barcelonabear

I'd like to see McMillan given a run in the team with Whittaker pushed forward into right mid to replace Naisy. Whittakers better going forward and McMillan showed more positional sense in 1 game this season that Broadfoot has done in the past, outside of the Old Firm games.

That's just nonsense. Wylde has been poor so far this season, compared to Forrest who was one of the main reasons Celtic clawed a point back at Rugby Park. Forrest is miles ahead of Wylde now, and Wylde could do a lot worse than study Forrest's game to see what aspects he could incorporate into his own and then spent some extra time on the training ground improving himself!

No. When we play Davis on the right he is given the instructions to drift inside and into the space left there because it's usually been 2 from Edu, McCulloch and Thomson who have been in the middle. Ortiz wouldn't be able to do the same as in our current system Davis utilises the space in the middle and Edu also plays further up the pitch. I think we'd see some benefit from Ortiz if he was used more to cover Whittakers forward runs, ie the role he played for Almeria, or when we need to give Davis a rest play him through the middle. He looks as if he's got a good eye for a pass and could be another option in there as the season progresses or if we play a 5 man midfield at any point.

I doubt it's him seeing as he's playing with Forfar this season.

No it shouldn't. We should be expecting to beat them, especially at home. We should also be expected to beat a team full of teenagers and Darren Dods. In all honesty I could have taken a defeat tonight if it had been prosperous in the future, i.e. we had used the game to blood in some youngsters like Hemmings and Bendiksen, but not when it was pretty much the team that won on Sunday with the exception of McCulloch and Healy "playing".

The difference between us and Kilmarnock/St Mirren however are the standard of players and the size of squad. Kilmarnock and St Mirren will finish mid table as their players begin to tire and they don't have the strength in depth to rotate the squad like we can. St Mirren have shown that it doesn't take long to get this new style working, having implemented it over the course of their pre-season - though I would imagine they began laying the groundwork last season. Which is what I'm suggesting we look to do. Begin the groundwork now, leave any dramatic changes until after the season is finished, and reap the benefits from next term. There is no short term fix to our on the field problems, it's going to take hard work and a bit of patience, but there's no reason why we can't grit our teeth and get on with this hard work whilst also retaining our championship. The other option is a quick fix, and then have to face up to the problem again this time next year when we suffer another defeat against a European team, who on paper we should beat.

I wouldn't say no club is willing to take the time or the risk. Kilmarnock bought into Mixu Paatelainen's vision, and even after he left stuck by Kenny Shiels through a long stretch of defeats because of the long term picture. My mate who's a Killie fan says their football is 100% better to watch than at any point he can remember in his 26 years and that they'll reap the benefits of a football first approach in the future if they stick with it. Danny Lennon has undertaken a similar philosophy at St Mirren with fitness and technique the main attributes he had them working on in pre season and their start to the season has shown how beneficial it has been to them. Again I have St Mirren supporting friends who had stopped going to games who are now returning to St Mirren Park which shows that it is beneficial off the pitch as well. It's time for us to start looking to the likes of Ajax and Barcelona, clubs of truly great standing in the world game, clubs who put a great deal of effort and belief in their respective ideas of how football should be played. From the under 9's to the first team of both clubs they play the same way, meaning it is a much simpler process for the youths progressing into the first team to assimilate into the core squad members of the future. I remember Ronald de Boer mentioned that up to the under 18s level Scotland would beat the Netherlands due to the physicality of the Scottish players, but after that the Dutch would always win as their players would get the physical strength they needed through natural physiology and would then be streets ahead of the Scots in terms of technical ability as the Scottish players have more focus placed on their physical side than their technical side. It's time to start the work off the field, it's not going to change over night but if we begin to lay the groundwork now, especially at all levels below the first team, then we can slowly assimilate the first team squad into the new methods over the course of the season and next pre-season allowing us to retain the title and then reap the benefit of being a far better footballing team next year.

I've been saying this since his first game. If Ally wants to line up 4-2-3-1 then he should deploy Ortiz in behind Jelavic. Then we can have Davis' industry in the middle of the park and he isn't burdened with being the only creative spark in the middle of the pitch. He played more as a wing back for Almeria, and not all wing backs in Spain are the flying types like Dani Alves & Marcelo. He's also not the only player that looks unfit, I often wonder what the Sports Scientists are being paid for.

