Match Thread [FT] Rangers 1 (Lawrence 14) - 4 Lyon

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,698]

49 minutes ago, CammyF said:

When Lawrence was subbed at halftime, why was Dowell brought on? Thought the obvious move was to put Bajrami in his favoured 10 position and put McCausland out wide. 

 

We pad over £4M for a number 10 and he's never played there for us. 

This was my biggest concern of the night to be honest.

[compo 6,830]

14 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

It's not as black and white as that. It is clear that Lyon (who spent over 150 million) are miles ahead of a CL team like Slovan Bratislava for example. 

We nearing 50 pitches level these days in a sad slow decline were not even a force in Scotland now 

[CammyF 7,742]

1 hour ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

It's not as black and white as that. It is clear that Lyon (who spent over 150 million) are miles ahead of a CL team like Slovan Bratislava for example. 

But so were the likes of Dortmud and the likes and we still managed to beat them and get to EL Final. 

[Scott7 5,828]

4 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

Mine's was 2-2 versus Marseille.  They battered us until about 76 minutes, when we heroically turned it around.  

When McSweggan scored the sort of goal that Archimedes might have scored if he had been a footballer.

[Scott7 5,828]

2 hours ago, compo said:

One of my first European games was at Highbury against Sparta a play off 

There’s a post match photo of Arsenal ground staff looking bewildered by the huge quantity of empties they had collected.

 

I wasn’t there but I’d been at the losing Ibrox match where my memory of the away support is a one old man entirely on his own dancing down PRW carrying a decorated candle lantern. He saw John Crossan play as a man inspired for his team. I don’t think Crossan did anything much after that.

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,056]

3 hours ago, compo said:

One of my first European games was at Highbury against Sparta a play off 

Was that a 5-5 aggregate? Derek Clarke on the Rangers review posted on twitter he picked up a programme from this game at a sports memorabilia game in Northampton the other day.

 

Edit - actually it was red star Belgrade, but also at Highbury, 4th November 1964.

Edited 21 hours ago by Sutton_blows_goats

[CammyF 7,742]

Think my 1st European game was a 2-1 win over Porto 1983/84 season.

 

The next season saw us play Bohemians (lucky to beat them to be honest) then a 3-1 home win against Inter Milan who had Liam Brady and Karl Heinz Rummenigge amongst others. 

 

We lost 3-0 in the away leg with Ally McCoist missed an absolute sitter. Jock Wallace played outgoing captain and centre half John McClelland as centre forward. 

[JohnMc 2,666]

18 hours ago, CammyF said:

We played Dortmud twice (once away and once at home) and never lost. In fact, we should have won both games (had a goal wrongly chopped off). 

 

We can still make the business end, but at the moment we look like losing heavily to any half decent team (Man U and Spurs will absolutely leather us). 9 points may not be sufficient to take us through, it may need 10 or a decent goal difference. 

 

Getting to EL Final was an absolutely fantastic achievement, and is somehow underplayed. We were wonderful that season and beat teams that we had no right beating. 

 

This squad is rank rotten and results this season show that. Thumped at Parkhead and embarrassed in our own patch by Lyon.

 

Happy for you and others to continue to try and polish this turd of a squad, results will get worse before they get better. 

It's not rank rotten, but it's not as good as 3 or 4 seasons ago, thats without doubt. Better Rangers sides than this one have been thumped at Parkhead. A star studded Rangers side who beat Celtic 5-1 in season 2000/01 lost 6-2 and 3-0 to them that season as well. 

I understand supporter's are angry and disappointed after a home defeat where we were second best all over the pitch, but surely some perspective is required? We are a club and a team going through transition. Only two players remain from the Europa League final run, one of them is a back up centre half and the other our much maligned right back and captain. That's huge change in a short time. For comparison the Celtic squad for that season contains 10 players who are still regular starters for them this season. 

 

We can pinpoint moments where things might have turned out differently. The huge one is failing to beat Malmo in Champion's League qualifying in 2021. Had we secured that money the squad could have been strengthened further, perhaps Gerrard wouldn't have been tempted away and our ability to match Celtic financially would have given a huge boost. 

 

Had we sold Morelos when he was one of the most exciting strikers in Europe, had we sold Kent when he was ripping holes in Bundesliga club defences for fun, had we sold Tav when he was one of the most effective attacking full backs in the Europa League... Decisions were made and we did none of those things. Our recruitment has suffered because of that. 

 

We're now a club that looks for potential talent in leagues or clubs a rung below us financially or in the reserves of clubs a rung or two above. We're not able to buy players in their prime now, not really good ones at least. We're a stepping stone for players hoping to make it to England or another league where the pay is much higher. Diomande, Jefte, Bajrami, Igamane and ever Barron will be hoping to develop and move within a couple of seasons. Guys like Cerny, Bajrami, Cortes, Nsiala we're the required 'step back' to move forward again. I'd say Propper is our only summer signing for who signing for a club like us is the final destination rather than than a stop on the way. 

 

That's a big change from under Gerrard and even from under Beale, who was indulged to an extent that we signed Danilo (over £5 million), Dessers (over £3 million), Lammers (£3.5 million) and even Cifuentes at £1.2 million. We must all surely realise that kind of spending on that type of player isn't going to happen again? 

 

I think it's going to be a rough season. We'll take some beatings at times, maybe even domestically. But I think we'll give some out too. Some of our signings look shrewd. Diomande, Jefte and Bajrami have ben early successes I'd say, Barron has shown enough to suggest he can become an important player and the fleeting glances of Cortes and Kasanwirjo suggest similar. 

 

Time is rarely given to Rangers managers and already some feel time is up for Clement. Yet time is what we need to give someone, Clement or whoever. This season still has some twists and turns ahead but if we're to build something we'll need to show patience and support. Again, not something we've always been good at. The only way we can compete financially, even with Celtic far less Lyon, is to develop players and sell them for a profit. That requires buying ones that aren't the finished article and trying to make them better. That's what we're doing this season and I don't see what other choice we have. I don't think it's Clement's fault that our squad isn't as good as it was 25 months ago, he can only play the hand he's been dealt. I've seen enough in some games to feel he does know what he's doing, but that it will take time and luck for that to to be fulfilled. 

Edited 7 hours ago by JohnMc
Can't spell player's names

[der Berliner 3,681]

Much of the above is correct. We surely lack some stability in the financial department, still, IMHO, we'd have fared and will fare better had we adopted tactics according to the games at hand. While many laughed at Warburton's claim "of making Plan A better", we (the managers) essentially never thought about Plan B or C. We simply shoehorned players into these positions, sometimes better, sometimes not. More or less hoping that "quality will change the day". The stubbornness amongst our managers of this last decade was bordering on insanity, IMHO. 

 

On hindsight, we had one rather well-thought of winger/attacker in Kent, yet no-one was willing to spend even 3 or 5m for him. So his contract ran out. We had one of the most solid defenders in Goldson (remember the 55 season), yet, no-one was willing to pay any reasonable figure for him at the height of his career with us. Even more shocking, all of Europe was swooning over this right-back of ours, scoring 100+ goals and assisting about as many, and no-one was showing up with a reasonable bid. (Maybe they did, but we weren't told ... as unlikely as this is.) Not to speak of Morelos ....

Perhaps we just overestimated the quality that was there? A thousand flies can't be all wrong ...

[Gonzo79 14,931]

7 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

we had one rather well-thought of winger/attacker in Kent, yet no-one was willing to spend even 3 or 5m for him. So his contract ran out. We had one of the most solid defenders in Goldson (remember the 55 season), yet, no-one was willing to pay any reasonable figure for him

Are you sure?