0l3v3r.bsky.social
Mid-level bureaucrat residing and working in the Washington D.C. area. Christian, husband, father, and veteran. New York City native. Supports Rangers, Arsenal and DC United Football clubs, as well as New York teams Giants, Mets, Knicks, and Rangers.
159 posts
24 followers
34 following
Discussion Master
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We waited too long with Kent and Morelos. Not suggesting Raskin will tank his own value like they both did, but we’ve already been burned twice. Under a player trading model, selling would be the right call - provided offers are good, ofc.
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Unfortunately. Sometimes players are able to overcome persistent injuries, as we hope Sterling will. Then you have Kemar Roofe…
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I think his injury record will scare suitors off anything but a cut-price deal, but I am hoping he can finally put the injuries behind him and take Tav’s first team spot. Wishful thinking…
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I think King will get a look pre-season but I doubt he will play much in the regular season. Sterling may be an option, but I would much prefer he takes Tav’s starting berth.
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I agree, he was good in Europa League games while simultaneously a deer in the headlights domestically. With Balogun already gone, this underlines the need for an experienced centre-back to partner Souttar. Nsiala is still developing and I always thought he was booked for development and sell-on.
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We’ll see. It’s official now, so it’s time to get to work.
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I think we will see some players we want to keep sold on while being unable to shift certain others. Hopefully they will reinvest sensibly like they did with post-relegation Leeds.
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Announcement tomorrow I expect. My biggest concern with him would be that the style of football he espouses will likely be more effective in Europe than domestically- again. We need to beat the other ten teams consistently and build from there. If he is the man the club wants, he has my support.
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It seems to be a straight shot between Martin and the younger Ancelotti. I am fine with either. This cannot be another “win now” appointment, we simply are not set up for that. Getting back to regularly beating the other ten league teams and playing good football are what I want to see for 25-6.
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Now we are just waiting on the managerial appointment. Martin or the younger Ancelotti, as I understand.
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I think he has more hits than misses - especially the younger players he brought in to develop and resell (player trading). But the niners group understandably wants its own guy there. Less a reflection on Koppen’s work than it is of the change normally associated with takeovers.
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As we should. Build the squad with a view to a specific playing philosophy, invest in youth and emphasize sell-on value to fund squad replenishment and self-sustainment.
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I know, I know….But one can always hope. And lack of patience is one of the primary factors that brought us to this. At some point, we have to acknowledge the current appoint-sack-rinse-repeat cycle is a road to nowhere.
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Sorry should be when the team has inevitable blips
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2) Achieve those, I think we’ll have something to build on for the following season. With the caution, of course, that linear progress is very much the exception, and we’ll need to be patient when the team has inevitable bills.
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I’m hoping the red meat can be a specific style, consistent across-the-board effort and application - regardless of opponent or competition, decent bench options, and clear upward momentum at the end of the season.
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5) But those things will be the foundation ma for a winning side, not more if the same one-and-done.
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4) If we can get results against the other ten consistently and show proper attitude and application against all opponents, that will be good enough for me - for the first season of the new regime. Obviously the new man will have to win things, but I’ll be looking for that in the next seasons.
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3) seasons. As I see it, the only way we are going to get there is with patience and unity.
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2) trophies. That is going to take time and patience and we won’t get there if we rip it up after a season without a trophy. I recognise you may not be advocating for a managerial change if the first season doesn’t yield a trophy but you also know what our support are like when we have empty
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Yes. We have never actually built a winning side since coming back up, and have no divine right to anything. I want more - a lot more - than a side that wins the odd cup or needs “Terry Munro” around to win the league. I want a side that not only wins the league and domestic cups, but WINS UEFA
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Yes, of course. That won’t stop sections of support calling for managerial change when we lose an OF match, but we should resist that and let a new team grow.
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2) so I am not getting wound up by results in certain fixtures. Over-reaction to some results has short-circuited some earlier rebuilds IMO.
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Minimum for me is consistently beat the other ten sides in the division.H2H record vs Celtic was negated by all the dropped points elsewhere. Consistent energy and application regardless of the opposition. Younger squad , new captain (or Tav longer a regular starter). We are hitting reset again
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Yeah, he lasted only half a season. Slot was admittedly a hard act to follow there, but I struggle to think of anything Priske did to distinguish himself. Pass
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2) That’s another reason I don’t want Gerrard. It will be more of the same and I suspect he would return here to rebuild his rep more than any great love for us.
