Barca 2 : 0 Rangers - Player Ratings and MoM Poll

[pete 2,499]

Well,you're entitled to your opinion mate,but they played to thier strengths and we played to ours.If that is what you think then how come we don't qualify for the knockout stages every season,even when WS wasn't here ?

 

I think if you read our history you will find we used to do quite well in Europe. Iremember games as PSV 2-3, Bayern at Ibrox 2-0, Leeds at Ellend road where we went and fought if they teams had gone and lay down then our history would be pretty poor.

[ian1964 10,720]

I don't need a history lesson to realise we got a football lesson tonight

[pete 2,499]

I don't need a history lesson to realise we got a football lesson tonight

 

That is where i find a grey zone. How much did they give us a lesson? How much did we stand and let them give us a football lesson. I guess we will never know because we did not try for 180 minutes against them

[craig 5,199]

That is where i find a grey zone. How much did they give us a lesson? How much did we stand and let them give us a football lesson. I guess we will never know because we did not try for 180 minutes against them

 

How do you know we didnt try though ? How do you know we simply weren't outclassed ?

 

Remember, our team has been put together on a shoestring compared to Barcelona - yes, it is 11 vs 11 but when one 11 is far better then sometimes you cant get out of your half no matter how hard you try.

 

I think that because WS has come in, steadied the ship, got some decent results in Europe that all of a sudden realism has gone flying out the window and been replaced with unrealistic expectation.

[pete 2,499]

How do you know we didnt try though ? How do you know we simply weren't outclassed ?

 

Remember, our team has been put together on a shoestring compared to Barcelona - yes, it is 11 vs 11 but when one 11 is far better then sometimes you cant get out of your half no matter how hard you try.

 

I think that because WS has come in, steadied the ship, got some decent results in Europe that all of a sudden realism has gone flying out the window and been replaced with unrealistic expectation.

 

Craig this is not just Barcelona. We done the same against Hibs and got outclassed, we even got outclassed against Motherwell for 45mins. We pass and watch!!! We watch other teams play. We beat Stuttgart possibly somewhat luckily, after watching them for 60mins We beat Lyon brilliantly. We beat Celtic double brilliantly but apart from that we have struggled to beat or even lost to mediocre teams. Frigg'n Hibs and motherwell dominated us for periods, are they also on another planet. Sorry this is not just about Bacelona but visible frailties in our team.

[craig 5,199]

Craig this is not just Barcelona. We done the same against Hibs and got outclassed, we even got outclassed against Motherwell for 45mins. We pass and watch!!! We watch other teams play. We beat Stuttgart possibly somewhat luckily, after watching them for 60mins We beat Lyon brilliantly. We beat Celtic double brilliantly but apart from that we have struggled to beat or even lost to mediocre teams. Frigg'n Hibs and motherwell dominated us for periods, are they also on another planet. Sorry this is not just about Bacelona but visible frailties in our team.

 

but you never said it was anything but about Barcelona Pete - I wont argue with you on your other examples but they are different to a world class team which we played tonight.

 

I completely agree about Hibs, Hearts, Motherwell etc - and it has been a problem at our club for a few years - we get ourselves motivated for the "big" games and then let ourselves down badly for the smaller teams.

 

But tonight I think it was more about what Barcelona did right than what we did wrong !

[Gribz 848]

I see both Pete and Frankie's point in the opening posts.

 

I thought the first half was poor and we showed a but much respect. But the 2nd half we came out of our shells a bit and when we went to 4-4-2 we saw a bit more of the ball.

 

The 2-0 scoreline was fair and better teams could lose there a bit more.

 

Hemdani was my MOTM. Every ball was a neat, tidy and controlled pass. Hutton tried to enlight a spark but had zero support going forward.

Weir stood out at the back for me but should never take his shirt off after a game again - those sags made me ill

McGregor had a few neat saves but one flap near the end.

Darcheville was impressive when he came on.

