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"gegenpressing" WTF?? Thats not a real word! I am amazed anyone thinks we will be favourites against a side who made the CL SF about 12 months ago, coupled with our own form being, well, pish so far this season. I will gladly take anything other than defeat in this one tonight. Our success in this group will surely come from the other 4 games. Of course I hope I have overestimated them and that we hit our form tonight and if that happens, along with our normal big European night atmosphere, we can of course put this mob to the sword like so many in the last 3 years who on paper would be favourites against us. Really looking forward to the game now, not least to see if I can spot the "gegenpress". What number is he anyway?

There is so much evidence to counter that claim, it's beyond preposterous that anyone would make it. Since 55, there's a definite sense that the narrative is being further skewed. Referring to sectarianism has being ditched in favour of 'anti-Catholic', 'anti-Irish' and 'racism'. In any rational, objective society, we could laugh this nonsense off but elected officials, senior Police, the press (including PQ CSC) and now a widely respected Scottish historian are getting behind it. Rangers fans who want us to keep apologising will regret it soon enough. As much as I'm amused that Janey Godley and several DR 'journalists' got sucked into the offence archeology situation - is that really the way we want our society to go?

Lyon absolutely schooled us in 2nd half, we couldn't lay a glove on them, they are a CL class team in my opinion and shows how far we have to go to get to CL standard. May be it's time to reflect on our journey and the strides we've made (especially under SG) in Europe. We've gone from being eliminated by Progress to qualifying to and getting out of the group stages. That's our level, that's out standard, no shame in that. For me, and I may be alone, this season (like all seasons) is about winning the SPL title (number 56) as this opens up the financial riches of CL. Tonight I thought Lundstrum had a great game, but our front 3 aren't firing for some reason. I'm sure they'll come good soon but maybe Kent will be rested at weekend depending in the extent of his injury which should open the door for Wright. With Covid, injuries, international break the season has been stop / start thus far, hopefully a run of games will see us click into top gear.

Lyon are clearly a decent side but we were our own worst enemy at times by giving the ball away far too often. Biggest positives were Lundstram who I felt had a fine game (especially after dropping into the Davis role) as did Balogun who showed he can deputise for Helander. Not much else I'm afraid with too many players looking a yard short of what's expected. I think tonight also showed we rely too much on the Davis' and Kent's of this team. Now Wright is fit again and Lundstram showing up well, time we freshened up the recognised XI and become a bit less predictable. Do that and we may find the missing spark of last season.

Thought we started fine and finished the half fine but, for whatever reason, lost confidence for 10-15mins just before they scored. Annoyingly, I think there's something in this for us so we really need to believe.

I think he's incapable of ever admitting he might be wrong about something. He's quite childlike and unphilosophical, in that regard. Takes a man to admit he's wrong.

Like Harry Davis used to do sixty years ago?

Made the mistake of listening to Cosgrove's podcast. Everything you'd expect. How great he is and how bad Rangers, unionism, the right, the famine song are. Stewart done his usual mental gymnastics to excuse Godley and the Daily Record bigots. Not so much the H&H lads. Cosgrove has choose his useful idiot wisely. Why would Stewart not discuss the racial angle in Godley's tweets? Seems an important omission. Only the online spats with "Rangers trolls" count apparently.

I liked the bit in that Twitter conversation where Jean told Michael his contribution to the racism debate was similar to his contribution to the Manchester United midfield.

Just in from the game have to disagree about Kent losing ball for first goal it came from a hospital pass from Aribo as we were pressing.McGregor no chance with goal. Second goal Kent should have punted ball away,did not,and Keystone Cop defending ensued. Thought Lundstram had his best game,MOM for me,but both Aribo and Kamara let us down badly. As for the referee he fell for all their diving and time wasting--no better than any Scottish ones. Was VAR in use tonight as I thought the push on Barisic was a penalty. Five games left to get it right but meanwhile roll on Sunday.

Bassey should have played tonight. Wright deserves a start. Sakala....cant wait till he actually gets a start. Kent and aribo are creating nothing but will get picked every week. Wouldnt mind patterson getting a game as well. We are ordinary and predictable. Void of any imagination and guile. Do i think well win the league? Yes i do, it will be the best if a bad lot though. As for Europe its been an embarrassment from the first kick of the ball. And the sane managers favourites thats dragging us down.

This match is typical of our season so far which is why I wasn't confident for tonight, we are still not at it. Lyon are a good team but if we were at our best I don't think we would be far away from getting a decent result tonight. We need to find our groove soon or things will turn bad for the season ahead.

