The Official Glasgow Rangers Thread

[Jockstar]

Rangers Sign Bongani Zungu

 

RANGERS are today delighted to announce the signing of South African internationalist Bongani Zungu on-loan until the end of the season, with the Light Blues holding an option to make the deal permanent next summer.

27 year-old midfielder Zungu arrives from French side Amiens. Zungu first came to prominance at Mamelodi Sundowns - South Africa’s most successful club - whom he joined in 2013.

There, he won league titles in 2014 and 2016. He then transferred to Portugal and made his mark in the Portuguese league with Vitoria Guimaraes before earning a move to the French top flight after only one season on the Iberian peninsula.

He has 29 South Africa caps to his name, with five of them coming in the 2019 African Cup of Nations Finals.

 

I really want the fans to be proud of my performances and will always give 100 per-cent for my new team. Rangers is a global club and I know there are already many supporters across Africa. I am looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd and audiences across the world.

BONGANI ZUNGU

 

At the tournament, he had a massive role in Bafana Bafana getting out of Group D in third place, scoring the only goal against Namibia to secure their progression.

He then helped them to a shock Last-16 win over hosts, Egypt, before netting a late equaliser against Nigeria in the quarter finals, but the Nigerians scored an even later winner to break Zungu and Bafana hearts. In all, he has five goals for his national team from his 29 caps.

 

Sporting Director, Ross Wilson commented: "Bongani is a player whose situation we have monitored throughout the window. We are excited to have him join Rangers.

“Following a difficult and prolonged period of lockdown in South Africa, it would have been hard for him to have joined us at an earlier stage of the window. “However, we have kept an open and positive dialogue with Bongani and Amiens, and the structure of this agreement works well for all parties.

“The financial impact of coronavirus is being felt by all clubs in a market that has been like no other that I’ve ever experienced.

 

We are pleased with the work we have done during the window across the squad and despite the clear challenges brought by the virus, our board have been keen to continue to invest in the development of the squad and the club.

ROSS WILSON

 

Rangers Manager, Steven Gerrard, commented: “Bongani fits the profile of player that adds further strength and depth to our midfield. We made it clear that we wanted a player who will enhance our squad and starting XI. We believe Bongani does this.

“We wanted a dominant midfielder with the right profile who can enhance the team and compliment other players we have . We have monitored this situation all summer and now feel it’s the right time.

 

“Our board have been very supportive throughout the window with seven new signings. We believe we have a squad in place that will compete in all competitions, both domestically and in Europe. This is a pleasing transfer for us and we look forward to Bongani joining up with the squad.”

Zungu outlined his delighted at joining the Light Blues, adding: “I have studied the squad and feel I can come in and bring my attributes to help the team improve. The chance to play for such a big club especially in European competitions is very exciting for me.

“I can’t wait to fly to Scotland and meet my new team mates. I know that I will settle in Glasgow and am looking forward to getting started as soon as possible.

“I really want the fans to be proud of my performances and will always give 100 per-cent for my new team.

“Rangers is a global club and I know there are already many supporters across Africa. I am looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd and audiences across the world.

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Article Copyright © 2020. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to www.rangers.co.uk

• BONGANI ZUNGU

 

 

[Jockstar]

Big game today. As we all know form goes out the window. Celtic are a good team. But so are Rangers. So really it can go either way. I just hope its us who gets the result. CJNovo always gives decent previews of games.

 

 

[Jockstar]

Wow! What a goal. Rangers getting the result on their travels 2-0 and beating a very good side. But what about this goal?

 

 

 

[Jockstar]

All I'm saying is another 2-0 win and Jermain Defoe is quality.

 

 

[smokie36]

Great news the 2nd CL place next season Jockstar....to keep it relevant hopefully it will save Lennon's job lol.

