Ser Barristan Selmy

It’s difficult to objectively define this. We got an amazing result away to a fine Spanish side, then beat a very poor Austrian one with some determination. Tonight I think two mediocre Europa sides battled it out. It’s a lot better than where we were a year ago, but it’s disapponting that we lacked the tenacious fire that I know we’re capable of. i predicted we would struggle tonight though. Regardless of their league positions, Spartak are filled with internationalists from decent nations. They are no mugs.

Fifa 1992 top 10 world players of the year: Rank Player Club(s) Country Points 1 Marco van Basten Milan Netherlands 161 2 Hristo Stoitchkov Barcelona Bulgaria 88 3 Thomas Häßler Roma Germany 61 4 Jean-Pierre Papin Marseille Milan France 46 5= Brian Laudrup Bayern Munich Fiorentina Denmark 44 5= Peter Schmeichel Manchester United Denmark 44 7 Dennis Bergkamp Ajax Netherlands 29 8 Frank Rijkaard Milan Netherlands 23 9= Abedi Pelé Marseille Ghana 10 9= Franco Baresi Milan Italy 10 9= Jürgen Klinsmann Internazionale Monaco Germany 10

Laudrup wasn't the best player in the world, but he was the 5th best at one point. He was awarded such anyway. He's the best player I have ever seen in person and the best Scottish football has seen during my lifetime at least. His name being mentioned in this topic is ridiculous.

It’s expected given juve are amazing but to see a Man Utd side look so pathetic?

Actually embarrassing seeing Man Utd schooled at home by juve.

If they’re not relevant why do you seem so bothered by them, to the point you even go on their forums?

Brian Laudrup ?? Where on earth did that come from.

Losing him to a big EPL club isn’t any concern at all just now

I don’t think he has any chance of staying injury free. Not with us anyway.

You can dress it up which ever way you want, but we were very poor today.

Andy Walker is wired to the moon but Rob McLean is stating an undeniable a fact there.

Eh????

All I can say is lol

The last time they beat us was when they beat us to 2nd place last season and the year before that too. Currently we are only 2 points ahead of them in the league, and they have had a woeful start. When we are back winning titles and cups we can afford to look down our noses at the rest. Then and only then. P.S. The argument shouldn’t really even be about the team. It’s the player that’s relevant and I don’t see any of ours being unfairly missed out.

Remember seeing him against hearts last season and thinking he was excellent. Was all over the park and bossed the game. Not sure how realistic it is for a young player not getting a game in Scotland to go on loan to the EFLC as it’s a much higher level.

Not sure where I stand on this. Calling off last minute seems a shitty move, but 20 goals for an international side with an extremely poor squad is bloody good going. Lafferty is a little like David Healy, impressive goal scorer for NI, but struggled to ever achieve much club wise

When is the last time we finished above Aberdeen in the league? They might be a poor team but we're in no position to think our players automatically have a God given right to feature ahead of them. Regarding our players you mention there, it's not long ago Halliday was being chased off to Azerbaijan and everyone on here thought he was pish. He's had an upturn in form recently and I'm sure if he keeps it up he'll get his chance. Middleton is not a first team starter, Jack has been selected recently and McCrorie has hardly featured at all this season! McCrorie is also the U21 captain...is the U21 manager not told he can't pick Rangers players? lol

I’ve been quite consistent in what I’m talking about. That there’s no evidence to suggest that our players are being unfairly excluded from the national team setup.

So do you believe the SFA are telling McLeish not to pick all these wonderful Scottish players we have? Your argument has no logical basis. Players are being mentioned in this topic who have barely kicked a ball this season ?.

I'm struggling to see any evidence that there is some sort of conspiracy when it comes to the selection of our players. I think history has shown that the players we have that are good enough get picked. It's not like in recent years we have had a load of top performing Scots getting consistently overlooked. The guy picking the team is a Rangers supporting ex manager for goodness sake!

If they perform well enough I’m sure McLeish will pick them...

Which Rangers players are being unfairly kept out?

McLeish is clueless but we can hardly criticise him for not selecting players that aren’t even fit/starting regularly.

It’s a must win if we have any intention of staying in the cup.

When we were last qualifying for major tournament in the mid to late 90's we had the likes of Goram, Gough, Hendry, Weir, Calderwood, McAllister, Lambert, Collins, McCall, McCoist etc. All high quality players considerably above what we have now, some of whom played to a decent level in England. From the current Scotland team, only McGregor, Robertson and Naismith particularly stand out to me.