ian1964 10,486 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 ALAN PARDEW plans to bring his strongest squad to Ibrox on August 6 as Newcastle Unitedâ??s preparations continue for the start of their Premier League campaign at Manchester Cityâ??s Etihad Stadium on Monday, August 19. The Magpies have already made the short trip up to Scotland twice so far this summer, recording 4-2 and 2-0 wins over Motherwell and St Mirren respectively, but Pardew wants his side to shift up through the gears when they face the Light Blues with their first League fixture less than two weeks away. The Toon boss believes the friendly at Ibrox will be an entertaining 90 minutes for both sets of fans to enjoy and with St Jamesâ?? Park stars such as Hatem Ben Arfa, Jonas Gutierrez, Moussa Sissoko and Papiss Cisse all expected to feature it is sure to be a fantastic occasion. Ally McCoist, of course, is likely to hand home debuts to new signings Bilel Mohsni, Arnold Peralta, Nicky Law, Nicky Clark, Cammy Bell and Jon Daly with Richard Foster and Steven Smith already familiar with the Ibrox roar. Pardew is anticipating a great night but wants his players to put in a strong performance, he said: â??I think whenever you play Rangers you are in for a special occasion in terms of the history and heritage of the club plus the quality of the opposition. â??In recent years, the last couple anyway, itâ??s been difficult for Rangers but they still carry fantastic prestige and weâ??re proud to play them. â??Itâ??s a fixture Iâ??m really looking forward to as Iâ??ve not been involved in a game in Glasgow as a manager. â??But itâ??s a good opportunity for my players to show what they can do and it will be a tough game for Rangers because we will be bringing our top team. â??I expect Ben Arfa, Papiss, Cabaye, Sissoko all to play at Ibrox along with Coloccini and Tim Krul probably as well. â??It will probably be my strongest team of the pre-season that I field.â? You can read Alan Pardew's full interview in the Rangers v Newcastle United official matchday programme. http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/4641-i%E2%80%99ll-bring-my-top-team 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltersgotstyle 297 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Will be an extremely tough test for our team. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Used to expect us to win against English teams - and we usually did. Now I don't expect much at all. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltersgotstyle 297 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Used to expect us to win against English teams - and we usually did. Now I don't expect much at all. Early 2000s we would have wiped the floor with most of the Premiership - Nowadays we will be setting out not to be embarrassed. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Even during Eck's most parsimonious spell, we were in a different league to the likes of Fulham. Now the tables have truly turned. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 i fear we will get spanked. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc 280 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I suspect Gunslinger is right and we'll get a bit of a doing but we need to measure ourselves against top teams and understand where we have to make progress. Lessons learned against the likes of Newcastle may be very useful when we play our former colleagues in the SPL in cup ties. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest glasgowrangers2013-2014 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I am looking forward to this game. It will tell us where we are in comparison with SPL teams. Yes we have a few new players but they have been together for weeks now. For the first half at least we will see if we are going in the right direction as McCoist will probably play our strongest team. To be drawing at half time against a decent Newcastle team would be great. To be winning or drawing at full time would be outstanding. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anchorman 0 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I am looking forward to this game. It will tell us where we are in comparison with SPL teams. Yes we have a few new players but they have been together for weeks now. For the first half at least we will see if we are going in the right direction as McCoist will probably play our strongest team.To be drawing at half time against a decent Newcastle team would be great. To be winning or drawing at full time would be outstanding. I think Dundee showed us how far we've really come, and it's not very far at all. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltersgotstyle 297 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I think Dundee showed us how far we've really come, and it's not very far at all. You can hardly judge the team on one friendly, especially when we were missing players such as Wallace, Jig, Black and Macleod. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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