It`s good when your commentator speaks Russian then ... ?

We're too tentative. Need to press in the final third.

Frustrating 1st half as we've had chances but so have they. There just seems to be some thing "missing" when we play "top tier" European teams. However a Braga style 2nd half comeback wouldn't go amiss.

If it's an individual, no. Gegenpressing is a team tactic, whereby the team who have lost possession cut off passing lanes around the ball, and smother the space. Which is different from someone pressing. "Gegenpressing means 'counter-pressing' in German, and has become a buzzword thanks to its most famous proponent, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who honed the tactic in his earlier [clubs Mainz and Borussia Dortmund]. As Klopp explained, 'The best moment to win the ball is immediately after your team just lost it." I will concede, these 'new' tactical terms we throw about are not always new; merely refined from older ideas, and given a more accurate name.

Real Betis 5 Celtic 0

Reference Cosgrove's Podcast. He appeared on BBC Radio Scotland for a dozen years on a Thursday afternoon, doing his take on how news was handled from a Scottish perspective. It was a 45 minute slot where he was joined with Prof' Eamonn O'Neill. The hosts of the show were John Beattie and Anne Marie Watson. Cosgrove and O'Neill's take was rarely accurate thus, rarely objective. Almost two years past, BBC Scotland cut the strings and Cosgrove hit out at Beattie, "he's getting all the jobs". Cosgrove took the media analysis to a Podcast, co-hosted by Eamonn O'Neill. BBC Scotland's Janice Forsyth Produces it and Angela Haggerty is a regular contributor. I think what did for Cosgrove on the Beeb was his constant drone of misinformation and disinformation on the murder of Northern Irish Journalist, Lyra McKee. Regularly, he returned to it making ludicrous claims. I do not think Cosgrove(soon to enter his eighth decade) has ever been involved in a firefight? His final view on McKee's murder was, "they'll have to find a new classification, she was caught in crossfire". We know McKee was standing to the rear of the line of PSNI Officers confronting a group of rioting young Irish republicans. She was mostly in hard cover behind a Land Rover. We know eight rounds were fired from a pistol(recovered by the Police). No other shots were fired, Lyra McKee died from a shot to her head. The McKee case is live, only yesterday another four were arrested in connection. Any further comment could stray into sub judice. Cosgrove and Stewart have been reading from scripts provided by Gerry Braiden for a long time. The former Herald Journo has been these last couple of years, the SNP's Policy Advisor/PRO to Glasgow City Council Convenor, Susan Aitken. Gerry is from west Belfast.

What else should we expect from that swivel eyed plank.

Plenty of goals last night five at Anfield nine at the Etihad, I watched two former giants Inter play Real Madrid one blinking goal ?

It was a disgrace that James Cook allowed this shocking diatribe without correction. Especially the part that no other club in Scotland has a problem with their fans that this is purely a Rangers problem. I await Rangers FC's response. The silence is deafening so the haters will keep beating the same old drum.

2,300 Viewers! Fellow Gersnetters, you may remember two and half years past, BBC Scotland launched it's new channel, 'BBCScotland' on the satellite listings? It was launched at considerable cost and has an annual budget of £32 million. We know Stuart Cosgrove is a heavy hitter in UK media circles because he never tires of telling us all so. He predicted a new, modern Scotland would embrace the new channel whole heartedly because there was a distinct need for Scots folk to be recipients of news specifically honed to their needs. Of course, DrStu' is in a prime position to dip his ladle into such a gravy train, remuneration for any documentaries requiring his Perth tones will be viscous. Yesterday we were given two new pieces of information. Firstly, one of the two main Presenters of the flagship news show, the Nine', Rebecca Curran has begun maternity leave and an advert to fill the position is offering a salary between £48,000 and £82,000. Secondly, the latest viewing figures are horrendous. The flagship Nine has regularly attracted an average of 15,000 viewers, the last quarter is suggesting a further fall to between 10,000-12,000 viewers and, on occasion just 2,3000 viewers have tuned in.I wonder what the other main Presenter, the ever professional Martin Geissler thinks of this debacle? I suspect he thinks his co-Presenter has experienced tremendous fortune? Now, as a BBC License Fee paying Rangers supporter; may I suggest a reason for this calamity? Earlier this week, with the Daily Record - Rangers supporter spat erupting(it's now made the pages of Private Eye), the Nine handed James Cook ten minutes to interview Prof' Tom Devine on sectarianism. Remember, James Cook and his then Producer both offered unreserved apologies to both the then club Manager, Ally McCoist and the Club itself for deliberately re-Editing an interview with McCoist. Cook posed a question on sectarianism to Ally, then cut the film to show McCoist laughing. The Club's top scorer complained at being portrayed as someone not taking the matter seriously and has not spoken to PQ since. Why was James Cook awarded such on air time, given his previous subjective behaviour on this particular matter? I believe Cook is a Dundee United supporter and voraciously ambitious. He was rewarded for his efforts eight years past by achieving the BBC Correspondent in America for three years. He was tempted back because of the high remuneration on offer and, finds the best way to retain his place on the gravy train, is to continue to sink the boot into Rangers. At 2,300 viewers, James would be better off taking a megaphone to Tannadice.

