craig

I’m not sure if you’re aiming that at @ranger_syntaxor me ?

If you can’t understand the point being made and why it’s relevant then I’m not sure what more can be said. But I’ll show an act of kindness and try to clarify the simple point being made. When you stated “It was quite clear to me, and presumably many others, that we were not going to turn this around” someone responded about the Braga game, essentially asking if the outcome of that game was likewise obvious. The point being made was that, at 2-0 to Braga very, very few people expected us to turn it around - ergo, the outcome was “quite clear”…. Except it wasn’t. And that’s what the point was. Even if people thought the outcome last night was obvious, it COULD have been different. But I also fear we are now heading in tangents with respect to the thread. And apologies for being facetious in the first two paragraphs ?

I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.

I believe the point was that, at 0-2 the outcome was “obvious” in that Rangers would lose the game…. Which didn’t then happen.

Anyone wanting a ticket for Friday’s game ? I have two available side-by-side in the Club Deck…. Going for the princely sum of FREE. DM and I’ll get onto the club and have them turned to paper tickets for you ??

Man Utd, 1999 CL final. Game was done…. That’s the perfect example right there

That was the biggest frustration for me. Down to 10 men we should have been pressing the life out of them, retaining the ball and passing them to death. They would have been exhilarated at 70 minutes as they were last week. Unfortunately for us, we capitulated at the start of the second half yet again.

Almost certainly this will now happen. Sadly. Though after last night some will say thankfully.

I quite honestly still had hopes (willfully ignorant I guess) and said to my kid “we can still get through this but need to score a second before the 80th minute”. We did have chances but they were either blocked, deflected or hit row Z

We will need to agree to disagree. 1. we were up 1-0 whilst having played against 11 men. 2. At half time it was Malmo that had to change things given the sending off and, less significantly, the score line. 3. If we had changed our system at half time without knowing what changes would be made at 2 above we would literally have been guessing. 4. The tie was even, we were up 1-0 AND we had a man advantage. That doesn’t equate to a need to change things. For all those reason we had absolutely NO reason to change things at half time. The manager can’t legislate for a total capitulation from his players. So because they kept their two strikers on you wanted us to do what ? Play 5 at the back instead of 4 ? Against 10 men ?

No it isn’t. So any game you don’t attend you also shouldn’t have your opinion taken seriously. Not everyone can attend every game. It’s effectively saying you’re a better supporter simply because you were at the game. To be honest, unexpected much better of you mate

You clearly were in a different section to me then.

Wholly unfair. Just because he wasn’t there doesn’t mean he isn’t entitled to an opinion. Bailing on the team when they need you most is frustrating. Those leaving at 75 minutes who stay 10 minutes away are worse than someone living 350 miles away who isn’t there and, quite possibly, couldn’t be there anyway. Guy behind me last night left at 70 because, and I quote, “I’d rather have a beer”. Each to their own but trying to say someone shouldn’t have an opinion because they weren’t there rather than showing annoyance at those who left after 70 minutes is missing the target IMO.

It only that but first “full house” in 18 months…. I knew it was done but no way was I leaving before the end last night

We didn’t need to change tactics with an extra man.

Fair point mate. We did huff and puff a bit but I felt Malmo had already showed signs of cracking. We had them on the ropes and, for the second time against them, went to sleep for 5 minutes and it’s put us out.

Doubt it. He’ll be livid at a fantastic opportunity lost

Not only that, but some of the groans are fucking mental, for mental reasons. From people who don’t understand the game. People are well within their rights, but listening to people groan at players for things they can’t do anything about gets on my tits.

Should have played Balogun against Dundee Utd and Helander against Malmo then IMO.

Didn’t realize that, cheers bud ??

We’ll need to agree to disagree on us being powderpuff in the first 40 minutes. Malmo could barely get out of their own half the whole time and they made a number of defensive mistakes. We actually got in behind a few times and but for a slack final ball could have been 2 or 3 up. Hagi does look sharper than most but the only person he’s have replaced is Wright - and in fairness to Wright he has started the season well and in the first leg against Malmo did very well when he came on. Wright deserves his chance IMHO. I wouldn’t have changed anything at half time - I don’t think the manager got that wrong. Aside from a 5 minute spell in the first half we absolutely dominated them. They then go down to 10 men so why change anything ? Also better to see how they change formation and tactics first before making your own because you know they’re going to change something. Unfortunately they scored two very poorly defended goals fairly quickly in the second half which changed the complexion of the game.

Helander WAS available as he was on the bench. Said to my kid that I was surprised he wasn’t starting as he is the one defender who stabilizes the whole back 4. As much as I like Balogun he doesn’t instill defensive confidence the same way Helander does. He also doesn’t read the game as well as Helander. Goldson has much more confidence when Helander is beside him. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

We’ve been moving the ball far too slowly and rarely is it vertical. Last night we played far, far too many square balls in defense and midfield. Shifting the play from one side to the other is fine, but once you do so, you have to make vertical passes to get beyond their low block. We didn’t do it. we also moved the ball too slowly for playing against 10 men. Last week they were out on their feet after 70 minutes get last night, for the most part, they were fine….. because we didn’t have them chasing anything. So disappointing - such an opportunity to make the CL proper. As said already, the formation wasn’t the issue. We dominated them for the first 40 minutes and, in fairness, we could have been out of sight by half time. I’m not even sure the personnel was the issue given that first 40 minutes. But after the break we collapsed, mentally. I do think we badly missed Kamara and even Roofe last night - so the fall out from Slavia has hurt us badly. We also aren’t having any luck. At various points last season we carried that wee bit of luck but so far this year we haven’t. There were a number of efforts last night that were last ditch blocks that on another night would have went in. But up 1-0 against 10 men we shouldn’t have to rely on luck.

Was Tavernier’s job. That said, it’s an over-reaction to put much blame on Tav too. The pass was made inside and Tav (in the split second he had) started moving narrower rather than just deeper. Wouldn’t have mattered anyway because Robson already had the advantage of moving forward at pace. Sometimes you need to accept that there isn’t an awful lot that could have been done at a goal.

Yes, I saw the line up and thought it was enough for Dundee Utd. You are making Dundee Utd sound like world beaters ??. That line up WAS good enough for Dundee Utd…. Just as it was last season. stats don’t lie. We averaged 2.42 goals per game in the league last season… AVERAGED….. and yet you’re saying we “didn’t blow teams apart”. Given we conceded 0.34 per game abd had a positive goal difference of over 2 per game on AVERAGE… yes, I’d say we blew teams away last season. im not providing smug comments, that’s your realm, I’m merely stating stats as facts, which they are.