I think it will be McGregor Whittaker Goian Bocanegro Wallace/Papac Ortiz Davis Naismith Jelavic and Lafferty

Ahhh! The first oldfirm game of the new season,cant wait.

Champions v Theinbetweeners

Cmon the aye readys,get stuck in tae them..

Enjoy the game folks.

Would rather see Wallace or McMillan in defence before Whittaker,as he is not a defender and hope Wylde gets a game on the left wing with Ortiz on the right.
Goian,Bocanegra and Papac should start,with Naisy and Davis in the middle,pushing up to link with Jelly and Laff.

Not sure about Edu or Lee McC in the middle,but suppose one has to play,thus dropping Wylde or Ortiz to the bench at the start?

Mon the Light Blues

Team id like:
McGregor
Whittaker Goian Bocanegra Papac
Naismith Davis Edu/McCulloch Wylde
Jelavic Lafferty

Team he will prob go with:
McGregor, Whittaker, Goian, Bocanegra, Papac
Ortiz, Naismith, Davis, McCulloch, Wallace
Jelavic

and the reality is the team you would like would have better chance of winning than team he will go with!!

you guys should start a campain smid for manager!!

Whittaker as a defender against Celtic Bears........is he good enough defensively to get the nod from Ally?
I think he is a weakness and liability at times in our defence.
McMillan,Wallace or even Perry deserve a game.

bhoy67

Other than Whittaker,Smid had the team picked perfectly imo.

What happened to your article last night that turned a bit weird,due to the GITG guy?Did it get pulled by the admins?


Enjoy Madrid pal.

Im not a massive fan of Whittaker but im not sure we have a better option. McMillan has only played once really for Rangers so not sure hes suited to such a game and if the alternative is Broadfoot then I think I prefer Whittaker. I really hope he doesnt play Ortiz, im not writing him off this early but what iv seen of him an old firm game isnt suited to him at this stage. With Izzaguire out its a chance to test Celtic on that side and Naismith would be far more effective IMO.

i hope on our side we line up, lurch, el bad, matthews, m wilson, chuck, ledley, kayal, ki, forrest, stokes, hoops.

if stokes isn't fit then bangura

broony usually does ok in these games but i wouldn't change last weeks midfield

Smid

Mcmillan may not be ready for an old firm,but he looked the part when I saw him..........one for the future.The old firm may bring out the best in McMillan.
Do we have to drop Wallace then,to play Whit,Boca,Goian and Papac?
Whitt over bigfoot as you say,everytime.
Agree about Ortiz actually,as although better on the right at last,he has little pace and not the best so far.Middle of Naisy,Davis,Edu and Wylde maybe,but doubt Ally agrees.

Pol - Would you go with Forrest ahead of Brown? I heard he was excellent last week but looking in I think from a Rangers fans point of view id prob be quite glad to see Forrest play instead of Brown. Hes more direct and creative but these games dont always suit such types and id imagine he would struggle to get the better of Papac. Brown offers a different type of option from the right, but then the problem is if you have Brown on the right and Ledley on the left maybe its too square and theres no one to get in behind or take men on and get crosses in from wide areas?

I liked McMillan when I saw him too and he probably gives better defensive cover than Whittaker. However at Motherwell I felt he struggled in the first half and got a booking as a result of getting caught out. Celtic is a bigger step up from Motherwell and an old firm game is as big as they come, so id probably be more inclined to play Whittaker. He did recover to have a good second half that day but on Sunday he wont get the same chance.

Whittaker it is then Smid.........you have convinced me.We need to give McMillan a run to gain experience and confidence in the future though.

Can't wait for Sunday to see how good,or bad,we are against them.

Absolutely mate, I just hope we come out the traps flying and up for it rather than sitting back and letting them settle. The crowd will be right up for it with everything thats gone on so the players should take advantage of that and start at a good pace.

It is a cliche,but going at them is always the best way to play Celtic imo.
Sitting back and playing slow build ups usually sees quick Celtic teams catching us on the hop,especially last year with a slowish,ageing defence.Felt sorry for Weir getting turned and skinned in some old firm games,although not all of them.

smid i agree with the square midfield you're alluding to but imo walter smith always played midfielders who would first and foremost trackback. i'd rather break that mould cos teams teams seem to be more interested nowadays in how a player can counter his opponent rather than get the upper hand on him and run the game.

wee forrest for me is made for this game cos there's always room down the flanks and much as i like broony he'll play the ball square or back to keep it safe.

if you asked your strikers i'm obviously thinking of hoops for ours then i'm positive he'd want the wee man in the team

i predict a 2-2 draw

Are celtic likely to go one up top? Is stokes fit? Don't want to predict it but could be few goals in this game if the midfields are crowded although it stands to reason as how many times have we seen old firms won in midfield battles. Just as long as there is no ortiz, wylde gets a run out and Davis plays through thr middle I'm happy.