rossco87

Nothing other than my gut but I am not sure Cantwell will compromise so I can see it being a key area for Clement going forward with Dowell or Lawrence being preferred for the role if he thinks they will fit the system better.

Having had a chance to reflect as disappointing a result as it was yesterday it was a marked change in that it was a fairly even game that was decided by a couple of moments of quality (and a couple of lapses in quality from us). Our game plan was solid and caused them some issues at times while nullifying their possession for the most part (I can’t really remember Butland having that much to do). Address the quality with some new faces to suit Clement’s style and some injured players back and I see no reason that we can’t go on and win this league. They think they have put some sort of marker down and Rodger’s comments about seeing off X managers suggests they think they have the upper hand when in reality since Clement has come in he has closed the gap (both in terms of points and play on the pitch) and they won a game which could have gone either way.

I think one of the issues is Cantwell wants to play with a less constricted role where he has freedom to go and get involved in the game where and when he wants. The way Clement explains it his style is far more structured where if player A has the ball he knows where player B & C should be and what move they are going to make, that system requires players to be more disciplined and stick to areas of the pitch. I suspect it is part of the reason Clement has kept going back to Lammers at times. He is fucking gash but is far more disciplined in holding his position than Cantwell (just he doesn’t seem to know what to do in the position…)

Ha - if it’s the same one I am thinking of just watched it back when looking at the highlights to try and figure out who was to blame for loosing possession in the lead up to the 2nd. Kyogo does get through but TBF Balogun fucks the offside trap and Goldson does a decent job of keeping Kyogo wide and forcing him to take a shot on from a tight angle. BTW I am actually with you that medium to long term I think we need to be finding his replacement (and Balogun). He is now 31 and is starting to pick up some knocks after playing a ridiculous amount of games for us. Just think of all the issues we had today Goldson was not one of them.

Seriously what was he meant to do with that goal today?!? The turnover in possession killed us but Goldson faced Kyogo up and forced him wider. Sometimes you just have to put your hands up and say it was a good finish…

I think mentality can 100% be aimed at previous teams for defeats against them however today for me was down to our lack of quality. We created the opportunities that we easily should / could have scored at least 2, if not 3 goals but chose the wrong option / fucked it up every time vs they scored two (painful to admit it) well hit strikes. We were forced into a midfield two in Lundstrum and Sterling who have good defensive qualities but are limited in attacking ability. Tav was atrocious today, but someone with a questionable mentality doesn’t put in that kind of performance but have the ability to block out everything that has happened up to that point and hit that free kick (or perhaps more aptly would find it easier shirk the responsibility and let someone else take it). Probably a broader issue but I think we need to looking for his long term replacement as his performances in general this year have been pretty poor and some goals in key moments are covering over his general play.

Best of the front 4 for me today. He is an inexperienced lad making his way in the team. In an ideal situation we would have a more experienced player ahead of him but we don’t ATM. For me him and Yilmaz were the only two out there today who were willing to take the ball and drive at them consistently. It doesn’t always come off and can look bad when you lose possession but I’d rather have players who want to make something happen than guys who just want to keep it safe and choose a pass over trying to beat a man.

Aware I am probably going to get shot down for this but outwith his goals I don’t think he offers enough. He has played 29 times for us this season and has 2 assists and I am struggling to think of too many times when he has ripped an opposition RB apart and been a main contributor in our creative play.

Same is pretty much true of Borna to some extent. Borna’s deliveries are probably a bit more consistent but a lot of the time he is swinging a fairly pointless ball from too deep in to the box which does not give the attacker the opportunity to go and attack it and where our attackers are outnumbered.

I would wager that our former manager’’s attitude and approach to favouring players he liked and bombing out those he didn’t has a large part to do with him leaving. The prick managed to fall out with Sakala ffs! I have no issue with Hagi coming back wanting to make a starting position his; whether or not he is capable would be Clement’s decision. I do think we now have a manager who is capable of handling the situation. Which leads back to the original point of out of the three options: - continue with Lammers getting game time - spend some of our limited resources on a backup to Cantwell / Lawrence and divert resources from budget for other positions - bring back Hagi my preference would be Hagi. Out of interest which of those would be your preference?

Ideally yes, but if we are working with limited budget in January there are other areas that need more urgent attention than what is effectively backup to Cantwell.

Think describing Hagi as shite is a bit extreme. He is massively inconsistent and when he is not on it he can be horrific, but at his best he is capable of producing moments that can change / win games. Do I want him long term as part of our squad going forward? No Would I prefer him to be the backup to Cantwell / Lawrence over Lammers? 100%

If he was at the club ATM he would be playing in CM (was playing that role at the start of the season) but by the time we could get him back hopefully our midfield injury situation has cleared. For the second half of the season I would 100% have him back. Unless we have miraculously found the budget for a massive overhaul I can’t see a no. 10 being a priority over other areas in the January window so would rather have Hagi back than persist with Lammers. Hagi can be sugar or shite. Lammers is just shite.

True but I can understand if he has become a bit disillusioned. He came up here with a decent reputation and was getting game time in the Championship and then watched the clusterfuck that has been our front line for the last 18 months and couldn’t get near the team, throw in a bit of home sicknesses from a young player and it’s hardly a surprise. Hopefully his mind can get changed if he can see that he is more likely to get a chance under Clement.

