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Hello all! just wanted to give a little run down on PSV for those interested. I've followed PSV for a while now and have been over to see them a few times, so have a bit of an idea of what to expect. As you probably know their Gaffer is one time ManU front man Ruud van Nistelrooy who has got the Eindhoven team playing fairly free flowing football with a focus on attack, they are yet to keep a clean sheet under RVN in a competitive game, but they have no problems finding the net either. Players that I think will stand out for them are Sangare, Simons (if starts), Gakpo and De Jong. Sangare -is a ball winning midfielder that often acts as an anchor man, likes to get forward too and looks very strong on the ball. Simons - Joined pre-season on a free transfer from PSG, turned out 11 times for the Parisian side and failed to really make an impression, which is understandable given some of the players in their squad, however he's come in at PSV and has netted 3 goals in 4 games, tagged as a bit of a wonderkid when PSG picked him up, could still be classed as such at just 19, intelligent player, typically Dutch in style in as much as he's good on and off the ball. however not the most physical. Joint leading goal scorer for them this season, highest match ratings on average so far this season also. Gakpo - linked with a few premier league teams this window, PSV's star man a product of the famed PSV academy, he is an excellent player technically and loves to get in behind the back line. always looked stand out when watching live, although I will say he does have a tendency to blow hot and cold, he rarely has a bad game but does have period where he fails to produce any 'Magic' de Jong- Luuk de Jong may be a familiar name to some of you from his time at Barcelona and Sevilla, an experienced forward, now 31, has only ever really been prolific when at PSV, scoring 112 in 204 in his first spell with the club between 2014-2019. Fairly average when in Spain, and has returned with a bit of a point to prove it feels. if at the races a definite threat. all in all I think we have a chance tonight to get something from the game, PSV are a decent side with a spread of experience and youth across the XI. on paper they probably have a slight advantage, however as mentioned some of their key players are prone to shrinking away in bigger games, lets get Ibrox rocking and make it as difficult as possible for them.

Rangers had drawn Juventus in the first round of the European Cup, it was curtains because Juve' contained nine members of the Italian world cup squad just returned from Argentina. John Greig was in his first season as Rangers Boss, moved directly from the dressing room to the Manager's hot seat. Ham and Egg decided Derek Johnstone should take over as Club Skipper and return to centre half. In European games, this left Gordon Smith as a loan striker, the left over space in the team was for Sandy Jardine playing Euro sweeper. A credible 1-1 draw in Turin was surpassed by a comfortable two-zip victory at the Stadium, thus Rangers had progressed 3-1 on aggregate against the pre-tournament favourites for the big eared cup. The next favourites were the UEFA Cup holders, PSV Eindhoven and they had NEVER lost a home European match in the Philips Stadion. The first leg was at Ibrox and the scheduled Wednesday evening game had been postponed because of fog. The match kicked-off on the Thursday and finished nil-nil. It could have been so different before half time, Tam Forsyth played two quick one-twos that took him through the high PSV off-side line. He was one on one with the Goalie and managed to shoot high and handsome over the bar. I have the above information from a telephone conversation with Old Man. I had attested at the RMA Sandhurst in the second week of August and had endured ten weeks of character building within the walls of Old College. I had applied to attend Victory College, the Graduates' College and had been accepted; however, Victory College was also responsible for running what was known as, 'the Vicars and Tarts Course'. A short eight weeks commissioning course for professionally qualified Lawyers, Accountants, Clergymen, Veterinarians, Doctors, ........ etc entering the various appropriate administrative Corps as Captains. We marked time in the Queen Ann block house until the accommodation for ninety Cadets became available. My course had already binned 29 applicants in ten short weeks. The Vicars and Tarts had a midweek passing out parade and we were given four days leave, from Monday until Friday morning. Surrey to Harwich then a ferry to the Netherlands. I traveled with Hamish, an Old Etonian whose family owned most of Caithness. He knew nothing of football but enjoyed adventure and cheese. As the snow flurried, we arrived at the temple to Philips electrical prowess to find nearly five thousand Rangers supporters, mostly in short sleeved shirts singing the praises of a 17th century Dutch King. The Dutch inside the Stadion were signing the praises of the Van de Kerkhof brothers, van der Kuijilen, Deijkers, Poortvliet, ......... etc. Spirits were high on the terrace behind the goals. The mercury plummeted within the first minute, PSV drove forward on the flank and a low cross was met by Lubse without breaking stride, his shot found the Rangers net. Honestly, I do not think the majority of Bears registered the goal, they continued to sing. The team quickly found their metre, a Parlane header drew a wonder save from Van Engelen, then he eclipsed it by fisting a Kenny Watson thirty yarder over the bar. Either side of the break, the rookie PSV Keeper finger tipped a DJ nod and scrambled a Forsyth attempt off the line. The break through arrived courtesy of a McLean chip being met by a diving Doddy header. There was half an hour left to play and we were through on away goals, game management please? Two minutes later, PSV restored their lead. A bouncing ball in our box had been met decisively by a Deijikers overhead kick. Rangers were awarded a free kick wide outside the box. McLean lined to cross the ball, instead slipped it right for Watson to drive. DJ provided the deflected header into the roof of the net. Again, it is 2-2 with twenty remaining on the clock; game management please? You know the gig, the entire terrace was heading and kicking every ball clear. We were shouting for every decision. The Rangers goal was under heavy siege then, with less than two minutes to go. DJ towered above everyone to win a defensive header in our box, the ball looped to Gordon Smith who flicked it on the Tommy McLean. The scream was, "hold it, take it in". Calimero saw Bobby Russell making a diagonal run into the PSV half and played it down the line. The scream became, "take it into the corner". Bobby looked up, saw the advancing Keeper and decided to curl the ball fully forty yards around Van Engelen, one bounce and into the back of the net. Hamish wrapped in a Barbour was slumped and burst. Everyone else went into a state of exuberant celebration. Russell's exquisite goal kept me warm for the ensuing eight months in Camberley. I hope we can find a hero tomorrow evening?

