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While it's the defence that will take most of the criticism our midfield and attack were horrific for long periods last night. This season we've lost the art of retaining possession. We just give it up after around 3 passes, it's like watching Rangers from pre-Gerrard days. I remember so well the goal against Benfica when we passed the ball from almost our own goal line, quick, accurate passing to Rangers players who knew where their team mates were and were moving to make the angles and options for the pass. This season that's gone, completely. Our midfield and attack offer no options to our defenders so we either go long where our attack are unable win a ball in the air or hold it up, or we do attempt a pass into midfield and it breaks down. You'll get away with that against Morton or Ross County but not PSV, or Celtic. Dessers continues to look like a guy who someone brings along to your weekly 5s who apparently used to play Junior but these days just talks a good game. With every passing week I miss Morelos more and more. Colak was limited but at least he could score. Cantwell is a shadow of the player of last season, Raskin and Cifuentes looked so far out of their depth last night it was almost cruel, neither an improvement on Davis and Kamara. Unfortunately I find myself wondering if it really was the players at fault, or does the blame lie with the manager. We were out thought and out fought last night. It was crystal clear after 20 minutes we were being overrun in midfield and yet we made no changes. Even at half time, when you expect a response we got the opposite. In the end players carry out the instructions given to them, so you have to question just what they were. PSV deserved their victory, but I don't share this belief they're a Champion's League level side. They'll be cannon fodder and don't be surprised to see them in the Europa after Christmas. We made them look good last night. I'm not sure where this leaves us. If it wasn't for our right back I don't know if we'd ever score, for some reason this side has regressed from May.

Slept on that performance last night but don't feel much better this morning unfortunately after a very disappointing evening in Eindhoven. PSV clearly a better side but that doesn't account for a distinct lack of quality on AND off the ball from us. We simply couldn't cope. Butland aside, our defence was very poor after a decent 1st leg. Lundstram was OK but both Raskin and Cifu were very bad; the former is often guilty of switching off and did it several times last night. The latter hasn't yet switched on for Rangers yet and lacks work rate. Matondo had bits of pieces of reasonable play but lost it far too cheaply too often. Dessers again lumbered about with minimal service but for such a big guy is far too easy outmuscled. I did think Lammers and Danilo looked brighter when they came on whilst Sterling struggled. All in all it was a humbling experience for all concerned and, for his part, the manager really needs to find a cohesive plan. Right now, we look a laboured side, slow to react to moments in games, never mind anticipate anything. Worse, we can't even do the basics right.; our first touch is awful, our passing inconsistent and our set-pieces quite frankly embarrassingly bad. Obviously, we've made a lot of changes in the summer and right now it shows. In that sense, Beale doesn't look like he knows his best XI yet. Lammers is hot and cold, Sima in and out, Dessers and Cifu struggling and Danilo not yet properly quoted. It says a lot that we're relying on Rabbi Matondo. Improvement won't happen overnight. Apologies for the negativity but we're a difficult watch right now and we can only hope we do improve over the next month or two; starting on Sunday which is vital for morale.

Brentford have offered 40 million for Bakayoko. PSV should chuck us a few quid as He was only worth 20 million before last night 😂

I don't want to be too harsh on the new guys but I really don't understand what we've scouted with these forwards. That's a number of times now where we've had a fantastic ball into the box and Dessers is no where to be seen. That is his main job, to be in position when it matters, and he so often isn't. I won't say I'm missing Morelos because I think he did a disservice to himself and to us for a very long period of time. But Colak and Sakala were more dangerous than what we have now. We've paid out a large sum for Danilo and it's fair to say he is the one I've held out most hope for, but he doesn't seem to be in Beale's plans for a start? What gives? Sima, incredible goal aside, has just looked awful, really dire. The less said about Lammers the better, never has the quality of a signing been so predictable by viewing his stats. Then we have Cifuentes and Dowell both struggling to make an impact. Sure they do need time, but also we don't have time to give them. The only signing so far that I can say has been good is Butland, who has been extremely impressive.