Good to see the pressure being ramped up and his pathetic “commentary” being called out outwith Rangers. You can guarantee though that if he does get punted the narrative will be set from the usual mouthpieces that it is us that have caused it and have a problem with him…

Totally get that, but I think they are slowly inching their way toward it overly favouring 10/15 clubs from 3 or 4 leagues. There comes a point when the rest of the leagues and teams have to step back and say this has gone too far and isn’t worth it. The Super League would have been an interesting test case, but I think there is a scenario where a rejigged Champions League with more clubs representing more nations (say the champions of the top 20 ranked nations guaranteed entry, a route for the other champions and another for 2nd placed teams to make it up to 32 qualifiers) and that had some potential “new” winners would be far more interesting than what is currently being served up. For example the most memorable CL in recent history for me is the year Ajax and Tottenham went far as the narrative was much stronger. Also why I think a lot of people I talk to now prefer the EL, the football might not be as of high quality, but you aren’t seeing PSG vs Bayern for the 5th straight year (excuse the hyperbole to emphasise the point). As I say pipe dream stuff for the moment, but I suspect if they keep going down the path they currently are then there will be a tipping point at some stage for the rest of the leagues.

Can’t say I am surprised, but what does really get under my skin is we had every journalist and fan down south up in arms about the audacity of Super League proposals. The truth is though that UEFA have been rigging their competitions for years to suit the big teams and there is rarely a mention of it. This is a classic example - the CL already splits prize money to favour the biggest teams / leagues and top leagues get 4 (5 for some next season I believe) straight entries into the competition which then counts toward coefficient, which by pure coincidence is one of the factors in the equation of how money gets distributed. Sure there is an element of merit in that teams from smaller nations can qualify but it is as close to a closed shop as possible with the way it is set up now, and that is before we even get to the issues that teams from smaller leagues qualifying and getting access to the (reduced) funds available has on domestic competitions. Think I said it earlier in the thread but the sooner the “smaller” leagues band together and tell UEFA to shove their rigged systems where the sun don’t shine and set up their own system the better - shame I just can’t ever see it happening.

Nothing much to add to what has already been said other than my own personal thanks. In a short space of time he has taken a squad that is imbalanced and was listing aimlessly, instilled leadership and desire and given us a team that, while still having some major deficiencies and imbalance, is recognisable as a Rangers team. The biggest compliment I can give Clement today is that if I watched that game today with no context it could easily have been Walter managing us. Due to all the issues we know about we were probably below par up top, but there was a determination to win, discipline and togetherness that all of Walter’s best teams had on display today. To take us from where we were to that in such a short space of time is remarkable and I cannot wait to see how he continues our story. I couldn’t get a ticket for today so had the pleasure of watching at home with my old man and my son. Rightly or wrongly I decided I wasn’t going to force Rangers on him, but instead let him become a fan if he wanted. He might still be too young to fully understand what it was all about, but watching the joy on his face when we lifted the trophy today I know we have welcomed another bear in to the family!

Potentially some tired legs after Thursday and then that ‘pitch’ today. The high of winning and the chance to close the gap should give some extra impetus into the team, but I wouldn’t be against some rotation to get some freshness as we still have a busy period up until the break. Ideal scenario would be same 11 / one or two rested and then be 3 up by half time and make some changes at half time.

Was outstanding today, handled everything in the air and the once or twice they managed to turn us he showed an excellent turn of pace. Given his age I don’t think he is a long term answer but unless the manager has someone else he wants to bring in he and Goldson are our first choice CB for the rest of the season.

He was utterly pathetic at the end. You could practically hear him begging there was somehow a foul & penalty. Just can’t figure out how editors / producers listen to him and say “yeah we will have him on…”

Even under him they really only had one (maybe two) windows where there were more hits than misses. Their transfers have been as bad as ours the last couple of years, but they got the first window of Postecoglu’s tenure correct, built the basis of a squad he wanted to work with and it masked the waste of cash they had on failed transfers. Going forward we look to have recognised the failings and moved to address them. I may have missed it but I don’t think they have changed anything behind the scenes in terms of scouting / recruitment and still have Rodgers involved who has a terrible track record. Ideally Koppen would have been in the door sooner to set us up for January, but I am hopeful we are trying to address our failings and be smarter in our transfer dealings while they will just keep throwing money at it and have the same hit rate…

Tomorrow is very telling for me on this front. There are a number of players in this squad that have let themselves (and more importantly the club and support) down in big moments for a number of years and the summer signings haven’t exactly come in and improved things - Butland and Sima apart. But we are also unbeaten under Clement for a decent number of games with signs that there is a philosophy and mentality taking shape that has been missing since 55. A win tomorrow gives us all (including some of the players I would suggest) the confidence that this team has the mentality to take advantage of the implosion happening across the city.

That assumes they are getting full point vs Livingston and Dundee in their fixtures before the OF… 😂 Seriously though we need to keep the current form going in to the Old Firm and ramp up the pressure. They have been an implosion waiting to happen this year but our early season form (the Beale effect) kept them at bay. We just need to listen to the manager, take one game at a time and realise we are in a marathon so keep the perspective if a slip comes along. I really hope the board grasp what is at stake and move heaven and earth to give Clement some reinforcements to bring home 56!

You just wouldn’t put it past him to score the winner at the weekend and then have to go off injured and be out for another 6 months… No doubting his qualities and if he could stay fit he would be a major asset, however history has shown he just can’t and we can’t afford to be carrying him as a luxury player to play 10 / 15 games a season for us.