borderbear

I'd take these stats as an indicator that our fortunes will change. Along with the below reasons I'm still 100% confident we'll be challengers this year- New squads take time to gel. We've started badly before and went on the win the league. We've shown glimpses of top quality in each match and on our rivals good start- Teams almost always hit bad patches, drop points or even have a run of consecutive defeats. Teams always get a lift when a new manager comes in.

Give him 90 against Linfield to push his fitness levels and then start him. If not 100% fit the tempo of the OF will be too much but if fit he is too good to leave on the bench as he can change the game with a pass. Also get the feeling another of his long range shots are due to land again.

This subject is always pie in the sky stuff along with the Atlantic league, not least because of UEFA rules on cross border leagues but stranger things have happened and the precedent is already set with the Welsh teams. It's saying they want divisions of 20 between the EPL to D5. There's 92 clubs down to L2 at the moment so that leaves 8 additional places so no one loses apart from potentially 2 from the Vanarma National league but they'd still move 6 up so they could hardly complain. There would be a big financial incentive to any team who believed they would never reach the premiership themselves, which would be not far off over half out of the 92 Clubs. If it was a 50% vote to win we could scrape it. Pie in the sky but a seat back at the top table of British football is no less than our great institution deserves. And if they say they can only take one we can join and Sellik could join the League of Ireland.

On form it should be Rossiter although he was not brilliant last night. There is no chance the gaffer is dropping Barton though as he's decided who first choice in the summer before a ball was kicked. You seen this the first game of the season with Krancjar being selected even though they must have known he was 6-8 weeks off full fitness. Barton will have to be shit for months where as I think Rossiters preformance last night will be used as justification to drop him. I now agree they can't play together. I thought with a more creative and direct player in front we might have looked more balanced but they are just too similar. The amount of times Forrester picked up the ball in front of them and they both just sat, we are crying out for the kind of off the ball movement Holt (and hopefully Windass) gives us going beyond the ball and giving their CHs a decision to make, without more options for the creative AM our CF is constantly dropping short and we're predictably hitting Tav or Barrie on the flanks to try get some penetration. The good news is the fix should be instantaneous because we just need to go back to the system that we played since Warburton arrived.

No, we've conceded a soft goal in all 3 of our league matches so far and the keeper has kept us in it more than once. We're here to win the league and that's not good enough. We'd better hope whoever the new CHs is galvanises the back 4. I agree the football is short of what we produced last year, we're giving the ball away too easily at times and some of our new big name signings have been the worst culprits. We're not throwing as many bodies forward which you can understand given every team we play will identify the counter along with set piece as their best chance of winnings the game. We have played some good stuff in all the matches though, and I expect us to get better as the team gels and we find the right mix in the middle of the park.

I agree those 3 will cause us bother- particularly Watt but will be interesting to see how they cope with less time and space against the high press. I can see our attacking threat causing them more bother, that CB pairing looked shaky against Celtic, Soutter's we'll know for his quality as a footballer more than as a defender. We don't play them until mid October, and I admit my confidence is based on the expectation that we will have gelled by then, with a settle CH pairing and more balance in the middle of the park.

What games have you been watching? He's been outstanding so far this season. Defensively he has taken his game up a level from last season, some of his covering tackles stopping counters have been top top class. Warburton was saying going forward 2nd half Saturday he put 15 deliveries into the box, and you can see has has been asked to mix it up and cross more this season. Once we have Garner up to speed he will be getting on the end of his deliveries.

This makes me think back to the days under Walter where often the team talk was just a paper clipping of what the tims had been mouthing off about in the press. Barton means comments like this to be taken as banter but Lego is a think fuck who will no doubt be taking it all literally and it will give him something to get them hyped up about whether Barton intended for it to be taken as joke or not.

Hearts looked good, flattered by a shite ICT who sat off them. Hearts might be alright going forward, but still no where near good enough at the back to challenge us IMO, same goes for the Sheep.

They're all her names

Wes has been top class. The OP passes out at the smell of his sister Mary-Anne's nickers.

Now we're back Septics 'journey' has just began, back to the world of being the constant victim, greeting and bleeding, questioning the impartiality of officials, the press and society at large with their tinfoil hats and 'ra establishment' theories. Enjoy.

Bartons sloppy passing has been doing my nut in since he's joined us. If it was any other player he would have been subbed in every league game to date! I must admit I was buzzing when he signed as my memories was of a battling ball winner who was also consistent in recycling the ball to more attack minded player- turns out we did get that player, his name is Jordan Rossiter. But in Bartons defence I though he was very solid in the second half yesterday, snuffing out 4/5 counters. I would personally play the two together as the give our CBs great protection leaving them with not a huge amount to do. Considering that's our biggest weakness I can see us continuing to play the two holding MFs, the key is the 3rd more advanced has to be a creative player like Krancjar, Windass, Holty or Forrester. Halliday doesn't have that spark to compensate for the slightly more defensive set up.

Sabender

Good luck to the lad. He is meant to be a great athlete sure he'll do a job elsewhere in Scottish football.

We're 2 games into the season, have signed 9 players 4 of whom have Premier League experience, we've got a young striker from the Premier League Champions, a top striker in his prime on the way and potentially a former Premier League winning, highly capped English CH. Combine that with a team that played them off the park last season. I don't think there's any need to panic, give this group time to gel and I believe you'll see we have the better of the two squads already. Don't forget the tims have a long and glorious history of bottling it at the business end of the season, as does their tranny shagging current manager.

