Probably the toughest group we've ever had in the CL.?

rock lobster said:
I genuinely don't think the support realise what we're up against in this group section.?

Just going after the Manager and the team is daft.
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Totally agree it’s a tough group. From Makay virtually riding Thiago in the tunnel pre match to Gio grinning from ear to ear when cuddling Klopp after the game tells me of their ambition.

Happy to be here sir, can I shine your shoes sir?

The game starts nil nil. Our tactics, selection, press conference etc. gave them a two nil start
 
The People said:
Did we not have two wins and a draw after the first three games that year .

we should have qualified
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No m8, that was 07/08 in the Lyon and Barcelona group.

In the 99/00 Bayern group we lost v Valencia away 0-2, drew with Bayern 1-1 and beat PSV 4-1 in our first 3 matches.
 
Spot on.

We have really punched above our weight in Europe over the last 4 seasons but the bottom line is that we are a Europa League team. The filth included, but they got a bit of fortune drawing Shaktar.

We were getting the group we have or a group with Bayern, Barca and Inter.

The CL games are free hits if you like but just think how the diddy clubs feel coming to Ibrox in th SPFL. At CL level now, we are Killie, St Mirren or Livi trying not to get humiliated.
 
It is but the guts of this team was in the EL final less than six months ago. This isn't a bunch of novices or wee boys we've got here.

The lack of belief, the lack of fight, the lack of hunger is startling. We can get beat, but constantly giving the ball away, constantly being caught in possession, constantly making it hard for ourselves ? This 4 years has taught us nothing then.
 
daven37 said:
I'd totally disagree with you.

With the exception of possibly Bayern, Liverpool and Napoli are better than all those teams.
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If Napoli get to two CL finals in a row you might have a point. And I'll remind you that Barcelona team included Messi, Henry and Ronaldinho and the Lyon team that win 7 Ligue 1 titles in a row with Benzema making his breakthrough.
 
Said it in the other thread

At this point we should just go balls to wall for 3rd at remaining games at Ibrox and try get 4 points minimum

And hope Napoli and Liverpool batter Ajax

Easier said than done of course

But setting up to not sit back yet not attack is getting us nowhere
 
2nd toughest but it's a close one

Toughest group was Bayern, Valencia and PSV 99/00.

Bayern were incredible, finalists the year before, would go on to win it. Valencia the same, finalists that season and PSV had the likes of Van Nistelrooy, cocu, van bommel.

But what a team we had!
 
Ferrybear73 said:
No m8, that was 07/08 in the Lyon and Barcelona group.

In the 99/00 Bayern group we lost v Valencia away 0-2, drew with Bayern 1-1 and beat PSV 4-1 in our first 3 matches.
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My old memory lol

Did we beat PSV in the fourth game to go to 7 points and joint top
 
EK1422 said:
If any of the 3 teams put in a 7/10 performance on the night against us then they win, regardless of what we do.

We’re a Europa league team who has lost 2 of its best players up against established Champions League quality. This outcome might be difficult to watch unfold but it’s hardly surprising at all.
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Excellent post mate. The harsh reality that some seem unable to accept
 
Napoli has surprised me and are doing great but we made Ajax look better that what they are with 0 effort against them
 
NegrisLob said:
Lost first, drew second, then back to backs against psv.

Should've qualified, but still the hardest group in terms of overall quality
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Definitely was mate

I was over in Munich for the Bayern game and I know it sounds silly when we lost but that was one of the best displays I've seen Rangers away in Europe that night ,how we never scored is beyond me
 
DutchVanDerLinde said:
If Napoli get to two CL finals in a row you might have a point. And I'll remind you that Barcelona team included Messi, Henry and Ronaldinho and the Lyon team that win 7 Ligue 1 titles in a row with Benzema making his breakthrough.
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Sorry mate, I've misunderstood your post - I thought you were talking about those teams in 2022.

In that case I'd say it is close on the 2007/08 group, but not the other one.
 
rock lobster said:
I genuinely don't think the support realise what we're up against in this group section.?

Just going after the Manager and the team is daft.
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If we came across any these opponents in Europa league stages I would be saying it would be amazing result to get through!!
Easy to say tactics wrong and players no belief but these teams are next level
 
A few other replies have nailed this. Yeah, it is a difficult group but, tonight and the ajax game we have set up too cautious and invited the opposition to attack us at will. It's difficult to judge where we are as a team, when we just defend like f**k and hope for a wee break and rely on our keeper to keep them out. Would rather get beat having a go than getting beat by hoping not to. Where we are is down to Gio.
 
