Zappa 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 We have won 1 out of our last 25 matches in Europe. That includes 8 ties against Maribor, Malmo, Unirea and Kaunas. I'd say if anything we consistently punch far below our weight in Europe, bar 07/08 and 92/93. Here's our total European match statistics: Played - 307 Won - 125 Drawn - 78 Lost - 104 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Does those 25 games include us reaching the Europa League final? Our first in 36 years? Could it be that while the stats look woeful, that we actually played some half-decent sides along the way? ManU, Stuttgart, Valencia, Sevilla, Sporting Lisbon, and Eindhoven? Not just the Unireas, Maribors and what have you? I'm not saying that we couldn't have performed better, but there's simply more to these games than just numbers. F*ck sake, Celtic were pumping the Barcelonas, Milans, Juventus, Liverpools, Man Utds, all the big boys at home in the last 10 - 12 years. Eindhoven, Valencia, Sevilla, Lisbon are not even in the same bracket as those names, those are teams we should be competing with and even being favourites against. Average European names. We haven't played many half-decent European sides in a long time, a very long time. There is no way under any circumstances anyone can say our recent European record is anything but diabolical. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 F*ck sake, Celtic were pumping the Barcelonas, Milans, Juventus, Liverpools, Man Utds, all the big boys at home in the last 10 - 12 years. Eindhoven, Valencia, Sevilla, Lisbon are not even in the same bracket as those names, those are teams we should be competing with and even being favourites against. Average European names. We haven't played many half-decent European sides in a long time, a very long time. There is no way under any circumstances anyone can say our European record is anything but diabolical. This. With 100 foot cow bells on 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hildy 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 We have won 1 out of our last 25 matches in Europe. That includes 8 ties against Maribor, Malmo, Unirea and Kaunas. I'd say if anything we consistently punch far below our weight in Europe, bar 07/08 and 92/93. Lennon has successfully taken Celtic through the CL qualifiers in recent years and this season he had to win three ties to get into the CL. I wouldn't put a thin dime on McCoist's Rangers winning three qualifiers even if he could pick his own opponents. We have become so used to parking the bus in Europe that we don't knows how to win competitive games any more. The football culture at Ibrox is rotten. It started under Smith and has been continued under McCoist. We need to find coaching staff that can create a team that has a hunger for possession instead of tolerating a team that resembles a couple of lines of blue and white traffic cones when we compete in Europe. Our football culture, frankly, is retarded and suitable only for the bin. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Does those 25 games include us reaching the Europa League final? Our first in 36 years? Could it be that while the stats look woeful, that we actually played some half-decent sides along the way? ManU, Stuttgart, Valencia, Sevilla, Sporting Lisbon, and Eindhoven? Not just the Unireas, Maribors and what have you? I'm not saying that we couldn't have performed better, but there's simply more to these games than just numbers. The last 25 games goes back to (and includes) our two semi final games against Fiorentina. Before that we were winning quite a few games, so the last 25 match thing definitely suits a certain agenda. Not only that, but the won 1 out of 25 matches stat fails to take into account that we actually went through on penalties against Fiorentina and on away goals against Sporting Lisbon in the 2007/08 and 2010/11 campaigns, so progressed to the next rounds on those occasions. It also fails to take into account that 13 of the 25 matches were a draw and many of those draws were against top quality teams. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Top quality? C'mon to f*ck Zappa. Barcelona, Munich, Dortmund, Chelsea, they are top quality. What we played were run of the mill average European sides. We've played 2 European heavy weights in the last 8 years, that's it. Barcelona and Man Utd. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTinMan99 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Our football culture, frankly, is retarded and suitable only for the bin. I think you mean' suitable only for Scotland', considering we're the most successful club in this country. I suppose it's Ally's fault that route one, unimaginative football, is the best way to win trophies in our country? I don't personally think that Ally is a very good manager, but I'm sure there is no one else out there that we can afford, that would do much better under the same circumstances. Assuming all things remain the same at our club, a new man would be lucky to last 6 months before he cracked and said 'fuck this'. It may sound like I'm defending Ally, but our club is a total basket case, from top to bottom. Our already poor squad is walking wounded/running on empty. The problems we should be worried about run much deeper than having a poor manager and coaches. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 (edited) Top quality? C'mon to f*ck Zappa. Barcelona, Munich, Dortmund, Chelsea, they are top quality. What we played were run of the mill average European sides. We've played 2 European heavy weights in the last 8 years, that's it. Barcelona and Man Utd. I suppose it depends on your definition of quality. If we're looking at the teams we've played during the last 25 games Selmy mentioned, then I'd say that Fiorentina, Zenit, Stuttgart, Sevilla, Man Utd, Valencia and PSV were all very good teams indeed at the time we played them and we did reasonably well against most of them in at least one of the legs played. I'd even count Sporting in there as well tbh, because they're one of the top 3 clubs in Portugal. As I said, we got 13 draws out of those 25 games, which is conveniently forgotten with the "won 1 out of 25" stat. I'm not forgetting the lesser teams which beat us either btw. The defeats to Kaunas, Unirea and Maribor are particularly sore ones, especially Kaunas and Maribor because we should have won those 2 games. We should really have beat Malmo too, but we got turned over by our own players against Malmo more than anything. Edited April 7, 2014 by Zappa 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I suppose it depends on your definition of quality. If we're looking at the teams we've played during the last 25 games Selmy mentioned, then I'd say that Fiorentina, Zenit, Stuttgart, Sevilla, Man Utd, Valencia and PSV were all very good teams indeed at the time we played them and we did reasonably well against most of them in at least one of the legs played. I'd even count Sporting in there as well tbh, because they're one of the top 3 clubs in Portugal. As I said, we got 13 draws out of those 25 games, which is conveniently forgotten with the "won 1 out of 25" stat. I'm not forgetting the lesser teams which beat us either btw. The defeats to Kaunas, Unirea and Maribor are particularly sore ones, especially Kaunas and Maribor because we should have won those 2 games. We should really have beat Malmo two, but we got turned over by our own players against Malmo more than anything. Not having it mate. Man Utd are the only big name and top quality side there. As for the 13 draws talk, really? We are now counting draws are glorified mental victories? The stat is 1 win in 25, it's embarrassing for any European club never mind one who claims to be one of the biggest clubs in the world. We really should be better than "13 draws out of 25" and certainly better than 1 win in 25. Our club, our fans, our brand, our traditions and history demand we be better. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hildy 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 The last 25 games goes back to (and includes) our two semi final games against Fiorentina. Before that we were winning quite a few games, so the last 25 match thing definitely suits a certain agenda. Not only that, but the won 1 out of 25 matches stat fails to take into account that we actually went through on penalties against Fiorentina and on away goals against Sporting Lisbon in the 2007/08 and 2010/11 campaigns, so progressed to the next rounds on those occasions. It also fails to take into account that 13 of the 25 matches were a draw and many of those draws were against top quality teams. That's the kind of argument trotted out by the likes of St Mirren and Falkirk when they have similar poor runs - "half a dozen of those games were against the Old Firm". It doesn't wash with their fans and it shouldn't wash with us. Rangers, during the last 25 European games, and even further back, have committed crimes against football. We soiled the beautiful game by adopting the most basic and crude tactic of all, heaping flesh and bone in front of our goal and hoping that fate would look kindly on us. I am sick of watching football for dunces from Rangers. We go to Ibrox on European nights and end up wishing for the final whistle minutes after the game kicks kick-off. We talk about a lack of atmosphere, but there is nothing to cheer as the team huddles close to its own goal and gets a nosebleed if it briefly crosses the halfway line. And this from a club that endlessly boasts about being a huge institution, an international brand and an iconic football entity. It's time to stop the excuses. If everyone played like us, football would get closed down. If we really are a big club, let's start acting like one and being absolutely ruthless in our quest to be entertaining and successful. The dinosaurs have had their day. Let's finally dip our toes in the 21st century and see what happens. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.