Our squad was majorly on the young side last year the average age was about 23/24. The old adage you can't win anything with kids does tend to be true bar the odd exception and we've added a spine of experience to the team. Our first 11 will now likely be split roughly 50-50 between older 28+ and younger hungry players. You could also say that all the older players he has signed tick the hungry category, in that they haven't won much (or in Lescott/ Senderos much recently) and will want to add trophies to their careers with retirement looming. On the shift to a slightly more direct style of play, you could argue that football as a whole has changed a fair bit in the last year. Leicester winning the league, and a fairly tight defensive Euros the shift in a move away from tiki-taki to either a counter attacking style or the German style of more direct possession based stuff where the CHs sit deeper to make counter attacking styles less effective. Scottish teams were already going to try hit us on the counter and hope for success at the set-piece, so we have to adapt. I'd much rather have that than a stubborn Wenger type who plays the same attacking way almost out of principle despite the same issues occurring week in week out at the other end. Winning the league is all about consistency and as our years of success under Walter Smith proved that comes from being solid at the back first and foremost. We'll still play the high tempo silky stuff in their half, just expect more direct play from our GK, Defence, and DM.

There's been a lot of catch that we need to sign a natural CF to complete this team, myself included. Looks like we've already signed one this summer in the shape of Dodoo. If he can do what he did today against better teams he'll change the shape of us this season. Miller always dropping short makes us easy to defend against through the middle, and we rely on the likes of McKay or the full backs to break them down or penetrate. Because Dodoo can run off the shoulder and hold up its gives us that extra dimension without loosing anything Miller offers.

He's looked the best so far no doubt. Nobody breaks up play and battles like Barton and you say Krancjar will be first choice no.10 in the managers eyes- so there's your middle 3. Our depth in the midfield is something else this season when you look at we've got Halliday, Holt, Forrester, Windass, Crooks as well.

welcome to the forum

tarrier

Yes. A new CH is a must, sort our defending set-pieces is a must. Don't mind the possession focus at all- some first time crosses to capitalise on our forwards good movement and backing ourselves outside the box and taking the shot on more often. We've got enough quality finishers from that mid range distance to back ourselves more often. We were good enough at times last season that with the additions we've made already we would be in with a real chance of winning it even without much changing.

From the official site. Sounds like a good performance against top class opposition beaten 4-3 by a last minute penalty. Great to see Craig Mulholland and the others in charge of the academy broadening our young talent's horizons. http://rangers.co.uk/news/academy-news/gers-brazillian-defeat-durban/ Gers Brazilian Defeat In Durban Previous Article Next Article Monday, 01 August 2016, 11:00 by Rangers Football Club AddThis Sharing Buttons RANGERS 19’s were desperately unlucky yesterday not to win against top Brazilian team Fluminense at the Durban U19 Tournament. The young Gers went down 4-3 to a contentious penalty in the 3rd minute of injury time which was a shame for the Light Blues who were excellent particularly in the second half. The Gers goals on the day were scored by Zak Rudden, Ross McCrorie and Jordan Gibson. Playing in the U19 tournament in Durban, South Africa, Rangers have now lost both their opening games following a 3-2 defeat to the South African national team earlier in the week. The 19’s could still qualify for the semi final but must rely on South Africa beating Fluminense and Rangers must beat TP Mazembe in their final group game. Head of Academy, Craig Mulholland commented: “After a fairly even 1st half the lads were fantastic second half and thoroughly deserved to win. To lose to a penalty three minutes into injury time was a real shame for the players who put so much energy into the game. “Our coaches Billy Kirkwood, David McCallum and Colin Stewart, who have worked incredibly hard with the players since the start of pre-season, were delighted with the quality of our play and we restricted Fluminense to only 3 efforts at our goal in the second half while we, in addition to the two goals we scored, created several good opportunities that unfortunately we didn’t take. “We dominated the ball second half, pressed with an intensity, were creative in forward areas and maintained our style of play for the 90 minutes. Our fitness levels were excellent, with our data improving each match, which is pleasing for Luke Lawrence our sports scientist on the trip. “It is worth remembering that the majority of the Fluminense players were final year 19’s while we had Stevie Kelly, Jordan Houston, Scott Gray and Zak Rudden all paying as U17’s, two years younger. In fact we only had 3 U19’s starting. “The Fluminense team also contained Brazilian internationals which was a great challenge for our players and demonstrates the level of the tournament. This tournament more than meets the ‘best v best’ objective we have for the education of our young Rangers players. This of course being a key part of our new Academy strategy. “With a bit of luck we would be sitting now on 4 points however unfortunately key moments have went against us late in both games. It has however been a fantastic experience so far and we now recover properly, which is a key part of the players education, do our analysis and prepare professionally for our next match. “All of the lads have done exceptionally well over both games and are relishing the quality of opposition on this trip and rising to the challenge. “Special mention must go to Josh Jeffries, Kyle Bradley and Zak Rudden in particular who have excelled in both games although we are really pleased with all of the lads so far and if the boys can maintain this level of performance at home, despite being one of the youngest U20 teams in the country, it augurs well for the season ahead.”

Right enough he deserves a start. Issue is of the front 3 Wags and McKay are must starts leaving MOH, Forrester, Dodoo, Miller and potentially Windass. Not a bad selection headache to have.

Wilson and Hill for me. I would like to see- Fod, Tav, Wilson, Hill, Wallace, Barton, Rossiter, Krancjar, Windass, Waghorn, McKay