buster

We could but walter won�´t. At least not at the beginning.

Burke�´s a good shout when the alternative is Rae. It also means more creativity and a possible link between midfield and forward. For all his faults Eck would have played him, he tended to be agressive in looking for an away goal when needed, eg. Feyenoord & Villareal. Walter is another matter, he�´ll have to change his spots if he is to go with Burke ! Fully expect to see Rae�´s name in the teamsheet on wednesday. Please surprise me Walter. Mind you I wouldn�´t have played Ugo yesterday !

I agree with 4-4-2 Not only because I think we should be cautiously positive but the alternative is probably Gavin Rae in a 4-5-1. With all due respect, Rae isn�´t really match-fit, neither mobile...so the game against good solid, strong and techically good spanish midfielders will pass him by. To play Hemdani, Thomson and Rae in the middle will be like playing with 10. They will boss the midfield and supply to a lone striker will be poor quality. I think it�´d almost be better playing Dean Furman but WS would never do this and I�´m afraid I can see Rae starting.

best thing is that it keeps doubts in their minds with regards to relegation and they�´re defence giving away a late goal is a good sign. Still going to be exceedingly difficult.

Valencia equalise in the dying moments ! Looks like I put the curse on them. Valencia with 10 men scored , Morientes.

It seems that the Dunfermline of spain will get the better of the Aberdeen of spain ! Osasuna are only 1 min away from victory over Valencia, CL quarter finalists. It�´ll be a big lift for them and a bigger relief to collect 3 points which would give them a little breathing space with regard to relegation worries. It�´s going to be very difficult on wednesday.

Walter has to be the one stick is aimed at for thursday. He got it horribly wrong playing Boyd on his own and that knowing full well the weaknesses of KB�´s game. Playing Hemdani, Thomson and Ferguson together didn�´t work either, they get in each other�´s way. The other thing was that he didn�´t change things until H-T and Prso didn�´t join Boyd until later still. Boyd was doing his impression of a bag of cement but hey he�´s good against the wee teams so better not critizise his unprofessionalism too much :admin: Hemdani seems a class act in Scotland because the sad truth is that there are far too many footballers in this country who aren�´t particularly good at the basics of the game such as first touch, passing to a player with the same colour jersey, etc....why practise that when you could enjoy a pint and a game of snooker

9 men you say that�´s what i made it be aswell BF, Hemdani and KT in same midfield is like playing with 10 Given that Boyd�´s contribution was the same as a bag of cement it�´s 9 to be fair it was Walters fault more than anyones, especially in Boyd�´s case.

16, 9, 01, 8, 7, 3

2-1 I can see them getting a goal, pass from Raul Garcia through the defence and Webo beats the offside I can also see David Weir scoring tonight. mystic B

You an I both but him no. The perception of the scottish league in england is "mickey mouse" and now we can�´t compete financially with your Charlton Athletics of this world

Not far up the road mate ! Barbate !

Yes, speak the lingo, live in the south of spain mate The team that they send out will be focused mate. We got to get inamongst this lot from the start, not let them settle and start to knock the ball about. The preverbial "early goal" would be most welcome. Might prove a frustrating night if we aren�´t in the lead by half-time.

That�´s the team mate ! We need Novo�´s speed and getting in amongst them. Adam has scored our last 3 goals so it�´s up to Boydie, Novo and Fergie to score goals. Prso and Adam to come on as subs.

Yes they lost. No, he´s more concerned at their energy levels, not playing guys carrying knocks etc. This all connected with prioritising the league as they´re on the edge of the relegation battle. He did the same in the spanish cup-tie last mid-week. I said this is what he´d do a while back http://www.gersnetonline.net/vb/showthread.php?t=3269 BTW this time will still be a BIG improvement on Hapoel.

Their website and sapnish press. http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/1a_division/osasuna/es/desarrollo/746666.html http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/1a_division/osasuna/es/desarrollo/746675.html

This is the team that Osasuna were trying out in training with this morning. Not full strengh. Soldado is out for thursday and Milosoevic can´t play in 2nd leg either. 4-1-4-1 Ricardo Izquierdo,Cuéllar, Miguel Flaño, Monreal, Nekouman David López, Raúl García, Muñoz, Juanlu Webó This is pretty likely to be the team on thursday. Below is team that lost on sunday 13Ricardo 19Corrales 14Josetxo 7Cruchaga 17Javier Flaño (Juanlu 81' ) 24Nekounam 10Puñal 12Juanfran 16David López 18Soldado (Webó 69' ) 9Milosevic (Raúl García 23' ) Only 3, including keeper that started their last league is in the training ground "team" for thursday.

I think after the next 4 games we�´ll be able to answer the question with more authority. Yesterday was a good start of the "heavy period"..............