[ian1964 10,720]

You could also say we rode our luck against Lyon !!!,I mean they did give us a bit of a run around,only difference was we managed to score.I'm not being negative here,we are a new team and getting better and will continue to get better,because of our start to the CL it's easy to get carried away and raise expectations,but as i've already said, when the draw was made I thought it would be good to get third spot in this tough group,which we've now secured,and in a strong position to qualify to the knockout stage

[alanmidd 0]

Hemdani for me too. Decent performances from McGregor, Hutton, Weir, Cuellar and Ferguson.

 

Cousin had no service. Adam, McCulloch and Beasley didn't have the best of games. The subs did well.

 

I thought Papac was woeful. Continually caught out of position and ball watching.

[calscot 0]

MacGregor was not bad but not great. No chance at the first goal but perhaps could have deflected the shot for the second shot sideways instead of forward, as he's done on other occasions. His flap later on was not confidence inspiring and could easily have been a goal.

 

Hutton was very limited in possession and didn't link well with Beasley. He seemed to do better with Novo but at that point, Barcelona were 2-0 up and able to cruise which reduced our possession considerably. Solid defensively and didn't dive in which reduced their crosses from deep left.

 

Weir put in some great tacles, won almost every header and even looked assured on the ball; read the game well but dived in a couple of times due to his lack of pace allowing him to go with a runner on the ball - those occasions were Barcelona's most dangerous attacks.

 

Cuellar made a few mistakes, maybe nerves getting the better of him, but still put in a pretty good defensive display. Needs to work on his, "hoof" pass.

 

Papac was solid at times and ironically better on the wing than usual. However, he doesn't quite embrace the whole left back role into his psyche and drifts into the middle of defence too often. Allowing a players to drift in at the back post while not marking anyone is very poor, especially when it is obvious that one of your team mates has pointed it out to you.

 

Beasley just didn't have the strength or guile during this game to make any impact on the right. He also didn't make himself available enough to Hutton

on the wing to allow him an easy line ball.

 

Ferguson - now many will say he didn't do much wrong but he also hardly did much to add to the cause appart from a string of easy 10 yard passes. Supposed to stamp his authority on the midfield but instead was pretty much anonymous. Sat too deep too which seemed to hinder Hemdani and not allow the Algerian a option for a pass. We never look that good in big games when Fergie isn't playing a blinder.

 

Hemdani had a great performance and looked like our one class player. Tackling well and then skillfully keeping possession, losing his marker and playing a decent pass. We can't afford to lose him at the moment, man of the match and should play every week if fit.

 

Adam didn't to me have as bad a game as other seem to think. He did well for a young playing in such a rarified atmosphere and didn't look too fazed when on the ball against such a high quality team. His set piece deliveries were certainly a vast improvement from the recent attempts by Ferguson and Beasley. I think after a bad spell he's back on tract for developing into a very good player.

 

McCulloch is someone I can't say much about as I hardly seen him do much at all. Very, very anonymous or was it just me who kept missing him? Seemed to notice him more defensively where he did a lot of shepherding and helped close down the left channel.

 

Cousin never realy reached the level of performance of the Ibrox game even taking into account that his service was greatly reduced. Was chasing shadows most of the time and didn't seem to be able to hang on to the ball when it actually got to him. A wee bit to laconic for my liking. Still it was a difficult, thankless task.

 

Darcheville found he had less service than Cousin as Barcelona were far more relaxed with their two goal cushion, however he held up the ball in a way that Cousin should have been before him. His strength meant he hardly lost the ball and usually won us a free kick in very strategic positions. Wish he had been fully fit and had started as I think he'd have made a big difference in the first half.

 

Novo had a bit of a nervous start but still seemed to acheive more than Beasley's much longer shift. He looked like he could do something any minute and some of his passes in attack were very good, as well as linking up much better with Hutton. Fantastic strike at the end but the keeper was well positioned and did well. One has to wonder what would have happened had he had that strike instead of Cousin at Ibrox. I believe he would have scored and we'd have had a famous win. Was pleased for the guy that he did something to make his attending family very proud. Antoher player who could have possibly improved the team in the first hour.

 

Naismith showed a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but was on a hiding to nothing. Hardly got a touch but harried the defenders well - considering he's a young lad who's only on for about 8 minutes then you'd be annoyed if he didn't. Can't say much about his performance except that he didn't really put a foot wrong and it was an admirable CL debut.