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Yes, we definitely could have. And I think they will be vulnerable next season as well. But it’s anyone’s guess if we will be able to capitalize. Their losing the cup final today will hopefully carry over to next season.
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2) Brenda admitted concern when we won at Rugby Park, we just blew it almost immediately
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I’ll argue there was - look at where we were back in October. We clawed a lot of distance back on them. Sure, we couldn’t sustain it down the stretch, but we did get ourselves into a position where we could have done something. We just blew it and collapsed, not for the first time.
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2) As regards the Cup final a year ago, we were the better side over the 90, but Raskin’s brain-dead push during Sima’s goal encapsulated how our players were our own worst enemy. I don’t think Hart would have saved that goal in any circumstances but it gave them a reason to disallow.
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There was a title race right up until that home loss to Motherwell - despite all the good work Clement did to get us to that point, there is
always a complacent unfocused performance in the squad. Motherwell was the real beginning of the end for Clement.
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Yeah, always nice seeing someone else win the cup - still no love for Aberdeen, mind - and I’m fully aware that is how others felt about us during the 1990’s. If only we were semi-competent this past season…
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I deactivated my twitter account back in February. Honestly , I am wondering why it took me that long.
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I think this league will suit him. Seattle are not playing here this season - they were over here last season - otherwise I would go and see them. And as much as I like the city of Seattle, I’m not flying all the way out there just to watch Ryan Kent in person.
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Yeah, agree. I think he was actually closer to taking over at Newcastle (first EPL club in for him) than any of us realised. Regarding finances, I think where we messed up is not investing at the point we made the group stages. Our lack of cover killed us that autumn.
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2) assists, and has been coming on in second halves most of the time.
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Speaking of our old friend Kent, he’s over here (U.S.) now with Seattle. About 4 weeks ago, I stayed up late on a Saturday to catch his debut for the Sounders. Schmelzer brought him in with about 5 minutes to go, he looked rusty ofc, but not terrible. He’s only started once so far, has a couple
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One of the ostensible reasons Gerrard left was a supposed lack of backing (self-serving nonsense from him, he wanted to move on, IMO). That ignores the reality he was backed heavily and the books had to be balanced at some point.
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2) sides than the one Gerrard’s team faced in the 55 season. All the managers I mentioned lost to lower positioned sides in the league, but so did Gerrard. This is a different landscape from when he was here a few years ago.
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I thought the club backed him quite heavily, and I would argue that Gio actually achieved more, leading us to a Scottish Cup win, the Europa League final and into the CL group stages. Nobody since Gerrard has won the league, but each of Gio/Beale/Clement/Ferguson were up against far better Celtic
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2) are the best parts of a record that is decidedly mixed. We should be looking to someone to build the side and be here long term.
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Villa is relevant because that is what he left us for - he failed massively at each of his two jobs since he left us. I think there is some revisionism about Gerrard - one trophy out of a possible 9, openly considering resigning as the COVID league stoppage approaches. 55 and unbeaten season are
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Worse than nothing, I’ll add. He was utterly lost at Villa and accomplished absolutely nothing at Al Ettifaq. It’s probably a bit extreme, but you can argue he’s won nothing without Neil Lennon and Terry Munro across the city. If this happens it will end worse than last time.
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Absolutely not! If the 49ers group are the serious people we hear they are, this won’t be an option.
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A microcosm of the whole season is Hibs scoring off a goal we should have been awarded. But as the old adage goes, bad things happen to bad teams and at no point were we ever actually good enough. Now for the off-season.
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Sponsor logos always ruin kits. Otherwise it’s a simple design with the right colours. Now that we are back with Umbro, perhaps they can reissue that all-blue home shirt reconstituted Rangers wore in the fourth tier 13 years ago. I always liked that shirt.
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If we get a good offer for him, we should accept and encourage him to move. If not, I still think he is a good guy to have around the squad. If he is starting most matches, things are probably not going so well.
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His form for much of this season and his being dropped for a spell surely mean his value is at a low ebb. Better to see if he can start the new season fresh and rediscover his first season form, than flogging him off for pennies on the dollar.
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Fergie. Unless the new manager feels strongly, I think Butland will be first choice going into next season. I don’t think we’ll sell him right yet
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I think he wants done as well. No future for him here.