DMAA

I don't think it is the issue. Many of the comments you read criticising it make out that May-December didn't happen. We were the best team in the country May-June last season and then Aug-December this season after adopting this formation.

However that's not to say that changing the formation isn't a good idea. Sometimes you hit a poor patch of form and you just need to change it up to bring some freshness and unpredictability to your play. I would be keen to see a 3-5-2 with Hagi playing between the lines. It is a formation which plays to our strengths. However Gerrard refuses to drop Kent so I can't see it happening which is a real shame.

We don't know what has gone on, but in any case I think Kamberi has probably earned a start and I wouldn't mind seeing Defoe starting alongside him.

Just now, Frankie said:

We played Braga on the Wednesday and had 72 hours between matches, more than Celtic actually...

I need to get more sleep. Can't even remember last week ?

Why did we play on Saturday? It is very rare to have to play away from home domestically only 48 hours after playing in a very tough away tie in Europe. Celtic were at home on Thursday and they should have had to play on Saturday if anyone had to. I think tiredness must have played a big part. You could say the manager should have realised that he needed to freshen up the side with this being the case though.

7 minutes ago, Bill said:

Cowards. Spineless cowards. They shat it and gave up. None more so than our captain. 

I was listening on the radio and it was as clear as day that they had given up because the tide just never turned, there was no fight back. 

Are we trying to match them physically rather than having to confidence to play our own game? Hagi is or most creative player by a mile and he didn’t start.

6 hours ago, ian1964 said:

 

Looks like boy George 

27 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

It's one of the hardest draws we could have got, and one of the least exciting. However it's a great achievement getting to where we are now, and have arguably had some good luck in previous draws so I guess we can't complain too much.

Yes in terms of the history and tradition, but in terms of quality I think I think it is exciting. They look a step up in quality from anyone we've played in the last decade. Jonathan Tah starts for Germany at centre back and will be the best centre back Morelos has ever played against. Kai Havertz is possibly Germany's brightest talent and has been linked with £100m moves. He is probably the best attacking talent we will have come up against in the same time period. Nadiem Amiri is another German international who is an attacking midfielder and they have a few other very highly rated players. It is always interesting to see how we fare when tested by higher quality sides.

40 minutes ago, ranger_syntax said:

Tell us about how organised they are.

?

I think a German side like Leverkusen can negate our physical advantage in a way that the mediterranean sides often can't. It won't be as easy to give them a rough ride at Ibrox because they tend to be up for the physical battle.

Given they are only 6 points off a world class Bayern Munich side and 2 off Dortmund I think this is a very hard draw and probably the end of the road. Having said that it's certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. Pressure is well and truly off now.

Leverkusen ?

RANGERS vs ......

Olympiacos vs Wolves

Two very tough teams gone

Istanbul vs Copenhagen

Two beatable teams gone

Dieter Hamann saying he always keeps an eye on the Rangers games due to Gerrard

The draw always takes forever to get going

40 minutes ago, MoodyBlue1872 said:

Not quite, if Olympiakos get to the semis and Basel the final, we'd only then get the one spot.

 

All we need to do is win the next game and it takes everything else out the equation apparantly with the top 15 teams getting qualification for the CL.  (info taken from dr but won't paste link here)

That's not what he was referring to. Rangers will not have to split the tv revenue for the next round with Celtic so we will receive double the TV revenue we would have received.

10 minutes ago, compo said:

I am fed up saying on here they are not as good as their media chums drum into you dont give them time on the ball and they go to f** k sadly most teams play them with a mindset of a one nil defeat or a draw is a great result 

They are there for the taking .

Well I had the game on last night in the background and I was surprised at how little Celtic did and how easily Copenhagen controlled the game. The penalty was a gift from nothing and even then they weren’t good enough to capitalise. 

5 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Update on the potential opposition.

 

Copenhagen

Roma

Wolfsburg 

LASK 

Basel

Leverkusen

Istanbul Basaksehir

Wolves

Shakhtar Donetsk

Red Bull Salzburg or Eintracht Frankfurt (1-4) (Playing tomorrow)

Inter Milan 

Manchester United

Arsenal or Olympiacos (1-0) (In extra time)

Getafe

Sevilla

Well they can’t complain because they’ve been knocked out by the weakest team there. A team who are 9 points behind a team we beat 7-3 way back in the 3rd qualifying round of this competition. 

Copenhagen really deserved that but the BT Sport panel won’t stop going on about the first half in Copenhagen. 

30 minutes ago, Briton said:

Benfica too; have we ever played them in European competition?

11 minutes ago, Baillie1872 said:

Any Portuguese team please  ...

Never played Benfica, which is strange. It's worth noting that Benfica would obviously be a notable step up in quality from Braga and Sporting (albeit Braga's form is better). Having said that, Porto have just closed the gap in the league to 1 point.

6 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

Potential opposition and their current standing.

 

yahoos or Copenhagen (1-1)

Gent or Roma (0-1)

Malmo or Wolfsburg (1-2)

LASK or AZ Alkmaar (1-1)

Basel or APOEL (3-0)

Porto or Leverkusen (1-2)

Istanbul Basaksehir or Sporting CP (1-3)

Espanyol or Wolves (0-4)

Benfica or Shakhtar Donetsk (1-2)

Red Bull Salzburg or Eintracht Frankfurt (1-4)

Inter Milan or Ludogorets (2-0)

Manchester United or Club Brugge (1-1)

Arsenal or Olympiacos (1-0)

Ajax or Getafe (0-2)

Sevilla or CFR Cluj (1-1)

Thanks. Tbh there are a few teams in there that we could take. I think we want to avoid a German side though, we would probably lose our physical advantage against them. Looking forward to the draw. The first leg is 2 weeks today and second leg 3 weeks today. Probably too soon for Helander but it would be a bonus to have him back in contention for the two legs. At full strength we have a side who can compete with almost anyone in this competition.

Didn’t realise Sporting were still in this. Might as well have another Portuguese team ?

So many players to praise. But I'm delighted for Edmundson in particular. This time last year he played in a 3-1 defeat to Bury for Oldham in the English League 2. Tonight he has played his part in getting Rangers to the last 16 of the Europa League, keeping a clean sheet in the process. He has also given himself a great chance of keeping his place in the team after a frustrating season watching from the stand which must be a great feeling.