Given that we camp 70 % of our Scottish game near the opposition box, he didn't need to have any pace. That said, "speed merchants" usually do not come up with more assists or goals either. Stick Hagi anywhere between the halfway-line and the area, and he will produce sparks like Cantwell did with that sublime lob. He did also ghost past players like few others and whipped shots in goalies did not expect. But we have to do without Hagi for the time being. IMHO Lawrence and Lammers will step in, so far every other game looks like a trial and error session from defense onwards.

It is a great pity that it was not so analysed before it was assembled.

They signed Dest on loan about a day before the game at Ibrox, he started and looked good. Schouten was there a week and bossed the game out of position at CB last night. We are still waiting for guys who have been here months to click.

Reference the current Gaffer. In the last 13 years, Rangers have had ten Managers, six permanent appointments and four have been given the gig temporarily. The temporaries have been McDowall, McCall, Murty(twice) and, Nicholl. Permanent appointments have all been largely unproven at Rangers expected level ie McCoist, Warburton, Caixnha, Gerrard, Vn Bronkhurst and, Beale. The guy given the longest was Stevie G, we could see he was building something by our huge progress in Europe. His third bite of the cherry came good in securing the Premiership by 25 points. I would argue his biggest failure was the two games against Malmo to secure a brighter financial platform for the club, losing from a winning position in the final quarter of the tie against ten men? Our financial woes did not provide a stable platform for any of those above. Time is short at Rangers, Walter Smith was quoted as saying he was only ever three games away from full blown crisis. Continuity is everything, I want the Manager to be given time; however, as a supporter if we lose on Sunday I will organise and take my place in the firing squad. By Tuesday, maybe Wednesday I will be more lucid and rational and advocate continuity again. Our Board under various guises these last three decades have often been guilty of short quick fix. Being lucid at this moment, I want the Board to stand stronger than our current midfield. Present a vision of our future, show us progress towards and, I will refuse to take aim and fire.

What worries me about Beale is most of the players he’s bought don’t seem to be as a good as the ones he’s let go.

I don't understand this mentality, we were finalists in the Europa league not long ago. We beat PSV last year. We have made Europa past xmas for a few seasons. The capability is there.

I'm now genuinely baffled where Beale is taking the club. I've no idea what his footballing vision is, what his primary objectives are or what his metrics are for assessing his own and the team's performance. Some of his tactical decision making is so opaque that I'm starting to worry he might not actually have a coherent plan and that he's simply been sheltering behind his predecessor's failure and a barrage of words. I hope I'm reading this wrong but if an amateur like me is becoming concerned, what's being said in the dressing room?

And where do you see the negative? Your inability to differentiate Honest critique from your own dour negativity? Did I not exercise effective group think? Was my timing off for honest reveal? Mental.

Turning £50K into £5M is a great deal and wish Kamara all the best in the future. Was a great player for us.

After an hour of last night's game, Bakayoko was struggling to maintain his £20 million valuation. Then, Barisic went off injured; Sterling came on and Bakayoko's valuation gained a million quid every minute. Sterling should claim 50% of anything Rangers claim from PSV.

Some of us are consistent, some are reactionary. If we win on Sunday all will be rosy; lose... I will continue to doubt the ability of the manager whatever the result.

My post was tongue in cheek, but also was made to point out the ridiculousness of the argument. In the past few years, whilst we are at a bit of a low, we've signed Croatian, Scottish, Turkish, Welsh, Swedish, Swiss and more national team players, we aren't some barren wasteland. We made the Europa League final, it's daft to suggest we don't have the pull of the likes of PSV. You could argue that over the last few years we had more of a pull, after all we have had a decent recent track record against PSV until this season. The reality is that PSV have come from further behind than us and overtaken us in the space of a year.

I think we have to compare like with like? In 1998, we signed Dutch international left back, Artur Numan from PSV for £5 million. That's 25 years past. In 1968, we signed Scottish international centre forward, Colin Stein from Hibs for £100,000. That's 55 years past. Today, we are not signing the Dutch international left back, nor the Scottish international centre forward. Reference Joey Veerman, he has one international cap for Holland and he preferred PSV over us. We were hoping to sign him on a free and offered him an attractive package. There is a trend and it is clearly not a good one for Rangers. During last night's match, the commentator, Rory Hamilton mentioned a stat'. I do not know if it is true but it sounded so. The Dutch league receives £140 million per season from TV, our latest deal running from next season until 2029 is for £29.5 million per season. Neil Doncaster and Murdoch MacLennan signed off on a deal worse than the arrangement with Setanta agreed in 2012. In future, the underlying trend will ensure more Filip Sebos than Colin Steins.

