European chances in two years

[CumbernauldGers 0]

par·a·noid (pr-noid)

 

adj. 1. Relating to, characteristic of, or affected with paranoia.

 

n. 2. Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others: a paranoid suspicion that the phone might be bugged.

 

One affected with paranoia.

 

 

 

If I want sympathy I'll find it in the dictionary between shit and syphilis.

 

 

You will get no sympathy from me mate, you dont deserve it. Your lower than a snakes belly mate and you really ae a joke.

 

Your one of these fans that really thinks there in the know, but when pressed you come back with fuck all because that's all you got mate, fuck all.

 

Now take your hate and rubbish somewhere else, your a cancer on this site mate.

[forlanssister 3,114]

You will get no sympathy from me mate, you dont [sic] deserve it. Your [sic] lower than a snakes belly mate and you really ae [sic] a joke.

 

Your [sic] one of these fans that really thinks there[sic] in the know, but when pressed you come back with fuck all because that's all you got mate, fuck all.

 

Now take your hate and rubbish somewhere else, your [sic] a cancer on this site mate.

 

.......

[craig 5,199]

Gents, please stay on topic and avoid personal insults.

[Danny 0]

I always feel these kind of posts which rubbish the opposition and then Rangers for not thrashing them are from people who have never played a competitive match in their lives... Every team should be beating other teams but somehow they sometimes lose.

 

Football is a bit more complicated than that - the better team does not always win, and thankfully so. I would bet those two teams (who have the best records in their respective countries) are better than many teams that have defeated the likes of Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hibs etc. And yet we sometimes lose to those teams. Shit happens and it happens more often when a manager has been messed about in the transfer window by the board.

 

We should have learned from the fiasco when Walter was messed around - a manager who has the best record for Rangers in the Champions League / European Cup and Europa/UEFA Cup. Even he couldn't put a decent performance in those circumstances.

 

There was a combination of bad circumstances, bad luck and bad performances, but if you've followed Rangers for long, you'll know that's not exactly unusual for us in Europe.

 

See, the problem you, and perhaps others, may have overlooked is that it wasn't just one match against a supposedly inferior team, it was 4. None of them were victories. You're spot on to say football is more complicated on the pitch than it is on paper, but it's also a way of over complicating football in general - you kind of imply any result is technically possible so winning a championship is basically a bit of a fluke - just because Man City win the league doesn't make them the best team because they could only draw with certain inferior teams.

 

Let's try and get out of over complexity here - you, me, Zappa and Jim all know that while Maribor and Malmo are not pub teams, they are the quality of team a side with the personnel that Rangers have should be able to overcome over 180 minutes. Sweden nor Slovenia are hotbeds of football. League wise anyway. But thanks to what happened this season, we're below Maribor! Even Shamrock Rovers are above us.

 

Are you guys actually going to turn round and say these 2 teams are historically better than Rangers?

[Danny 0]

Gents, please stay on topic and avoid personal insults.

 

Rangersfamily alive and well! Yer arse! The past few months, demo aside, have shown #rangersfamily is just a way to get more followers on Twitter.

[Zappa 0]

Let's try and get out of over complexity here - you, me, Zappa and Jim all know that while Maribor and Malmo are not pub teams, they are the quality of team a side with the personnel that Rangers have should be able to overcome over 180 minutes.

 

Absolutely, but things don't always pan out the way you think or hope they will. We had enough good scoring chances to beat Malmo and really should have, but sadly we missed some clear sitters. Football isn't a game where the favourites always win, not by a long shot. On paper I bet most people fancied Real and Barca to both win their CL semis recently and for it to be an El Classico CL final in Munich, but they were both beaten by teams of lesser quality. Who expected the minnows APOEL to fire Lyon out of the CL last 16 stage? Who expected Man Utd to get put out of the EL by the Spanish also-rans Athletic Bilbao? You can never rule out the underdogs as is proven time and time again in European competitions. Small clubs sometimes turn up for European games with a bit more fight than the team they're playing against or sometimes they might get a little lucky with decisions or a deflected goal etc. There's so many things you can't really account for outside of the normal which team is the best on paper or which team cost more money aspects of the game.

[forlanssister 3,114]

We were woefully ill-prepared when we faced Malmo as we normally for the European qualifying rounds, totally bizarre given their importance.

[Danny 0]

Absolutely, but things don't always pan out the way you think or hope they will. We had enough good scoring chances to beat Malmo and really should have, but sadly we missed some clear sitters. Football isn't a game where the favourites always win, not by a long shot. On paper I bet most people fancied Real and Barca to both win their CL semis recently and for it to be an El Classico CL final in Munich, but they were both beaten by teams of lesser quality. Who expected the minnows APOEL to fire Lyon out of the CL last 16 stage? Who expected Man Utd to get put out of the EL by the Spanish also-rans Athletic Bilbao? You can never rule out the underdogs as is proven time and time again in European competitions. Small clubs sometimes turn up for European games with a bit more fight than the team they're playing against or sometimes they might get a little lucky with decisions or a deflected goal etc. There's so many things you can't really account for outside of the normal which team is the best on paper or which team cost more money aspects of the game.

 

All fair comment but you also have to account for pedigree, average, and history. In Real's case Bayern are about at their level. So Bayern making the final wasn't that shocking. Chelsea was a surprise, sort of, but only in the eyes of those who haven't noticed how many sides had started to overcome Barca. Lyon had a dreadful season last year, and Apoel had a sensation CL run - that one was on the cards. As for Bilbao, Utd were quite agonising in Europe all season and Bilbao made the EL final.

 

All the conquerers here had credibility and either were on amazing runs, or made finals. How did Malmo and Maribor fare after beating us?

[Danny 0]

We were woefully ill-prepared when we faced Malmo as we normally for the European qualifying rounds, totally bizarre given their importance.

 

Yes, but but for a horrible Jelavic miss we'd have got through to the next round. He was as much to blame as indiscipline and tactics.

[Zappa 0]

Another point worth making about our European exploits this past season (if you want to start pointing fingers) is that Steven Whittaker let the team and the club down far more than Ally McCoist when he got himself sent off after 18 mins out in Sweden. The Bougie man didn't help much either by putting us down to 9 men with almost 30 mins still to play. It was just one of those nights where various events turned the table against us. Was it Ally's fault? Personally, I don't think it was, although I did criticise him heavily back then for playing a couple of players who weren't fully fit.