weeyin

Blind squirrels. Nuts. etc.

My only prediction is that ICT will end the game with 10-men and Big Tel will be ragin'.

I didn't realise the pre-season Lanarkshire Cup friendlies had started up again. Good news that he is on the mend.

He was excellent because he had Jeffers making tons of space for him. If he was in our current team, 4-5-1 and 30 yards from the midfielders, I doubt he would have scored the 9 that Higdon has.

I was on holiday when we played Morton on that Cup run. So I didn't have to endure all the stress of that particular tie - just picked up the paper next morning and read we had made it through.

Can you not just be happy that your team scored 4 goals at the weekend and made it to the next round? (Although I heard Arbroath put up a decent showing).

It probably does - but our turnover isn't likely enough to cover that plus all the other operating expenses.

Depends what you mean by "performed". In the Reynolds thread you were quick to point out how many clean sheets we had when he was playing in our defence. So "performing" for a defender means preventing goals. By the same token, presumably a striker performs when he is scoring goals, which puts Higdon at a 9 - 5 advantage over Sutton.

Translation: "I'm even more miserable now that my 'replay at Hampden' prediction was wide of the mark, as usual."

And Higdon is being asked to play as a lone striker in a 4-5-1, which isn't his natural position either. The fact we have failed to score in 8 league games is more down to McCall's insistence on playing 4-5-1 even at home, and refusing to change it when it doesn't work. A more important stat is league position. Sutton's link up play, heading and general all round Messi-ness didn't manage to get us up to 3rd by this stage last season.

Higdon then. Sutton had scored 5 goals in all competitions at this stage last season. Higdon is at 9.

Sutton only hit his stride last season when Jeffers started making sapce for him. On his own up top, I don't see him being any better (or worse) than Higdon. A more relevant poll would be: 4-5-1 at home - yes or no?

If McCall is determined to play 4-5-1, leaving Sutton isolated up front won't be any more productive than leaving Higdon isolated up front. We need to close that gap between our midfielders and our lone striker.

I don't even mind the fact that McCall tried a different formation for this game (some of it enforced, some of it to switch tactics). In his post-match interview, he at least made all the right noises about running a 4-4-2 and, even when a goal down, try and take the game to them. It just seems like the players are scared to play there. You would think the obvious way to overcome the fear is to get in about them from the kick-off and don't let them settle. Even if you lose a game like that, at least you come away feeling that you made it difficult for them. I've been saying it for a while now, but it feels like no matter how well (or poorly) we are playing, Rangers could field their U-14s girls team and still turn us over by 3 goals.

Quoted For Truth

'Understrength' Rangers team scores soft goals against Motherwell defence. In other news, the Pope is confirmed to be of the Catholic persuasion.

Crap. I agree with MJC and milo.

They did have a very good side, but we played them off the park in both games and still managed to lose. After the Tannadice leg, Jim McLean came into the Motherwell dressing room and told them "you were robbed".

And Brian McLaughlin ghosting past the opposition's midfield donkeys.

Same here. The Adidas kit has always been one of my favourites, and the 3 years in the First Division were some of my favourite times following the club.

Did we have 'away' kits back then? It used to be Scotland was one of the few (or only?) countries where the 'change' strip was worn by the home team.

Irish football crowds have remained exactly the same since they switched to summer football - a fact that is often overlooked when they are quoted as an example.

While I agree with the sentiment, I long ago reached the stage where I write-off our chances at Ibrox. Regardless of how well are playing and how badly Rangers are playing, we always manage to lose - and often without putting up a fight.

Sweden, for example, only play 30 league games a season, so they would have no problem shutting down for international finals. Not so easy when you are trying to squeeze 38 games into the schedule.