Goalposts haven't been moved. Dundee Utd told us they wanted £2 million up front, so they can put it straight to use for reducing their debt. Instead we pissed about with £1 million + bids and then when we did "match" the Blackburn bid we did so by offering to pay the £2 million in installments - that's why the 5th bid was rejected. We need another striker capable of getting 15-20 goals a season in the SPL and Goodwillie was a perfect fit for this. Naismith plays best as a midfielder, and we can't rely solely on Jelavic and Lafferty as we'll be fucked if both get injured at the same time. Healy and Beattie partnership

Larsson that scored the goal tonight was signed from Hacken, he probably had all the Malmo fans muttering about him not being Malmo class. A good side brings in young players with potential and turns them into better players. The players we should be looking at are the ones we can bring in who can give something to the side just now, but that can be developed into even better players over time for our benefit and then a sell on value. Jamie Murphy definitely fits the bill in this sense!

I like the template, but would have preferred it in White or even Black

You forgot Maxim Tsigalko, Andri Sigporsson, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Freddy Guarin and Daniel Braaten.

Do clubs not now get a set amount to distribute amongst their squad as they see fit? For some reason I have it in my mind that this is the case and that they're given around 25 medals, which with the size of our squad means the two of them would definitely get one... in fact Kerkar may even be in with a shout! First things first though, need to get a result at Rugby Park!

Yeah it is to do with the Dominoes. Hopefully be the only Championship they can celebrate this year!

I'd rather we snapped up Gomis on a free and low wages to bolster the midfield so that there's not too much pressure put on Hutton and Ness next season if we get too many injuries, and so Ally can spend whatever transfer budget he has on improving other areas of the team.

The 15 minutes or so before the game today was superb in terms of noise. Loudest Ibrox has been in a long while. It's a shame we couldn't get the goal we deserved to win the game, but at least they never managed to cheat their way to a win. 4 wins and we'll see how they cope with the pressure!

Off to Bayern according to reports in Germany. Seemingly they've tied up Neuer too just need to agree a price with Schalke.

A loaded question like what? There's the problem right there, you right away assume that the media have twisted his words so that he's forced to give an answer that goes against the bigots. Maybe he's simply a decent human being and Rangers man and feels that bigotry is wrong. I'm also amazed at the stupidity of some people on here!

Those are the remarks thrown at those on this forum that speak out against the bigots, so does that mean a man that made 426 appearances for our club is to be tarnished with the same brush? What if our manager comes out and speaks against it, or our incoming manager and greatest ever goalscorer? Will they be labelled as no longer being true Rangers men just so the deluded bigots can keep on thinking they're the ones in the right. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/rangers/do-these-people-not-take-on-board-how-serious-the-repercussions-will-be-1.1095267

Of course I think there should, but I don't think we should avoid a problem by trying to occupy everyones attention with another problem. Let's solve our own problem and then we can highlight the fact that Uefa coming after us wasn't followed up by equal opposition to other clubs, and that we are the case that shows clubs can change and force Uefa to investigate other clubs. Whether those clubs be in Russia, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain or even Scotland.

It always comes back to what Celtic are doing with an element of our support. Pretty poor that some of us can't get over this strange part infatuation part hatred of our rivals. I think the problem you have with me is that I am defending myself, and my feelings about our football club. Though the fact that you fail to see this doesn't surprise me as you also don't seem to see the fact that if our club and the European governing body for football say that are support are doing something wrong, then they are doing something wrong. I'll stand up for my club, but I won't stand up for supporters like you who are behind the idea of "sing and be damned" because you're not helping the team, you're pulling down the club.

It's the common sense approach, and we should... but as radlord says too many will see it as a defeat rather than a compromise - unfortunately.

Well in that case, you're alright. Feel free to take your own advice, but some Rangers fans have to try and call a halt to those hellbent on continuing to ruin our clubs name.

The attacks do seem one sided, however we are in the wrong and have a problem that needs to be solved. I'd rather solve our problem first and then worry about how unequal attacks are, not the other way around. We've grown a complex in which we seem to always compare what we have done/or continue to do with the club from the East, we shouldn't care what they do, it's what we do that counts. We lead the way in titles, let's lead the way over this problem.

For pointing out the fact that singing the songs our own club wants banned are tarnishing our club and fans reputation? Sad state of affair if that's a reason to go and take "a runnin fuck to yourself"