As said above, Bayern and Valencia in 99/00 was our toughest group, Bayern had been finalists the previous year and would go on to win it in 2001, indeed against Valencia who would reach back to back Finals in 2000 and 2001.

PSV were not half bad either, with a lot of players who would go on and make the core of the Dutch National team.

But this one is certainly up there, Napoli have made an outstanding start to this campaign.
 
daven37 said:
Sorry mate, I've misunderstood your post - I thought you were talking about those teams in 2022.

In that case I'd probably agree on the 2007/08 group but not the other one.
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Valencia got to the final that year, same with Bayern year before and then they won it the season after. We were a great team and extremely unlucky, but that was a bastard of a group. Add in the fact we drew and put out UEFA cup winners Parma!!!
 
The People said:
Definitely was mate

I was over in Munich for the Bayern game and I know it sounds silly when we lost but that was one of the best displays I've seen Rangers away in Europe that night ,how we never scored is beyond me
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Absolutely, tremendous in all games that year bar Valencia, but they were different gravy.

Both Bayern games were a travesty, the first for that non freekick and the second for the reasons you mention plus mols. Heartbreaking.
 
DutchVanDerLinde said:
No. It is an extremely hard group, but I'd say Bayern/Valencia/PSV and Lyon/Stuttgart/Barcelona (all champions) were harder.
Where this is harder, is that we aren't as good as those previous teams of ours .
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Don’t agree with that - as having one beatable team in a group for us makes it an easier group to get third. Our group has 3 teams better than PSV - and 3 better than Stuttgart. That’s where the tims have won a watch with Shaktar giving them a chance of 3rd.
 
I think this is the hardest group we have had. However our selection was wrong tonight. Tillman can't play that position. He also needs to work harder. The subs did well . Not saying we will win but will give them a game.
 
It's the Champions League. But our approach to our 3 games has reflected Gio's "We can't compete" mentality.
Greegs saved us from a real tanking.
 
Bigbluebear said:
Yep it is

See if Pedro managed to beat progress all those years ago, we would likely have been pot 3 and then rather than Napoli we could have had somebody like Copenhagen or Plzen for example.

In saying that, we still have a shot at 3rd if we can get a point next 2 matches, as Ajax likely lose both their games, making the final match a shootout for 3rd.
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Fucking Pedro lol

Bed
 
The People said:
Definitely was mate

I was over in Munich for the Bayern game and I know it sounds silly when we lost but that was one of the best displays I've seen Rangers away in Europe that night ,how we never scored is beyond me
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Was there that night and we were so unlucky. We hit the woodwork a few times. However we could buy top quality players then . That's well out our range now.
 
NegrisLob said:
Absolutely, tremendous in all games that year bar Valencia, but they were different gravy.

Both Bayern games were a travesty, the first for that non freekick and the second for the reasons you mention plus mols. Heartbreaking.
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as you said mate ,Valencia were a cut above and schooled us that year

The Aberdeen of Spain they were according to the Scottish media when the draw was made .
 
rock lobster said:
I genuinely don't think the support realise what we're up against in this group section.?

Just going after the Manager and the team is daft.
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Nah, it's FF.

We only lose cause players "shat it" or have the "heart of a mouse".

It's never cause we're up against superior teams.

It's almost on the verge of becoming our own self loathing version of 'always cheated, never defeated. Since 18BB'
 
rock lobster said:
I genuinely don't think the support realise what we're up against in this group section.?

Just going after the Manager and the team is daft.
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Absolutely, better Rangers teams c/w "legends" have been humiliated by worse teams.
I've said before the CL for the most part, has been absolutely horrible for us (and the crash barriers, just for any lurkers!) Being thrown into a Group like this has just made it worse.
Shit you have to do for money!
 
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The Moon on Mars is Blue said:
Was there that night and we were so unlucky. We hit the woodwork a few times. However we could buy top quality players then . That's well out our range now.
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And we had a very very good coach who was tactically aware.But agree the quality we have is nowhere near nowadays sadly .

It was a brilliant trip through and the support we took was incredible ,I always mind thinking that the stadium was an absolute dive for a club like bayern.
 
Our Pot 3 team are pumping everyone

Our Pot 2 team were in the CL final last year

We could have had a tougher Pot 1 team, other than that it really is difficult to say how we could have had it any tougher.

Odd team selections along with losing Aribo and Bassey have made this an impossible task.
 
