Euro QR4 Draw: Legia Warsaw/Atrimitos v FC Midtjylland/Rangers

[pete 2,499]

Dudelange in the Europa league playing Nomme Kalju or Schkëndija

 

 

[Tannochsidebear 2,414]

Just been looking at Bert Kassies site to see how the seedlings are working out for us and it makes depressing reading. The list of seeds for R3 is daunting and we have to be as lucky as last year to get a hopeful draw.

 

We were the last of the seeds for R2, and we are 2nd bottom of the unseeded teams for R3.

 

The list of seeds for R4 is even more impossible, and, like last year, we only have a chance of drawing a 50/50 winnable tie if we actually draw one of the top 13 seeds in R3, which means we would be seeded for the R4 draw as this takes place before R3 is completed. This is what happened last year when we got Maribor in R3 who were one of the top seeds, and therefore we were actually the seeded team when we drew Ufa in R4.

 

The 13 sides we have to hope for are 2 from the CL dropouts plus Sparta Prague, Braga, Legia Warsaw, Eintracht, Steaua, Feyenoord, Espanyol, Malmo, Partizan Belgrade, Standard Liège & Wolves. How many of them would you think we could reasonably hope to beat? It looks very difficult indeed, not impossible but very difficult. 

 

Should we not not draw one of those sides, we will be unseeded for R4, which means we get drawn against one of the above, but when they are more up to speed and into their season which seems more dangerous again.

 

Of course we have to get our co-efficient up in order to get better seedings in the process, but you need to beat a lot of good teams to get the points to get you up there. It’s a real double edged sword.

 

Our achievement to reach the group stages last season was the real highlight of the season and a magnificent accomplishment given just how difficult it is, but we must acknowledge we got really lucky with the draw in that we were actually seeded for R4 due only to the timings of the draw, and we got Osijek who were 5th bottom of the seeds when we could have got Sevilla or Besiktas amongst many others, Maribor who were probably not as good as they had been in building their coefficient instead of  Olympiakos, Bordeaux, Feyenoord or Copenhagen who were the other 4 seeds in our mini group, and Ufa who were about the poorest R4team we could have got when Leipzig & Atalanta were in our mini group.

 

It was nothing short of a miracle to get so lucky, can we get just as lucky again?

[Gonzo79 15,294]

4 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Sparta Prague, Braga, Legia Warsaw, Eintracht, Steaua, Feyenoord, Espanyol, Malmo, Partizan Belgrade, Standard Liège & Wolves.

I think we could overcome Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest and Partizan Belgrade.  Maybe Espanyol and Standard Liege.

 

The likes of Feyenoord and Eintracht Frankfurt would beat us quite easily, unfortunately (I don't like either of those clubs).   

[Gonzo79 15,294]

I take it our away tie in Luxembourg will be moved to the Tuesday or Wednesday (if Progres finish off Cork on Thursday)?

Edited July 16, 2019 by Gonzo79

[Tannochsidebear 2,414]

Not necessarily @Gonzo79, Dudelange have dropped down into Europa and will play in R2 next week, and as the higher ranked side they get to choose which night they want to play. As they have been playing Tuesdays they may want to continue with Tuesday for their next home game, or they can pull rank and play Thursday, which would mean Progrès would have to move to Tuesday (can’t be Wednesday as visiting team need pitch available at kick off time the day before to train on).

 

Its a wait and see job for everyone involved, and I’m guessing the earliest an announcement will be made will be Friday once Progrès have officially qualified for R2, and confirmed the date change with UEFA.

[RANGERRAB 3,677]

1 hour ago, Gonzo79 said:

I think we could overcome Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest and Partizan Belgrade.  Maybe Espanyol and Standard Liege.

 

The likes of Feyenoord and Eintracht Frankfurt would beat us quite easily, unfortunately (I don't like either of those clubs).   

The only team I’d like to avoid is Wolves and maybe Espanyol .The rest we shouldn’t fear for including Eintracht who have just sold their best player to West Ham

Have we not noticed our progress underSG ? The dhims have got rid off their Swedish international RB because of last season. Now they can’t decide who to sign at RB to face Ojo

[Gonzo79 15,294]

2 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

Eintracht who have just sold their best player to West Ham

They sold their best player to Real Madrid.  And will have loads of money to spend, as a result.  

[pete 2,499]

I would love Feynoord and I am sure we can beat them.

[Malangsob 1,264]

8 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

Generally in a situation like this I wouldn't be expecting the likelihood of a record breaking avalanche. We all know the tie is already over and even St Joes know that. So in general I would have been expecting a virtual training exercise with maybe 2 or 3 goals just to put a shine on it before they settled back to simply playing it out with minimal effort.

But there are some differences here. Firstly I believe we have a manger who wont settle for a pedestrian performance in what still is a competitive match regardless of the fact it's already done and dusted. This in a team which has acquired enough depth to make the first 11 something of an unknown quantity.

Everyone is going to have to produce their A game to impress this manager enough to remain a possible starter so I see them going at it full blast. We're probably looking at a minimum 5 goals with the possibility of double digits not unreasonable.

Steven Gerrard is a born competitor always has been and always will be.  Results will always be the major factor but right now he will also want to keep the fans excited to maintain the feel good factor which he is every bit aware of as we are.

 

Plus it will do no harm at all to produce an impressive high scoring display to intimidate watching SPL opposition and we can be guaranteed they will be watching what's going to be coming their way in the weeks and months ahead.

Oh...you can bet...Ranger players are going to take every opportunity to show their stuff to SG, and St Joes is gonna pay. They are gonna need a new drawstring when Rangers are done with em.

Edited July 17, 2019 by Malangsob

[ian1964 10,724]