The Rambling Ger

 The title of this article could really relate to 4 different people. Just like most of the fan base I'm a little annoyed at Saturday, though not as surprised as I should be. On the latest episode of Bett on Rangers ( @BettsPod ) our host Chris Bett said he wouldn't be surprised if the game ended in a draw. I disagreed, I expected a comfortable win, but over the course of the game I became less expectant, and once the reds were shown I was sat waiting for the inevitable equaliser. Morelos First up for analysis on "what are they doing" is Alfie. We all know how important a fit and firing Alfie is to this team. He's our talisman, he's our all-time leading scorer in Europe, he's pushing for all-time leading scorer in the history of the UEFA cup/Europa League and more often than not we've seen that no Alfie can often mean no goals... However, we're not the same team that relied solely on Morelos for goals anymore. Tony Goals (credit  @DerickSnake ) has...

  Last season we got to experience a wonderful journey that started at the Oresund Bridge and ended at the sarcophagus of Christopher Columbus. It was a journey that I thoroughly enjoyed but ultimately ended in failure. I'm certainly not trying to downplay our run in the Europa League, or our Scottish Cup win, however any season we don't win the league should be considered a failure (unless we win a European trophy to balance it out). I started the season, like many others, with high expectations. That took a huge hit when we were put out of the League Cup Semi Finals by Hibs, in a very one-sided affair, and then seemed all but done after we were dismantled at Parkhead. At that point plenty of folk were calling for Gio to go... little did they, or any of us realise what was about to come. He seemed to reinvigorate the team after this, and the displays in Europe were fantastic. None more so than the way we handled tournament favourites Borussia Dortmund. That run did more than e...

 

 As we enter July I, along with probably 99.9% of the fans were expecting most of our transfer business to be done by now... Now we'll be hoping there is a lot more to come. We've been conditioned over the last few seasons to think the club likes to have its business done early, that's the mantra we've been fed from Ibrox and, for the most part, it's been what they've done. This year, however, we've only done one deal for next season in John Souttar, and that was done in January. So long ago it feels that we've basically decided to stand still for next season. I don't think it's unfair of the fans to criticise the current football operations team, last season we should have been able to build on 55 and pull ourselves clear of that other lot. Instead, we settled for only a couple of signings in the summer, and then some loans in the January window, as we allowed the other lot to take the title back. Yes, there was a fantastic European run in there...

It's been a while since I had the chance to sit down and write, between the craziness of Seville and family life it's been manic. It's not just that though, I wanted to stop and take stock of the season and my hopes for the future. 2021/22 I don't think I'm speaking out of turn when I say it was disappointing to finish the season with only one piece of silverware. If you had told me at the start of the season we'd be 6 points clear at Christmas, we'd face Hibs in the Semi-Final of the League Cup, we'd face Frankfurt in the Final of the Europa League and we'd face Hearts in the Final of the Scottish Cup I would have had numerous thoughts: We'd end up with at least a double, if not a treble, and dare I say it a quadruple How on earth has Gerrad led us to so many finals in one season (tongue in cheek) Are you insane saying we'd be in the final of the Europa League? That being said, there may be initial disappointment that we didn't win more,...

  Bit of a new one for me, writing from Ibrox... but you have to seize moments like this!! We're on our way!!! This team deserve so much credit, what they have achieved with this milestone is unreal. European football is not designed for teams from Scotland to make finals anymore, yet here we are.  Gio also deserves tremendous credit, the job he's done in Europe is amazing. He's had his criticism, fairly, in the league at times but what he's achieved these last few months can not be praised enough.  It's also important to note how much the team are playing for him. Two old firms we've come from 1-0 down to get results. A Europa Quarter Final and a Europa Semi Final coming back from 1-0 defeats in the 1st leg. These results don't happen if the squad aren't playing for the manager. All this with no Alfredo Morelos too! What a great first goal as the captain, Tavernier made the run in to the back post to score the goal that I'm sure makes him Europa Lea...

  This past week has been amazing. Just as things seemed on the cusp of disastrous, yes I'm aware that's very strong language mate, the team has shown fantastic mental strength and desire. A strength and desire I wasn't convinced were there. I'm delighted to have been proven wrong. Braga I did think we would likely win this game, but I wasn't quite expecting it to be as dominant a performance as we saw. It could easily have been 5 or 6 for Rangers, and if VAR hadn't stepped in it would have been quite a commanding result.  That being said VAR was right to step in, and you'll hear no complaints from me about the decisions. It's worked in our favour by making sure correct decisions have been given, and with that territory comes the expectation it will work against us in making sure correct decisions are given also. It was good to see Borna come back into the team and play well, he looked sharp and hungry. He also showed some backbone on a number of occasio...