"As an aesthete, Bosz [likes] ball retention, direct and on the ground passing game and gegenpressing to retrieve the ball in just a few seconds." "[You] might want to fight for ball possession – provided you have technically gifted enough players to avoid gegenpressing – or you may choose to operate in transitions."

This year’s Europa League will see Rangers facing Olympique Lyonnais this Thursday for the first fixture. Matthias T., from Lyon counterpart independent website Café du Commerce, brings you a detailed presentation of the French side. Fourth of Ligue 1’s last season, Lyon automatically qualified for the next Europa League group stage, which they joined as the first seed ahead of Napoli thanks to recent good European results such as a Champions League semi-final post-Covid. The “Gones” remain thus favorite to reach the round of 16. History of Olympique Lyonnais You might remember Olympique Lyonnais’ heyday. Back in the 2000s, they topped Ligue 1’s leaderboard seven years in a row, a record that still stands today in spite of Paris Saint-Germain’s massive domination in the past decade. It is in fact during this period that Rangers and Gones had their first and only encounter – each earned a 0-3 away win in the 2007-2008 Champions League group stage. This era was the result of historic owner and president Jean-Michel Aulas’s brilliant entrepreneurship and investments, culminating in the signing of Brazilian striker Sonny Anderson from Barcelona in 1999. This transfer did not only bring a tremendous player to Lyon; it represented the more aggressive and ambitious stance OL would now show on the market. Three years later, Anderson helped Lyon win their first Ligue 1 title, wearing the armband in the legendary last day fixture against Lens, during which both teams fought for the championship. This new transfer policy had also brought, in 2001, a promising midfielder from Vasco de Gama: Juninho Pernambucano. It is easy to measure how an absolute legend “Juni” is for Lyon. With him on board, OL won seven titles. Without him? None. His vision, his passing and, more famously, his free-kicks, carried the club for eight years. He saw – really good – players, coaches, partners in midfield come and go, but he always earned Lyon the title in the end. Alongside with legendary French goalkeeper Grégory Coupet, he remained the pillar whose departure would remarkably damage the club. Afterwards, poor management by Claude Puel – whom you may know from Southampton and Leicester – and unfortunate signings made it difficult for Lyon to keep up the hegemony on the French championship. Bordeaux, Marseille, Lille and Montpellier would serve as temporary champions before the Qatari takeover on PSG. This past decade saw Lyon being less ambitious – giving up against PSG’s nearly infinite budget – and more cautious about finances. Aulas made the choice to move into a brand-new, 60-thousand seat stadium, whose commercial area would consolidate the club’s revenues in order to be less dependent on TV rights deals and sport hazards. Though it continued – except last year – qualifying for European competition, the club has only been into title contention once in more than a decade. Genuine chances, incomplete changes In 2019, with desire to regain ambition and shake things up, Juninho was appointed back in Lyon, this time as a sporting director. However, the first choice he made proved to be a poor one – his protegee Sylvinho (former Arsenal and Barcelona player) who was brought in as head coach miserably failed and was sacked three months into the season – that weakened Juninho’s position in the balance of power among the club’s executives. Thus, Olympique Lyonnais’s next coach was chosen under unfavourable circumstances that basically led to appoint a tactically worse-than-average and a personality-wise despised coach: Rudi Garcia. Though his side reached the semi-final of the Champions League Lisbon tournament and managed last season to be in contention for the Ligue 1 title in front of Lille and Paris, it eventually lost everything in the final stages and could not even qualify for the Champions League (which requires a top-3 finish in France). This brings us to the current season. The end of Rudi Garcia’s spell meant that Juninho could give a second try to reshape his Olympique Lyonnais. This time, he wanted the smoothest process possible and appointed a new manager who would come with his own staff, unlike Sylvinho. Enters Peter Bosz. The Dutch manager, who led Ajax to a Europa League final back in 2017, appears to be an aesthete of the game. As a Guardiola follower, he definitely is into attractive and ambitious football, something that tremendously lacked to Rudi Garcia’s and Bruno Genesio’s lineups. Moreover, he is bringing in Lyon a new sense of tactical discipline that is unfortunately too rare with French managers coming from the national curriculum. Though this journey might take time, it definitely is compelling. Overall, Lyon fans share this excitement and we might even go as far as to say that a certain sense of a long-term optimism is in the air. Tactics and lineup As an aesthete, Bosz prones ball retention, direct and on the ground passing game and gegenpressing to retrieve the ball in just a few seconds. So this is what you have to expect while watching Olympique Lyonnais this season. And this is what Rangers should be prepared for. Olympique Lyonnais Peter Bosz edition tends to shape in a 4-3-3, with one of the midfielders being so free that it often creates a 4-2-3-1. Full-backs are encouraged to be very attacking, while centre-backs and defensive midfielders are instructed to take initiatives, cutting lines with vertical passes sometimes not without risk. Finally, though Bosz did not really get the type of players he wanted, wingers are supposed to cut inside and play as inside forwards around a false nine striker – whom, by the way, you may already be acquainted to, since his name is Moussa Dembélé. However, Rangers vs. OL will only be Bosz’s sixth official match. And obviously, things are not perfect yet. Aside from the previous two victories with a more and more encouraging playstyle, Lyon started its campaign with two draws and a heavy defeat, while many mistakes are still far from going unnoticed. Playing against this young (both for the average age of the squad and as a project) Lyon side, you might want to fight for ball possession – provided you have technically gifted enough players to avoid gegenpressing – or you may choose to operate in transitions. Peter Bosz’s men are actually quite vulnerable in this sector, as adaptation to these new practices takes time. It is indeed not rare to see a full-back being out of position as he was helping an attack, making the defensive line chaotic. Expected lineup: Lopes – Emerson, Denayer, Diomande, Dubois – Caqueret, Guimarães* – Toko Ekambi, Aouar, Paquetá* – Dembélé *Doubts have been cast about them being able to cross the Channel, as they were in Brazil, a red-listed country, less than a week ago. Should they be prevented from playing (but latest news suggests they will available), they would be replaced by Mendes and Shaqiri. Key Player This one might be a bit open to interpretations and the debate might also need to see how the summer 2021 transfers play out. However, judging from last season, it is pretty clear that Lucas Paquetá is Olympique Lyonnais’ key player. Recruited at the very end of the last transfer window as a good opportunity, he quickly proved to be essential to the team. His first touch, his vision, his passing and his dribbling combined with his dynamism really makes him the most important piece of this Lyon side. Paquetá was key to last season fantastic run before winter. Expect a difficult game if he is in good shape.