[Jockstar]

Got up this morning at 4.45am to watch this game. Within 1 minute were down 1-0. After the first 15 mins. we started to find our way.The sending off the Benfica player was probably a turning point.At 1-0 i decide to make a coffee. While doing so , my stream dropped out. On returning from getting coffee and getting the stream up again,. We were 2-1 up. <deleted>? Then 3-1. We then let Benfica back in and it was 3-2. Unfortunately we blew it later in injury time to finish the game 3-3. If you said to me would you take a draw going into this game i would have said yes. But even though we drew. It feels like a loss. Some bad time management. But <deleted> it. Top of the group. 

 

 

[Jockstar]

What can i say? 8-0. Could have been more.

 

 

[Jockstar]

One of the worst games of anti football i have ever seen. Seriously. Playing a 5-5-0. <deleted> when Motherwell actually tried to play football they looked good. But wasn't many times in that game. Scrappy goal to lose. After the mid week loss to St Mirren in the cup. I was fearful watching this. Up at 2am to watch as well.  Second half much better. But playing high  balls into the box to a 5ft 6 striker is not the right approach. Lucky for us SG saw this and made changes. When Aribo came on he tried to go at them. Hagi and Itton coming on. I believe that subs changed this game. 3-1 final score. Roofe scoring 2 very  similar goals and big Itton getting a header at the back post. 16 points clear. I'll  take that.

 

 

[wilai]

12 minutes ago, Jockstar said:

One of the worst games of anti football i have ever seen. Seriously. Playing a 5-5-0. <deleted> when Motherwell actually tried to play football they looked good. But wasn't many times in that game. Scrappy goal to lose. After the mid week loss to St Mirren in the cup. I was fearful watching this. Up at 2am to watch as well.  Second half much better. But playing high  balls into the box to a 5ft 6 striker is not the right approach. Lucky for us SG saw this and made changes. When Aribo came on he tried to go at them. Hagi and Itton coming on. I believe that subs changed this game. 3-1 final score. Roofe scoring 2 very  similar goals and big Itton getting a header at the back post. 16 points clear. I'll  take that.

 

 

So Motherwell taking a leaf out of Mourinho's playbook? Great to see Stevie doing so well with the Gers mate. And by the way, where are your predictions for this week? 

[Jockstar]

56 minutes ago, wilai said:

So Motherwell taking a leaf out of Mourinho's playbook? Great to see Stevie doing so well with the Gers mate. And by the way, where are your predictions for this week? 

I sent them? Let me check.

[Jockstar]

Well not the performance we are used to with Rangers. Celtic dominated the first half. Only our keeper keeping us in it. However the second half with the introduction of Hagi. Things changed. But the sending  off was the turning point as Rangers were starting to impose themselves. Those who try to claim it was never a red card are having a laugh. Not pretty and not many shots on target. But you know what? Those are the games we would have lost last year.  It wasn't pretty and hard to watch at times. But it was 3 points and I'll take that all day long.

[Jockstar]

Not sure if this link will work. But this is just embarrassing. 

 

https://fb.watch/2NiO8HgWZC/

[Jockstar]

1 hour ago, Jockstar said:

Not sure if this link will work. But this is just embarrassing. 

 

https://fb.watch/2NiO8HgWZC/

Didn't even touch him. Trying to get someone sent off is just wrong.

[Jockstar]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55518685?fbclid=IwAR3tUqWv5p9lSdf_sz3XXihBHisHGogLtZWzd1qZp_4lLF2HUzrR5HGRTu4

Rangers 1-0 Celtic: 'Old Firm landscape has changed in the blink of an eye'

By Tom EnglishBBC Scotland

Last updated on2 hours ago2 hours ago.From the sectionScottish Premiership

Rangers' win put them 19 points clear of Celtic

There was a time, more of an era, when Celtic were so utterly dominant in Scottish football that the only thing they could see in their rear-view mirror was their own dust. Trophies by the bucketload, batterings of their Glasgow chums, the banter years.

Maybe some thought those days would last forever. The club is now getting disabused of that notion with every passing week.

