SIRB_72

Basically a work horse with an eye for goal!

Aye no doubt one or two will get injured before the end

We've got 9 games to win a treble. Front 3 of Sima, Dessers and Matondo has to be the way to go with Cantwell in behind and against celtic I'd take out Cantwell for a 3 of Lundstram, Dio and Sterling. Tav, Sima, Dessers, Matondo, Cantwell and JL all our biggest contributors, get them on the park and lets hammer some of this shite!

Against them I would go back to basics with what we were doing under Gerrard without playing a number 10 against them in a 4-3-3. When we played with a base of 3 combining of Davis, Kamara, Arfield, Jack and even McCrorie early on we controlled and sometimes dominated games that we didnt even win (LC final comes to mind). Our record with that was 4 wins and two defeats - one of them being that LC final and a dodgy sending off for Morelos and we still nearly knicked a draw. Even under Beale our best result against them was with a base 3 of Jack, Raskin and Lundstram. Our best result under Gio against them the game turned around with taking off Aribo for Arfield and finishing the 90 with Arfield, Davis and Lundstram who was replaced by Kamara during ET. We got a wee bit of success with Roofe and Alfie up top against them but I'd argue two of those games were some ofthe worst performances against them under Gerrard. The 1-0 game with the own goal and McGregor being world class and the Helander game though we were fucked with covid iirc. We only started playing Roofe and Morelos once we knew we were better than them too. We tried a diamond in his first game, we tried that fucking stupid 5 in centre mid tactic when we lost two nil and we played Hagi once in midfield at parkhead and it was a slog despite drawing. This season we've tried Cantwell twice and we've had Lawrence yesterday and you just lose control of the game imo. I like them two playing together or even just one especially against packed defences cause they can create and aren't needing to run about like mad. However, against them, we need to go back to that base 3 and right now that would be Lundstram, Diomande and Sterling. You can control the game, mix it up and protect the defence.

Yeah and not for the first time for them either this season. Yesterday was the 9th point they've lost from a winning position and as you say they lost it twice yesterday. It's also the 6th point they've lost in 90 minutes+ this season. People talk about our mentality but celtic's this season has been poor and that's before we get onto the lost 7 point lead. Of course it would be nice as well if we stopped giving them a 2 goal start.

Only issue I have with Butland today was the third goal and he wasnt the only one for that third goal. The first pings of maeda so fast its hard to react, the second was a penalty and he made 2/3 big stops to stop it going to 3.

Stewart fucking greetin' about our penalty was embarressing but not unexpected. Apparently "winning the ball" means slightly knicking it away from the opponent while completely avoiding the fact that if Silva doesn't get kicked down he has a free run on to the ball.

Bit of a fucking mad one that. The less said about the first half the better but we were lucky it was just 2 at HT. Every time, going back to Gerrard, we lose or play poorly against them is because we fuck about with the ball in our own third and get burnt for it. We are, and were in the second half, so much better when we mix it up and go direct. Even as bad as we were in the first 45 we missed two brilliant chances with Silva and Goldson. Second half was night and day. Getting a fairly early goal helped but we were back to what I expect from us which is a team with a bit of everything. Going from Wright to Sima will probably do that automatically. That Matondo goal gets better every time I watch it. Play like that second half at parkhead in a few weeks and we'll be fine. On to Dundee...

Not what I was expecting but I trust PC!

Literally the 5th but we'll no be pedantic. Either way it was a good day!

The SC semi under Warburton in 2016 was superb. Not my favourite but it's up there and I havent seen it mentioned.

I'm probably just looking at it from our perspective more than I should be!

The pressure is on both sides here but there is definetely more pressure on them even with this being at Ibrox. If we win on Sunday it will be the first time they've not been able to control the league by their own games since the 55 season. They'd have to rely on us dropping points and then beating us or dropping points multiple times in our 5 other games. Whereas if we lose or draw we can still control the outcome of the title. Obviously the potential damage to our confidence and boost for celtic if we lost isn't worth thinking about especially with a visit to parkhead but we'd still have control along with celtic.

These games are won in the midfield and have been for as long as I've been watching Rangers. I do have a slight concern with Cantwell, sometimes in bigger games he can be a bit flaky whereas in the games that we face a packed defence I trust him fully. That's why Sterling starts out right for me. He gives the balance of just being an extra body to put out any fires and let Cantwell be free but he can also be very handy in a press especially against the likes of taylor who isn't technically very good. For a defensive player I'm also impressed with how he reads attacking situations and can cause a problems with his runs. Benfica and St Johnstone being an example. I definetely think him, Tav, Cantwell and Dessers can move into celtic's left hand side we can cause plenty of overlaps and problems in there. The left side has be Silva. In games when there is space he can cause plenty of problems. Away to Hibs and Benfica. I also think johnston is a booking/red card waiting to happen and Silva's trickery could expose him. With him on one side and Sterling on the other I think there is a really good balance for us. I just hope he has Yilmaz to support him down there. Also as the game goes on we finally have plenty to change things with Lawrence, Matondo, McCausland, Sima, Roofe and Raskin.

I see the usual post match defeat trends over the last few years have come early this time around. Greetin' about Ally's comments about the hate crime law as we know the song book gets brought up every time we beat them and of course the referees and penalties. You know they're worried when this stuff gets brought up pre-match and not just post defeat. As much as we joke about their obsession with refs when they've been clearly the better team it rarely gets brought up pre match until they don't win and it becomes a week long saga for some stupid non game changing decisions. Same goes for the singing.

Beat this mob and Dundee and we're 5 ahead with 6 games left. That's about as good as it gets with two teams that are pretty even. It's there for the taking just go and do it Rangers!

"They" is the idiots on twitter. And they are still correct to mention a poor performance but he certainly seems to be getting more stick than anyone else.

No matter his performance Souttar's name wouldn't be getting mentioned so much if he wasn't a Rangers player. Fuck them.

I see Liverpool fans have taken that defeat well. They're so like that mob when they lose.

Dundee's pitch has been a joke all season. Would rather get another game out of the way but looking at it positively we should have more players available for when we play them which gives us more chance to win.

Hardly say it's a pile on. We're not even two hours after a European KO in a very tight game that we could easily have won and you've created a thread (not even just say it in the match thread) about how it was the "best outcome" in your opinion. People are just giving you their opinion back.

Fine margins at this level as we know and we were missing just one too many players tonight. Our only true strikers is Dessers, Silva is our back up playing out left, Lawrence looked totally done in second half and Wright has came in as about the 7th choice winger. Matondo, Cantwell, Roofe and McCausland nowhere near the fitness we need to go and change that game. Sterling made a massive impact in Lisbon with his non stop running and reading of the game. That's before we get into what Sima and/or Cortes could have added. Benfica on the other hand had their full, very expensive, well put together squad available and they still only managed to beat us over two legs by 1 goal. It's a disappointing result but nothing to be ashamed of tonight and plenty to play for domestically. On to Dundee...

Plenty more shitebags on this forum than on that pitch tonight.

Love Ally on comms, not just because he's ours, because he's the only one that does co-comms that sounds like he actually enjoys getting paid to watch football.

That was how the game played out as well. Hibs offered very little and we blew a bunch of good openings. A goal up before the first red and Hibs hadn't lay a glove on us for 70 minutes. Makes the faux hysteria even more mad.