Sorry to hear that, but get down to the PSV hotel immediately.

Barasic being very proactive tonight. He's done well.

FARE, basically another wing of Call It Out and various other selectarianism initiatives.

I don’t think anyone is fearing them. Of course we can beat them, but I would imagine every bookie will have them as favourites as they appear to have a stronger squad, it would be a big achievement for us to navigate this tie.

Thought our subs should have been made earlier and Gio chose the wrong players to bring on. Arfield, Matondo and Morelos should have been on. Sorry to say Wright was like a fish out of water, Davis and Tillman dead on their feet.

I think some of us are getting ahead of ourselves. We've done great in Europe since SG turned up but let's not forget previous embarrassments. All focus should be on PSV.

A great read as ever. The little snippets dropped in are fantastic - "I traveled with Hamish, an Old Etonian whose family owned most of Caithness. He knew nothing of football but enjoyed adventure and cheese."

I don’t think Davies was available tonight

Post match observations... We still look like a team trying to find a pattern and an identity. Tillman should have been hooked earlier as it looked like he was running/reacting in slow motion. We were sloppy at times in possession when we didn't need to be. We need to find a way of utilising Kent beyond passing the ball out wide and expecting him to simply beat 2/3 players. I thought Barasic had his most assertive game in ages. All things considered, we didn't lose and we go into next week's game still in the tie. I can see a totally different set up next week with hopefully Kent and/or Motando's pace being used.

I don't know why Matondo wasn't given some time. I though we missed his energy and composure in the box - Colak needs his type of deliveries.

Honestly, those 500 triangles in front of our goal has been an illness for the last few years. Somewhere between shocking and naive. I`m at a full loss that this has not been fixed by now, whether by managers or players. Two standards, two centre-half grabbed the goals. Best not to mention Goldson at their header, he might have saved face if he`d gone to the ground screaming for a foul ... They showed in phases that they can rip us a new one, and with ease at times. It will be hard next week and I don`t look forward to that game in a same way as it was last year with Leipzig or Dortmund. But PSV isn`t going through a bad spell now. Superb pass by Davis to Tav for Colak`s goal, all three worked their socks off. The Croat shows that no striker is irreplacable. Kent at his usual best and worst, does so much and gets into dangerous areas, before doing that one step-over/outplaying-attempt too many. Lawrence was okay, though I would have hooked him later in the 2nd half too, when we got pushed back further and further. As soon as we put them under pressure in their half, they were vulnerabe, but we let them play far too much. Would have hoped that we see Matondo and Arfield, though I would assume that both will feature next week.