 

Everything has changed in the relative blink of an eye. Now it's Rangers who are so far clear that they can't pick out Celtic no matter how hard they look behind them. It's not binoculars they need, it's a telescope. Nineteen points is the advantage and there can scarcely be a soul left who doesn't think the Premiership title is going anywhere other than Ibrox.

• Rangers edge out 10-man Celtic
• Rangers will ignore 'title noise' - Gerrard
• Lennon refuses to concede title

In the aftermath of the latest derby, Neil Lennon was left clinging to controversy like a man reaching for a raft. Sixty-three minutes into the game, Nir Bitton rugby tackled Alfredo Morelos to the ground wide on the left, a desperate act that wouldn't have been out of place had big Jonny Gray done it at Murrayfield.

'Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity,' concluded referee Bobby Madden as he sent Bitton off. 'Garbage' said Lennon as he argued an injustice.

The Celtic manager felt that Madden had "done us", but it was a convenient take. Larceny, it was not. Lennon might have been better off looking at his own players' shortcomings in that moment.

Bitton's poor decision-making was almost like Celtic's season in microcosm. Too many wrong moves on the pitch and off.

James Tavernier thumped a hopeful ball downfield and that simple punt sparked a crisis in Celtic terrain. From his position in footballing no-man's land, too far up the park and not hard-working enough to retreat, Diego Laxalt watched the ball float over his head to where Bitton grappled with Morelos.

The centre-back made a show of himself. He had no need to do what he did, no need to put himself in such peril. Had he let Morelos go, the striker would still have had a huge amount of work to do, still an enormous job on his hands to score.

The probability is that he'd have got a shot on goal - hence Madden's verdict - but scoring from that angle would have been a trick that only the pre-eminent goalscorers would have been capable of pulling off.

Had Bitton been thinking like a diligent defender, he'd been on the right side of the striker in the first place. Had he been thinking clearly, he'd have let him run rather bringing him down and creating such an issue for his team. His head went at a critical juncture - and so did the game.

'Mounting case for Celtic is mug's pursuit'

From relying on the excellence of Allan McGregor to keep them in it, Rangers then won it with the unwitting help of his namesake, Callum, deflecting a header into his own goal. Mounting a case for Celtic in the league is now a mug's game. Even if they win their three games in hand, they'd still trail by 10 points, they'd still need Rangers to start losing games when all they've done so far in the Premiership, pretty much, is win.

That's 22 matches and 20 victories. They've scored 57 goals and have conceded just five. Celtic have had two cracks at them, home and away, and haven't managed to score let alone win. There isn't a scrap of evidence to suggest that this Rangers team will implode.

For much of the season, they've had it all their own way, their defence unyielding, their midfield organised and energetic, their attack dangerous and goal-laden. None of these things really applied on Saturday. They had to show another side to themselves. McGregor hasn't been called on to win games in the league this season, but this was his stage.

Here was a new challenge for Rangers. It was the first time they'd been outplayed for such a prolonged spell in the league this season, the first time a side had put them under that kind of stress across an entire 45 minutes.

Those early saves frustrated Celtic, who played powerfully for an hour. They needed a goal, they needed to prove to themselves that they had the beating of their rivals and only a goal was going to give them that comfort.

And it never came. Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths were both denied by the goalkeeper.

Things turned on the red card. Seven minutes later, Rangers were ahead and everything petered out from there.

Lennon can rail about the red, but his team's travails this season did not begin with a referee's call. If Bitton failed to recognise the danger he was in when bringing down Morelos then that chimes with the performance of the club in not acknowledging that their neighbours across town were no longer the soft touches of before. Celtic never saw this revival coming.

They have spent money - but badly. They have changed goalkeepers, changed centre-halves, changed formations, rotated, recycled, but the errors keep repeating. Bitton's blunder was just the latest in a long line of self-defeating events, the type of thing that Rangers used to do so often in their grim years.

Gerrard on verge of history

On full-time, Steven Gerrard showed no emotion on the touchline. Had you not known the score, you wouldn't have had a clue whether he'd won or lost.

