Cappo
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Rangers v Celtic squad comparisonStevie will maybe able to correct me if I've any of the Celtic ones wrong or missed any out.
Must say looking at it like this, for the first time in a good few years, I reckon Rangers have a better squad than Celtic
Goalkeepers
1 Allan McGregor.(25)..............Arthur Boruc(27)
25 Roy Carroll(29)....................Mark Brown(26)
16 Graeme Smith(24)...............Michael McGovern(23)
Defenders
2 Alan Hutton(23).....................Mark Wilson(23)
28 Steven Whittaker(23)............Jose Pierre Doumbe(31)
26 Steven Smith(22)..................Lee Naylor(27)
5 Sasa Papac(27).....................Darren O Dea(21)
25 Carlos Cuellar(26).................Stephen McManus(24)
3 David Weir(37).......................John Kennedy(23)
22 Andy Webster(25)................Steven Pressley(34)
21 Kirk Broadfoot(23).................Bobo Balde(31)
12 Ugo Ehiougu(34)...................Cary Caldwell(25)
Midfielders
6 Barry Ferguson(29)................Scott Brown(22)
7 Brahim Hemdani(29)..............Massimo Donati(26)
8 Kevin Thomson(23)................Evander Sno(20)
14 Amdy Faye(30)....................Jiri Jarosik(29)
11 Charlie Adam(21).................Scott Cuthbert(20)
Attacking Midfield
27 Lee McCulloch(29)................Shunsuke Nakamura(29)
10 Nacho Novo(28)....................Aiden McGeady(21)
29 DaMarcus Beasley(25)..........Teddy Bjarnason(20)
17 Chris Burke(24).....................Paul Hartley(30)
Strikers
9 Kris Boyd(24).........................Jan Venogoor of Hesslink.(28)
19 Daniel Cousin(30)..................Scott McDonald(24)
29 Jean Claude Darcheville(31)....Chris Killen(26)
18 Stevie Naismith(20)................Maciej Zurawski(30)
4 Thoms Buffel(26).....................Derek Riordan(24)
15 Alan Gow(24)........................Michael McGlinchy(21)
Rangers average age is 26 and Celtic's 25
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Fionn Makool
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its certainly a lot closer than it has been for quite some time but there are two things Celtic have that outpoints Rangers massively.
Boruc and Naka. Both of them are streets ahead of anything Rangers have in those positions. And although the average ages are similiar, the central defence average age for Rangers must be troubling you guys.
I would say the only area where Rangers have a slight advantage over rangers are the full backs but I do expect Naylor to return to his form of last season and I think Wilson is an excellent prospect but with still a way to go
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Cappo
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I'd agree with you on Nakamura, Vinny. When he's on his game, he's got a cretive edge that no one in the Rangers midfeild can match.
It's the biggest problem with the Rangers team as a whole. Ferguson will never be the Gascoigne type running with the ball at defenders creating havoc. I'm happy to have defensive midfeilders in the team like Hemdani and Thomson but they need to be complimented by a creative spark.
McGregor's not as good as Boruc but it's not that wide a gap. McGregor's improved alot in the last year particularly at crosses where he used to be very poor. Some of his reflex saves recently have been outstanding.
As far as the defence goes, Ehiogu will be away in the summer when his contract expires. He was only a stop gap and I wonder if they'd even have bothered sigining him if the new they were able to land Davie Weir a few days later back in January. Weir too will be away in the summer I'd imagine. He'll certainly not be first choice next season beside Cuellar.
Webster, if he can be as good as he was on Saturday is in with a shout of a regular start as Weir winds down. They'll certainly need to buy another central defender next summer though.
I'd settle for the majority of the budget being spent on a creative winger / wide player and a centre half next summer
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johnnyk
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Thread sidetrack alert!
Three questions for the old firm buffs in the audience:
First 11 comparison, who shades it?
What will be the teams in the first OF game on 20th Oct, kind of same question as above?
What will the score be in said game?
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Cappo
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I don't think I know what Rangers strongest 11 is JK.
Depends on it being a home or an away game and in Europe or not.
Strongest defence is certainly.
-------------------McGregor----------------
Hutton------Cuellar---------Weir---Smith
But Smith's not going to be fit for a good while.
after that, I'd say that Ferguson is obviously in the midfield and our two best forwards are Cousin and Darche. McCulloch would probably get a start along with Thomson or Hemdani and a wide right attacking player (Whittaker, Burke, Beasley or Novo).
---------------------McGregor----------------
Hutton-------Cuellar----------Weir-----Smith
Whittaker--Ferguson--Thomson--McCulloch
-------------JC Darcheville-----Cousin.
I reckon that's our strongest starting 11. Hemdani in for JCD in away games. Both teams have a decent balance to them. A wide attacking midfielder as I said is the biggest priority for Rangers but they don't grow
on trees.
I reckon Rangers are at least as good as Celtic on the basis of first 11s and would be confident on form of a win in the first game at Ibrox. Who knows though? I'm not one for making predictions in these games.
Nice to see 8 scots in that team and it could easily be 9 if Boyd was in a striking role.
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Stan
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That's an interesting point.. didn't realise Rangers had so many scots in their starting line up before now. Good to see actually.. (and paws off Robson for the attacking midfielder!)
A couple of years ago, United had an all scots starting eleven for several games.. (sadly though, they were all gash.. but it was still good to see).. changed days these days, with our irish/polish/ghanain/french/english contingent.. there are probably only 4 or 5 scots in our strongest 11. (Wilkie, Dods, Robson, Kerr, and maybe Conway)
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