had a few howlers which didn't lead to goals due to poor finishing from the opposition. People only remember them when they lead to goals.