Us v The Mhanks- surely not a forgone conclusion?

Banjobear

Banjobear

Active Member
Living down South, I don't often bump into fellow bears. I popped out for some milk earlier and spotted a guy wearing a Rangers polo. Inevitably we got chatting about The Gers and the importance in winning the next 2 league games, however I was taken aback when he said "we can't afford being more than 6 points behind them on the 23rd". When I asked him if he believed defeat against the mentally challengeds was a certainty, he said he'd be happy just not getting another drubbing.
Now I'm not uber staunch, but when did a narrow defeat to them become a moral victory?
Of course I realise we could lose said match, but surely it's not a forgone conclusion? :mad:
 
I don't see it as a foregone conclusion. We have better players in our team and I think we will perform better against Celtic as they won't just play 10 men behind the ball.

Alves, Dorrans and Pena all have the pedigree to play in this game
 
Two good victories in our next two league games will set us up nicely.
Then bring them on.I certainly wouldn't be happy with a narrow defeat.
 
Huistra said:
I don't see it as a foregone conclusion. We have better players in our team and I think we will perform better against Celtic as they won't just play 10 men behind the ball.

Alves, Dorrans and Pena all have the pedigree to play in this game
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My belief also ;)
 
I feel optimistic about the game. Let's get a couple of wins in the run up and I'll be even more confident.
 
Banjobear said:
I appreciate that, but surely bears will have some belief.
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If we don't have belief then its pointless going or even watching it for that matter

If we take one game at a time, that old cliche I know, but I know we can compete with the vermin
 
It all depends on how well our poorest players play.

If certain faces that have found it difficult against them in the past can put in a good shift, then we stand a good chance.
 
IanDurrant10 said:
All depends on what our manager does, he has to learn & evolve

The narrative is that they are unbeatable remember & that's the constant line we are fed

If Caixinha doesn't learn then it could be a forgone conclusion even with better team, we quite simply can't be that open
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Agree with that.

I think he really needs to take something from the game.

Others have suggested a narrow defeat where we were genuinely unlucky not to snatch a point and had caused them real problems throughout would be acceptable, but I disagree.

We got that last year from Warburton (I'm thinking New Years Day game) so we need to see some evidence of progression, especially given the money spent this summer.

In short, it's probably make or break time for Pedro.
 
IanDurrant10 said:
All depends on what our manager does, he has to learn & evolve

The narrative is that they are unbeatable remember & that's the constant line we are fed

If Caixinha doesn't learn then it could be a forgone conclusion even with better team, we quite simply can't be that open
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For sure there are many variable, team selection, tactics, a number of players experiencing the fixture for the first time etc, I just can't get my head around defeat being inevitable.
 
I think last season was such a let down for many after the success of the previous season SC semi, it's natural now for most bears to be pessimistic about it. I don't see a narrow defeat as a result either and I don't think it's a forgone conclusion but I'm afraid I do think we'll struggle to beat them.
 
Huistra said:
I don't see it as a foregone conclusion. We have better players in our team and I think we will perform better against Celtic as they won't just play 10 men behind the ball.

Alves, Dorrans and Pena all have the pedigree to play in this game
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Where I agree its not a forgone conclusion and we should be giving them a good game now but I can't see how you can say that Pena has the pedigree to play in this game when all we have seen from him is cameo's and nothing that would jump out (other than youtube videos) to say he would be great in this game.

Would like to hear you're thoughts on this one..
 
They will comes at us and I think a more open field will work better for us than them. For me winning the midfield battle is key and for that reason I would be tempted to go one up top and 5 in midfield. Defeat is simply unthinkable.
 
I think that just like every game against them that it is 50-50. Form does not count in these games much it is the heart and desire to play for the jersey that matters the most plus a bit of skill.
 
Of course not. The officials will be the biggest difference between the teams, as has already been shown.
 
Don't know how this one will go. I do know that we'll need to be switched on from the 1st second as they'll come out all guns blazing.
 
They are used to swanning around the pitch with other teams admiring them. Lets hope we can cause them some problems and get a nice wee victory.
 
Disagree on Pena, this game will probably come far too early for him starting it.
The intensity and pace would swallow him up tbh.
 
I feel confident, wouldn't be happy with a hard fought draw. We have them at home 1st game and we need to set out a marker that they are not the great invincibles
 
I'm going to stick my neck right out here and say the Team, Pedro are going to shock a lot of people the next we play them. I mean the right way too.
 
EddieWatt said:
Where I agree its not a forgone conclusion and we should be giving them a good game now but I can't see how you can say that Pena has the pedigree to play in this game when all we have seen from him is cameo's and nothing that would jump out (other than youtube videos) to say he would be great in this game.

Would like to hear you're thoughts on this one..
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19 caps for Mexico, experience in a passionate league that is a higher standard than ours. His pedigree is there, whether his form and fitness are remains to be seen
 
I'd rather be going into this game on the back of 4 consecutive victories rather than on the back of a couple of draws.

Winning breeds confidence so win the next 3 and the tims game takes care of itself.
 
You are as strong as the weakest link in the chain. Rodgers is not stupid. The instructions will be to feed Sinclair and Roberts and tell them to cut inside Tav and Wallace. Fullback is the weakest link in the chain.
 