Report on tonight's Challenge Cup game https://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/2021/09/14/challenge-cup-defeat-for-colts/

It's male, pale, and stale, as they say in The wokest Garngad. (And they are probably correct.)

Tom treads a fine line in objectivity and, regularly falls the wrong side. Last year, DUP MP, Sammy Wilson appeared on Sportsound to explain his reasoning for laying down an Early Day Motion reference Rangers. As Richard Gordon completed the questioning, a pent up Tom demanded, "why is he on the show"? Compare and contrast with Tom's behaviour three years past. His home county, Limerick had made the All Ireland GAA Hurling Finals for the first time in almost half a century. Tom returned home to see his club win. Limerick play in green and white hoops. A breathless Tom appeared live on BBC Radio Scotland lionising his home town heroes, a triumph of the blarney. At the same time, those players were featuring on the front pages of Irish newspapers because they chose to celebrate the trophy by belting out a rendition of 'Sean South of Garryowen'. Sean South was from Garryowen, a district of Limerick. He was a member of an IRA column that crossed the border into Fermanagh on New Year's Day 1957. They attacked a RUC station, opening fire without warning. The column was fought off, two members of the IRA were fatally wounded, including South. The retreat led to a barn where a final shoot-out occurred and, a young RC RUC Constable, John Scalley was killed. The song was penned within a week of the proclaimed patriot's death. It was said the alacrity was necessary because of the failure of the raid and to cover up South's rabid anti-semitic views. We call that seizing the narrative these days. Sean South wrote numerous letters to the Limerick Leader(owned by Tom English's family) expressing his support for Fascism and conservative catholicism. He founded the Limerick branch of, 'Maria Duce'. He was a member of an Realt - Irish speaking chapter of the Legion of Mary and Sinn Fein. Tom totally ignored this awkward and unhelpful situation, although he did say, "I am not aware the GAA has received any complaints".