Their 3rd goal killed us last night just after we had managed to get a toe-hold in the game. It is criminal to lose a goal so soon after scoring, especially from a set-piece. It looked like whoever was marking De Jong lost him. It had happened a couple of times in first half as well. We then capitulated to a heavy defeat. PSV deserved their win and hence deserve to progress. We matched them at Ibrox where a draw was probably a fair result. Last night their midfield and forwards clicked (they didn't at Ibrox) and they looked a very good team. Whilst victory was always a long shot, the capitulation was the most worrying factor along with more individual errors. Our midfield being overran meant our defence was exposed and our forward players were strayed of possession for large parts of the game. Beale needs to be brave with his team selection in Sunday as our best chance of victory is dominating them in midfield and attacking at pace.

I agree with this, but I don't see how Danilo can be unfit: he was on fire for Feyenoord during their full pre-season.

It's a bit weird just accepting that we're not good enough to 'compete'. Reminds me of GvB's post-Ajax interview and I never forgave him for that.

It depends on whether or not we see some sense of progression and direction emerging but if the current mystifying situation continues into November then there's little point wasting more time with him. We've become a club that gambles on inexperienced managers - Warburton, Caixinha, Gerrard, Van Bronckhorst, Beale - and very little of it has come off. Personally, I'm struggling to see what has changed since last season, other than a suggestion we might actually have gone backwards.

I'd say that 60% was the quality of the opposition. Yes, the tactics may not have been great and the players weren't all it but PSV were excellent. I listened to a pre-match review on H&H and they said that PSV wouldn't improve midfield and attack but they did. They win 90% of games against us playing like that IMO, no matter the tactics or performance of our players. Sometimes we need to acknowledge that we were beaten by a better side. That's obviously not to say that we couldn't have improved on several aspects but I still don't see us getting any sort of result if we had.

It's telling that the more calm and reasoned posters are now questioning Beale's tactics, alongside the demented-cynics and the stato-VLs. We just need the overly optimistic head-buryers to join us! Join us - we have time on our side... and Tunnochs Caramel Wavers...

I agree to an extent. It's certainly not the first time I've watched us be humbled in Europe and I doubt it'll be the last. It was our European performances that kept criticism of Gerrard at bay as he tried to figure out how to overhaul Celtic. We could see what he was trying to do. Then, when Celtic changed manager we were ready to take advantage. I've no clue what we were trying to do last night. Other than release Matondo and use his pace on the left wing, something we failed to do with any consistency, I don't know what our game plan was. Our fullbacks were once again forced to defend deep, like they were in the first leg, somehow we failed to anticipate this. Their wide men had the freedom of the park. So when I say I don't know where this leaves us I mean in terms of a playing style and obvious tactics. Yip, if we get a result on Sunday most will forget this match quickly, and I agree the league is this season's priority. But to do both of those we need to play so much better than we did last night. That's my concern.

We would; but no we bloody well wouldn't!!

The time to miss Kent and Morelos was a couple of years ago. Both have burned out so forget them.

The pendulum has swung. Get it in your diary- 22 May 2024 Europa final, Dublin

I've seen a handful or so great Rangers players over the years. Glen Kamara wasn't one of them. He was effective for a spell. Then he wasn't. Now he's gone.

Kamara has signed for Leeds - official.

Zagreb out, pot 1 for us?

Those within our support who want to make Borna the scapegoat won't be happy you said that mate.... but you would be absolutely correct of course. Bakayoko was struggling to make an impact until Borna went off

As a vicTim why didn’t the elephant man call it out then, straight after that game, rather than 20 years later.