The two matches against them under PC have been humiliating. This season hasnt started well. It's easy to see where the worry comes from.

A similar drubbing will see Pedro offski.
 
I think we will the game and put an end to the unbeaten run

Which will shut them up for a while

Could be crucial part of the season as they will take some heavey defeats off Bayern and psg

Hopefully they get some injuries too

There defence looks very shaky this season
 
Huistra said:
19 caps for Mexico, experience in a passionate league that is a higher standard than ours. His pedigree is there, whether his form and fitness are remains to be seen
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Unless he gets a really decent amount of game time between now and then, then a game against the micks is it not the right place for a man to earn his stripes, that could really make or break the guys Rangers career.

Don't get me wrong here and think I don't want the guy to do well, there's nothing I want more is to see the boy rekindle his form from his time in early Mexican football days and if there's a guy that is going to get that out of him then it will be Pedro.
 
I feel more confident than i did at any time last year. Going to have to play exceptionally well and ride our luck at times, but I think we can do it
 
We have improved inn all areas since the last time we played them so it will certainly be closer unless the referee wants to play a part in helping them out, that said I still think they are bit ahead of us over a season but it's one game and anything can happen.

What I will say is if we come away with any points it will heap pressure on them and put a question mark over their superiority.
 
two2tango said:
I think we will the game and put an end to the unbeaten run

Which will shut them up for a while

Could be crucial part of the season as they will take some heavey defeats off Bayern and psg

Hopefully they get some injuries too

There defence looks very shaky this season
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I'm quietly confident we will do this, but it's really up to us to turn up and give them a game.

By the way, when have they ever been shut up? If we beat them on the 23rd they'll be wailing louder than usual.
 
There was undoubtedly a gulf between us last season but we really did ourselves no favours with our team selection.

Barton, Niko and Windass in midfield, Miller on the wing, Senderos starting.

Latterly we were down to the bare bones.

Even in the tighter games in the league cup semi and new year game we started with Holt, Halliday and Windass in centre midfield.

What we have on that now is a big upgrade.
 
Can't
EddieWatt said:
Unless he gets a really decent amount of game time between now and then, then a game against the micks is it not the right place for a man to earn his stripes, that could really make or break the guys Rangers career.

Don't get me wrong here and think I don't want the guy to do well, there's nothing I want more is to see the boy rekindle his form from his time in early Mexican football days and if there's a guy that is going to get that out of him then it will be Pedro.
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Can't argue with you mate.

It's a lot easier posting in an online forum than making the decision for real.

Let's hope Pedro gets it right. He's holding the boy back for a reason
 
We can take something from this game if our midfield and defence starts to work in tandem. Too many times we lose the ball in midfield and our backline is all over the shop.
 
If Pedro sets us up correctly and the players turn up, the game is there to be won.

The longer the game goes on at nil nil the more the mentally challengeds will become frustrated.

An early goal for either team could be decisive though
 
They have the more settled squad in that they know each other and have experienced the game before. We, on the other hand, still look as though we need a bit of time. My estimate that we will start to see more from this Rangers team come November but for now there are still too many mis placed passes and player not on each others wavelength. Still, the worst they could do is underestimate us and think they are playing the same team from last year. If that's the case I can't see us being beaten. Dorrans, Jack, Miller, Wallace, etc will know what this game means, as will the survivors from last year. I hope we tear them a new one personally.
 
More confident than last season. It's going to be tough but form goes out the window in these games
 
Anything can happen of course and they will rightly be favourites but I'd be gutted if we weren't any closer than last year
 
Although a win would be the ideal result, a draw would demonstrate an improvement. We still need to gel as a team, and that will take a bit more time.
 
Firstly we have to be at least competitive in the game.
That would be an improvement, but a win is vital imo for players and fand to believe in our team.
 
Xavi Hernandez said:
Tactically Pedro needs to be switched on and wise to them. He wasn't last season.

I am worried though.
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I am actually not worried about this one.

I was about the last two matches against them last season. I thought our morale was decimated and our form was hideous going into those matches. We also had a team full of jessies.

I'm not saying we'll win this next one, but I am not the least bit worried about getting a doing from them. It won't happen. No chance.
 
It's not a foregone conclusion no, we have a chance and we have more players who should have the ability to handle the occasion, but we need to have some sort of momentum going into this game, the games before are vitally important for that and our confidence. Bring it on though!
 
Banjobear said:
Living down South, I don't often bump into fellow bears. I popped out for some milk earlier and spotted a guy wearing a Rangers polo. Inevitably we got chatting about The Gers and the importance in winning the next 2 league games, however I was taken aback when he said "we can't afford being more than 6 points behind them on the 23rd". When I asked him if he believed defeat against the mentally challengeds was a certainty, he said he'd be happy just not getting another drubbing.
Now I'm not uber staunch, but when did a narrow defeat to them become a moral victory?
Of course I realise we could lose said match, but surely it's not a forgone conclusion? :mad:
Click to expand...

Its nothing to do with being 'staunch' or not. Likewise not getting humped is not a 'moral victory'. However we have had a very poor start to the season and been given a going over the last time out against that mob. We are well behind them and to be anything other than wary of another beating is very unwise.
 
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