Even when the action ended, he looked focused. That kind of steel is in his team now. They have developed a habit of finding a way to win, be it a stroll or a struggle.

The job he's doing is hurtling towards the historic. Considering what he inherited, we're seeing a hell of a turnaround at Ibrox, from scattergun to purposeful.

Rangers finished third in the league in the season before he arrived. In the preceding years, they built a large tower of cash and torched it in the transfer market. Their recruitment and strategy was so bad it could have been conducted by Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell in disguise.

So many things needed sorting and so much money needed to be spent, but wisely. They've done that.

In one window, he brought in McGregor, Borna Barisic, Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent. In another, it was Steven Davis, Jermain Defoe and Glen Kamara. Others arrived and most of the biggest decisions have worked out.

More than £30m has been spent on players. A massive sum. The losses in the last two sets of accounts stood at £27m. They've moved forward on the back of soft loans and cash for equity deals with supportive directors.

But there's a plan there - and the galling thing for Celtic is that it's a plan that's been taken from them, just like the title itself, perhaps. Look for value, improve it and sell it. That was the Celtic way in their best years of the nine-in-a-row. It has now become the intended template of their rivals.

Where Celtic go from here in terms of management and players is unsure. They look like a club in need of revitalisation on many fronts.

Where Rangers are heading looks more certain. Gerrard won't get involved in title talk until the job is done. He, more than anybody, knows how ruinous late slips can prove. Saturday was a seismic moment for him, though. He didn't show it, but he'll surely have felt it.

[Jockstar]

22 points clear. Still a long way to go. Another great result against the sheep. But happy with that. Great to see Alfie getting a couple.

 

 

[rott]

To comment on Tom English, yes Celtic achieved all sorts when it was a one-horse race. 

Puzzle of the season is why Celtic and Arsenal have done a complete about turn. 

Very difficult to see Rangers throwing it away now. But take nothing for granted. 

[Jockstar]

 

 

https://talksport.com/football/817645/scotland-had-enough-celtic-demote-them-scottish-league-two-demands-adrian-durham/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=talksportfacebook&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0UQuQU2GEh-BCxpWU7y9-syde_T_EIse5d8V360G8C35QLgntWRtd9oaE#Echobox=1610649472

[Jockstar]

Poor Kevin.

 

 

[Jockstar]

A much better and solid performance this week. 5 different scorers. Cracking goal from Aribo and great to see Ryan Jack back and even getting on the score sheet. Just need to keep winning. Its on our hands. Lets get this done and dusted as soon as possible. Hopefully our nearest rivals keep dropping points.

 

 

[ChipButty]

I heard Frank Lampard is being lined up for the Celtic job

[Jockstar]

One step closer. Great goal by Hagi. 6 more wins. 

 

[Jockstar]

One more win closer. Nearly there.

 

 

[rott]

Pity they can't show some flair, poise and a bit of "Umph", as it were. 

One goal victories (or worse) against mediocre oppositon gets a bit wearing on the nerves. 

[Jockstar]

Boom. What a <deleted> game.

 

 

[Jockstar]

Only 7 more points needed.

 

 

[Jockstar]

Result! Into the last 16. Some stupid mistakes at the back. But on fire going forward.

 

 

[Jockstar]

Another win. It wasn't pretty. But it was deserved.  1-0. Only 4 more points needed to bring the league home. Nearly there.

 

 

[Jockstar]

1 more point to go. Hopefully Celtic drop points tonight. ???? If not we can go and try and finish this at Celtic Park.

 

 

[Delman15]

On 3/7/2021 at 12:41 PM, Jockstar said:

1 more point to go. Hopefully Celtic drop points tonight. ???? If not we can go and try and finish this at Celtic Park.

 

 

Well it’s know official Rangers are 20/21 champions. Hopefully they can see us now ????????????????????????????????

[Jockstar]

Quote

1 more point to go. Hopefully Celtic drop points tonight.