The question that simply has to be addressed is why have so many new signings all failed to hit the ground running? As far as I can see only Jack Butland and perhaps Leon Balogun have shown any semblance of form or ability. How could this have happened? Based on the performances so far of Lammers, Danilo, Dessers, Sima, Dowell, Cifuentes and Sterling it's unlikely any club would pay money for their services. Did we sign the wrong players? Did we fail to do proper diligence? Who bears responsibility for the recruitment choices? Or did we sign credible players but have been unable or unwilling to settle any of them into a coherent system? How is it possible we could have spent so much money, signed so many players and delivered so little in the way of improvement? I don't think these are unreasonable questions. Given the start to the season we've witnessed, perhaps it's time Michael Beale was asked for his responses.

That's the point, isn't it? Better players, better team from less - or even comparable - resources? It's not great, is it?

C'mon mate, why be so pedantic? Do you really not get the point he is making regarding the use of our resources vs PSV? If the figures are true then PSV have managed their finances in a much better way than us, and they also haven't needed to bed in their new players.

Indeed it is. For the players and management.

So they're 'light years ahead and far superior to us' in how their DoF and head coach have used their resources, despite having less resources? That's ... quite damning, no?

No... But the general argument is we can't compete (to be fair, this needs to be defined) at the CL level, when we can, when we get it right. For me, 'compete' is challenging for 3rd in a CL group, even if we don't quite make it. I don't think that's far beyond us.

Interesting discussions going on about which shape pegs to put in the holes. Not sure our manager knows what shape the holes were when he bought the pegs.

Oh, I was merely looking at it from our perspective. IMHO, everything they had in front of their defence looked a well-oiled, clicking machine. You saw who was playing where, and they executed their game plan perfectly. What irks is that you saw that in the first game too, and we did not react in a meaningful way. That said, to or three of their goals were rather "defendable". NB: Butland looks a fine keeper indeed.

I didn't agree with getting rid of Colak, Hagi or Sakala but there's no way in hell I'd entertain the return of players who chose to leave.

When I said this disgusting may have been the term you used.

I think that's slowly dawning on a lot of the Rangers support.

The collective perceived perception is the Manager must be given time and, I agree with it. I attended all the home pre-season friendlies and did not see any cohesion, a narrow disposition both in possession, even narrower out of possession, forwards not able to hold the ball or win the foul and, really poor set pieces. Last night was more of the same and after a 5-1 thumping where our Keeper was the man of the match, a most sobering experience. The short term future is ra Sellik at Ibrox on Sunday, if Barisic is out who takes over?

Some data for my fellow VLs: Rangers vs xG xGA Goals Goals Against xG Diff. Celtic 1.99 1.17 2 2 0.82 Dundee Utd 1.56 0.46 2 0 1.10 Kilmarnock 1.49 0.79 3 2 0.70 St Johnstone 3.29 0.23 2 0 3.06 Hearts 3.05 0.86 3 0 2.19 Ross County 2.15 1.01 2 1 1.14 Livingston 2.80 0.84 3 0 1.96 Kilmarnock 3.48 0.79 3 1 2.69 Hibernian 4.02 0.48 4 1 3.54 Motherwell 3.74 0.88 4 2 2.86 Dundee Utd 2.02 0.39 2 0 1.63 Celtic 0.69 1.09 2 3 -0.40 St Mirren 3.65 0.30 5 2 3.35 Aberdeen 1.90 0.94 0 2 0.96 Aberdeen 2.00 1.30 1 0 0.70 Celtic 1.57 1.34 3 0 0.23 Hibernian 1.90 1.19 3 1 0.71 Hearts 2.70 1.17 2 2 1.53 St Mirren 1.81 0.55 3 0 1.26 Kilmarnock 1.36 0.52 0 1 0.84 Servette 3.03 0.99 2 1 2.04 Livingston 2.44 0.12 4 0 2.32 Servette 2.23 1.13 1 1 1.10 PSV 1.08 1.29 2 2 -0.21 Ross County 1.75 0.28 2 0 1.47 PSV 0.88 2.57 1 5 -1.69 12.77 6.90 12.00 10.00 The trend is not good (albeit not a big sample size).

FTFY.

come on Sparta Prague

No, we showed that we are NOT a CL level side. Time will tell if we are up to the EL level this season.