CLMG said:
Fucking Pedro lol

Bed
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We were less than 3 points off of being in Pot 3, so it's a true story. Pedro's progress year still impacts our coefficient.


You saying that getting Plzen, Copenhagen, Haifa, or even Marseille wouldn't have been .Kreme favourable than Napoli who were the pot 3 side?


Forget about Pedro, even if Gerrard managed to turn a couple of the draws into wins, like the two Benfica games we threw away a win, we would have been pot 3 in the CL this year

Or we win the shootout last year we would have even Pot1

Small margins having huge consequence. Happens loads in football. This another example of it.
 
Bigbluebear said:
We were less than 3 points off of being in Pot 3, so it's a true story. Pedro's progress year still impacts our coefficient.


You saying that getting Plzen, Copenhagen, Haifa, or even Marseille wouldn't have been .Kreme favourable than Napoli who were the pot 3 side?


Forget about Pedro, even if Gerrard managed to turn a couple of the draws into wins, like the two Benfica games we threw away a win, we would have been pot 3 in the CL this year

Or we win the shootout last year we would have even Pot1

Small margins having huge consequence. Happens loads in football. This another example of it.
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My response ends at you mentioning Pedro.

Goodnight
 
Super_Rangers72 said:
I

It is….but you still need a bit of fight.
They’ve got better players and should beat us, fair enough. But at least a bit of dig in the performance…dont let them stroll about which is pretty much what happened.
Gio’s a nice guy and I wanted him to do well, but I think his far too passive character rubs off on the team.
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Isn't this exactly what we complain about spfl jobber teams doing?

Not as good, so just fucking smash some lady's front bottom and that'll show we care.

See if they weren't trying? Liverpool would have run up a cricket score.
 
Two of the best teams on the continent right now and Liverpool. When the draw was made I thought instantly, a decent campaign would be two points in this group.

This is not the CL of old. We have never been on the wrong end of a financial/player gulf as big as this.
 
It’s really not, we were also in a European final a few months ago, we have went from that to this.
 
rock lobster said:
The winner and runner-up from our group section could easily be competing in the semi-finals of this season's Champions League. We're nowhere near that level. Some fans just don't want or can't face reality.
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I would have more sympathy if we were previously regulars at international level and the modern performances were a pale imitation of how things were pre-admin but they aren't. I don't think our fans have a great grasp of our place in football's pecking order, despite the many, many positives and things we do overperform on as a club.
 
CLMG said:
My response ends at you mentioning Pedro.

Goodnight
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Are you incapable of digesting information or something?

We have no points for that year and it counted in our total for the seeding this season, which was very close to being pot3.
 
Johnny Yen said:
It’s really not, we were also in a European final a few months ago, we have went from that to this.
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The difference between that level and this level is pronounced. Most teams who are in the former have failed to better the teams in the latter over the course of a season, or have failed in the Champions League and dropped into the Europa League as 3rd place losers. It's a massive, massive gap and the reason most of us don't care who wins the Europa League every year we aren't in it.
 
The People said:
And we had a very very good coach who was tactically aware.But agree the quality we have is nowhere near nowadays sadly .

It was a brilliant trip through and the support we took was incredible ,I always mind thinking that the stadium was an absolute dive for a club like bayern.
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It was the old Olympic Stadium and was good to have been there. The new stadium is supposed to be something else
 
Total cop out

Like after matchday 1 people on here started telling us Ajax would be CL contenders

Turns out they’re dogshit and we made them look like Brazil

Yes the standard is strong in the CL but we should be competing 10x better than we are
 
Top quality group. Right good footballing teams. We are clearly going to be up against it from the moment the draw was made. Low expectations for qualification even for EL but the manner in which we have failed to turn up is embarrassing. Zero points and zero goal sis one thing but how you get there is another.
 
The Moon on Mars is Blue said:
It was the old Olympic Stadium and was good to have been there. The new stadium is supposed to be something else
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Its definitely one I'd like to visit ,it looks incredible.
Have to say I've been to loads of European away games ,but the German ones are the best they are just so organized and really cater to traveling fans .
 
The People said:
Did we not have two wins and a draw after the first three games that year .

we should have qualified
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We lost home and away against Valencia that year - Mendieta strolled it. We came within a minute or two of qualifying - if that Tarnat freekick hadn't taken a deflection past Charbonnier at Ibrox after Albertz gave us the lead. Such a gutting season - lost Mols to injury and then papped out of Uefa Cup by Dortmund on pens.
 
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