The local pamplona press are getting torn into the team and you feel that something has to give. Ziganda has a dilema in that last midweek he played a reserve team in the spanish cup, resting his players for the w/e but come the game they played as badly as they have all season. The local pamplona press aren´t sure what type of team he´ll be bringing to Glasgow. My guess is that it´ll be a strong one. He might rest players for 2nd leg due to having a more important game the following w/e. The Osasuna official site is saying that Milosevic isn´t going to travel. Neither is their captain Punal who is suspended Soldado didn´t train today either but is expected to be fit for Ibrox Their squad will be announced after training tomorrow morning. Cautionary note. I remember the Aberdeen of Spain game in Valencia. The weekend prior an old friend Bjorkland playing for Valencia,got injured and had to sit out the game against us, the experienced Djukic came in and played so well that the first team place remained his. Bjorkland had been part of Valencia´s problem. I see certain parrellels, although let´s hope I´m being paranoid.

The Osasuna captain said the following in an interview published on club website today. http://www.osasuna.es/dev/actualidad...ener-problemas It talks of the vital league games coming up now that they�´re dropping down the table. Pu�±al ha insistido esta ma�±ana en Tajonar en que la Liga es lo m�¡s importante y ha dejado claro que deben centrarse en esta competici�³n, aunque sin renunciar a nada ni en Copa ni en Europa. Translation This morning at the training complex Patxi Pu�±al has insisted that the league is the most important and has let it be known that they must concentrate in it although they won�´t give up easily in the Cup or in Europe. Further down he talks of europe "We must never forget that what is really imporant is the League." The more I think about it the better I feel about our chances If we go at them with conviction at Ibrox and we take our chances we could wrap the tie up there and then, anyone for 3-0 !! BTW I�´m usually one of the more cautious/pessimistic Bears when it comes to predictions but there�´s room for positivity here, just prey that Osasuna are beaten again this coming weekend.

On current form, Racing will beat Osasuna, however we all know that it doesn�´t always work like that. Can�´t see Osasuna winning the game, maybe get a draw but they�´re on roll (bad one) and hopefully it won�´t finish at Racing. Osasuna at the turn of the year won quite a few games on the bounce but are now stuggling to score goals............:admin: I know, I shouldn�´t have said it

I�´m not advocating we take it easy. Just an observation based on what I�´ve seen happen out here in Spain with regards to team selection / priorities over the years. If you don�´t tell Walter neither will I

Osasunas 0-2 home defeat to a disciplined Espanyol side means that on 30 points they are only 5 points in front of Athletico Bilbao, who occupy the first relegation position. The other 2 teams below Bilbao haveboth only 14 points and look destined for the drop. What does this mean for Rangers ? They may decide to prioritise the league and rotate squad with preference for league games. If Osasuna were to lose next weekend to away to Racing Santander then the management would start to get very nervous about their situation in La Liga. Have a look at their next few games. Feb 28.........Getafe (H) 2nd leg in Kings Cup (lost 1st leg 3-0) March 4........Racing (A) liga March 8....... Rangers March 11.......Valencia (H) liga March 15 ?....Rangers March 18.......Ath. Bilbao (A) liga (direct rival) April 1...........Sevilla (H) liga Apr 8............Real Madrid (A) Tough programme and I´d say that IF they were to lose both Racing and Valencia games then the Bilbao match would be enormous for them. I think we´ll benefit out of this. Possible negative aspect for some is that Osasuna if they have freedom to chose date may well go for Wednesaday, thinking in their league game with Athletico Bilbao on the Sunday after.

not impossible we´ll have to be at our best even if they´re at 80% They´re a physical side and if Burke is having a good game they´ll kick him harder than Hapoel did and they´ll look to get BF suspended for 2nd leg If you force me off the fence I´d say we´ll be in quarters. edit- changed my mind, much more optimistic looking at Osasuna´s situation regarding priorities/league.

________________________McGregor__________________ __________ __Huton___________Weir_________Hemdani___________ ____Murray__ _Burke___________Ferge____________Thomson_________ _ _Adam____ ___________________Boyd__________Prso_____________ ___________ If KS doesn´t make it then that is the team that Walter will go with unless he pulls a surprise. We have to be more positive than the first leg so Adam will come back in and Rae will hopefully be nowhere near the right flank, well as near as the subs bench allows him. The negative aspect is that we have a central defensive partnership in it´s FIRST game together but they are two good players and they may well be good together, Weir attacks the ball and Hemdani mops up and passes the ball from defence. Fergie and KT on paper look good together but they haven´t played together much and I´m hoping don´t get in each other´s way. The other thing is that they´re both getting over injuries, I hope they´ve genuinely recovered...not like Thomson starting Killie game only to go off after aggravating groin injury. Prso is in the same boat but he´s going to be important tonight, without him there wasnt going to be anyone to hold the ball up. We need a big game from the Croation. Will we do it ? It´s not going to be as easy as some think. 1. We have to try and keep a clean sheet. If the Israelis actively look to get an away goal we may be in trouble, they´re record away in europe is better than their home one. 2 We gotta create chances. Last week we left it to Burke, tonight we should have Burke, Adam and Prso. 3. We´ve gotta take our chances, KB do your stuff ! History shows us coming back after a first leg defeat only 4 times Juventus, D.Kiev, Bohemians and ??????. Let´s hope tonight is the 5th. Prediction: I´ll pass, it could go either way Out of last night´s CL games not one was won by the home side, this is a tendency that has changed since WS was last in charge and he didn´t have the contemporary way in his mind approaching the first leg in Israel, I hope he doesn´t live to regret not being a little more positive last week.