Could've been better, could've been worse. Lucky second goal keeps us in the tie, but will be a tough ask next week and we'll need to play a lot better. Our first goal was a sublime team goal so there I have some belief.

We lost our way after half-time unfortunately and bad defending stopped us taking a lead to the Netherlands. If their first goal was unlucky, the second was not. In the end, a draw was perhaps a fair result and we did play well at times. However, we really need to offer more quality on the ball under pressure.

PSV will feel they’ve done their job. So disappointing to draw due to two corners. We have a very difficult task next week. Hopefully GVB has another tactical masterclass up his sleeve.

[Edited]

Pretty sure that Andy Cameron song played pre-match will have us banned from Europe...

I get that, but we should always have a positive objective, even if its very challenging and potentially unlikely given disparity of resources. Rangers should never go into something to make up the numbers.

I wouldn't describe that as optimum. Isn't it funny how he ignores the 'sporting boon' of finishing in the top two rather than third.

A good rub down with wintergreen or horse liniment sleeves rolled up and get stuck in don’t be scared to shoot and don’t hold back on the tackle . mon the gers

Thanks for that and welcome to the forum - have merged with the match preview thread...

It will be very hard game. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves on or has inhaled a tube of glue for their breakfast. We will never be at a stage when we will consider these games to be anything but hard. That being said, we have recently established a proud record of giving teams of this level a very uncomfortable evening at Ibrox. I just hope we leave the pitch tonight having given ourselves a chance to progress in a week's time. The omission of the away goals rule means come what may, teams are always in the tie (if it's tight)

I said the same thing about USG - we've beaten better and lost to worse. PSV have some good players and Dutch sides are generally good at the technical aspects of football. Being a realist doesn't need to get in the way of roaring the team on. It should be a prompt to do so. There's no doubt the home support have played a big part in recent Euro successes.

Tav, 22 pen Tav, 11 pen Tav, 2 Tav, 18 Tav, 45 pen Last 5 European games at Ibrox. First goal scorer. Quite something.

We have to go into both legs with the attitude we showed against Dormund. Don't know why anyone is fearing psv, we have beaten better. If we play to our potential well go through. I wouldn't start Kent or morelos. Neither will be fully fit and we have players to cover them. We've got lots of new talent with plenty of flair. Time for the new boys to take the baton and bury the ghost of Gerrard team. That's where our future lies.

I wouldn't bet on a win next week. It will be tough. It is far from impossible.

Put your comics away and read the match report from the weekend.

Just in from the game. Think that was probably a fair result overall. We played some nice stuff in spells and Colak's goal was a good one. PSV played well in spells and missed a sitter but got a bit lucky too. I can't see us winning over there bit you never know. Thought the crowd was a bit disappointing tonight. Loads of folk near me (GF2) not joining in with any songs or even clapping. I expect it'll be Thursday nights again.

Good performance. ok result we can do this next week.

Airfield for Tillman now

Colak is playing really well

Too many back passes. We should try playing in the opposition half

Can I get updates please chaps ? No tv or radio coverage where I am . Thanks.

Sands makes me nervous....

I Want to at least finish 3rd If we go through to the group stages. Never in a million years did I think we'd return to the European scene in the manner that we have in such a short space of time. And I like being there. Are we champions league quality? Not yet, but we may have to take a few hits to get there. Its not beyond us to finish third should we make it through to the group stages, in fact I think this is a realistic target to set our selves. Don't think Another Europa league final is beyond us either.

I don't care who we get, it's all about being in the draw for us.

Wouldn't surprise me if Gio prefers the partnership used most often so far this season. Davies may well start but I think he may be considered still short of where he wants to be in the Euro fitness/sharpness sense.

Good man. Every little helps.