Europa League last 16- Rangers

Loud and proud said:
I'm more interested in Sundays game than this one if I'm honest, by Thursday I'll probably be buzzing convinced we can beat the Germans 3-0 right enough.
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Don’t be too worried about Sunday’s game - it will be postponed to allow us to play on Monday over in Germany :p:D
 
4-2 would take us through. Hopefully an open game with us taking our chances and McGregor having one of those nights he repels everything aimed at him.

I suspect though the Germans will approach this with their usual professionalism & efficiency and win 2 - 0.
 
hammer17 said:
Win the game and we win 550k

progressing is too much of a ask tbh, but the cash is a massive incentive
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This.

Treat the game in isolation. If we score 3+ and go through, that's fantastic. If we win on the night but go out on aggregate, no shame in that.

The objective this season is to win the league. I would even take failing to qualify for the 2020/21 EL group stage if it guaranteed us the league title.
 
Rt. Hon. Bearman said:
This.

Treat the game in isolation. If we score 3+ and go through, that's fantastic. If we win on the night but go out on aggregate, no shame in that.

The objective this season is to win the league. I would even take failing to qualify for the 2020/21 EL group stage if it guaranteed us the league title.
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Flip side to that is not making the group stage will affect our transfer budget and make it more difficult. Would be better to make sure we reach the groups and afford s squad capable of playing the extra games.

By January the last two seasons some players had almost played a season worth of games. Add in injuries and suspensions it's pretty easy to see why we fall away later in the year.
 
It’s a free hit I suppose.

Even if they give a good account of themselves they can take that confidence forward into the season, be it a narrow defeat, draw or narrow win. Win by 3 and it’s one of the great results in our history.
 
Dotty_84 said:
They'll be looking for an ealry goal to kill the tie for definite, we are tremendous at countering, anything can happen..
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It's unlikely but play as we did in Portugal and there's every chance we get an early goal. If we took our chances in Braga it could have been easily 3-0 at half-time.
 
StirlingBear said:
Flip side to that is not making the group stage will affect our transfer budget and make it more difficult. Would be better to make sure we reach the groups and afford s squad capable of playing the extra games.

By January the last two seasons some players had almost played a season worth of games. Add in injuries and suspensions it's pretty easy to see why we fall away later in the year.
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I honestly feel we've got the squad already. We had the squad last year and the year before too. We went and beat the Mhanks at their ground last December - the most difficult fixture for us in the league. So we've got the players. What cost us was our psychology in the second half of each season.

My feeling is that some of our players prioritised the EL nights and so the league matches against the diddy teams had a bit of a "after the Lord Mayor's show" feel about them. This led to less than 100% effort, complacency and dropped points.

Going out in the EL qualifiers would hurt - and for the record I hope it doesn't happen obviously - but I do think the silver lining would be that the squad would then be 100% committed to the league campaign. The likes of Kilmarnock and Hibs away live on television takes on a new importance with the lack of EL football.
 
the_ref said:
Not quite sure how much it was poor form. I thought they were an excellent side. Too fast and accurate for us, albeit without carrying a lot of goal threat in the first half. But thought they were a huge jump up from Braga.
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They were good but probably on a par with Porto. We turned up with a league performance rather than one of our excellent Euro showings.
 
gersandproud said:
Scoring 3 without conceding away in Europe is not exactly common for most teams - even ones with a lot more in their armoury than us

But we have to give it a go & we all know stranger results can happen-

We're firmly in the underdog category - that can easily work in our favour if we're smart -

Of course the longer we go without conceding- the more chance we have & we need to keep any psychological pressure on them as long as possible

I'm not confident in pulling this off - but I won't give up hope till it's all over
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We don't need 3 without conceding.

3-1 then beat them on penalties.
 
I think winning by 3 goals is a tall order but firmly believe we will beat them.

I`ve just bet us at 17/4 and think that`s a great price.
 
I'm well up for this. It's a free hit, and an early goal would really shake it up!
 
HamiltonJungleBear said:
Aye right. The SPFL will have us flying back and forward daily then send us into quarantine before making us play the outstanding league games in the one week in the name of sporting integrity even if we win the Europa League. I doubt that the Scottish Government would even permit us to bring the cup back to Scotland.
Or am I just paranoid? It’s a conspiracy I tell you!!!
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probably make us forfeit games for being unable to maintain their tight scheduling requirements and use lack of free midweek Slots as an excuse
 
I wouldn't fancy any of the top EPL teams to win by 3 in leverkusen to progress so for me it's a free hit we just drew a superior team it happens. We really needed to go there 1 up or 0v0
 
No matter what happens on Thursday, we have improved in Europe for the 2nd year running.

1st year we put ourselves firmly back on the European scene and 19/20 season we have improved on that. I am immensely proud of that as I was not expecting it.
 
Rt. Hon. Bearman said:
I honestly feel we've got the squad already. We had the squad last year and the year before too. We went and beat the Mhanks at their ground last December - the most difficult fixture for us in the league. So we've got the players. What cost us was our psychology in the second half of each season.

My feeling is that some of our players prioritised the EL nights and so the league matches against the diddy teams had a bit of a "after the Lord Mayor's show" feel about them. This led to less than 100% effort, complacency and dropped points.

Going out in the EL qualifiers would hurt - and for the record I hope it doesn't happen obviously - but I do think the silver lining would be that the squad would then be 100% committed to the league campaign. The likes of Kilmarnock and Hibs away live on television takes on a new importance with the lack of EL football.
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We don't have the squad for it first 11 yes but that can still be improved but squad wise we don't have a bench or game changers the drop of from our first 11-13 players is to much
 
Leverkusen were one of the better teams when football returned to Germany recently. However, they fell away as they got closer to the end of the season. They needed points, so it wasn't a case of being unmotivated. Hopefully that poor form continues this week.
Havertz being away would be a big plus for us. If he plays, I don't see us winning, never mind progressing.
 
602-Squadron said:
You keep believing that the germans wont be prepared then. To be honest, we have only played one game, no matter how you look at it, they were kick abouts.
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Have you never had a lay off from playing football? Why do you think teams play friendlies? Match practice gets you match fit. It’s always been that way, not even the biggest stereotype of Germans can ignore match practice. It’s what gets you from fit to match ready.
I will keep believing,
 
Anyone heading over to Leverkusen? Had a look at flights today but had to come back via Palma Majorca. Can’t take the time off work to self isolate when I get back.
 
TQ3 said:
Have you never had a lay off from playing football? Why do you think teams play friendlies? Match practice gets you match fit. It’s always been that way, not even the biggest stereotype of Germans can ignore match practice. It’s what gets you from fit to match ready.
I will keep believing,
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I'm not asking you not to believe, as anything's possible. It's just through years of being led to believe german teams, be it either club or national wont be prepared or arent as good as they were, it usually turns out 99/100 they're always ready.

That's not a stereotype, it's a fact of the way they do things. I would put my landlords house on it, that they have been preparing for this.
 
bobally said:
It might be just me but the lack of excitement about Thursday's game is weird. We are in the last 16. An outside chance to progress to quarter finals. Rangers name all across Europe in terms of tv coverage(counted 40+channels showing us). Biggest game in years coming up IMO.

Are we playing it under the radar.
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It is just a pity we are 3-1 down after the home leg.

Can't get excited, as long as we don't get a thumping see it as another 90 mins under our belts towards full match fitness. But then I can dream.........
 
I'll admit to having had a fantasy of us winning 3-0 over there (well, time has been plentiful for the mind to wander), but I reckon we'll do well to draw.

Still, once the whistle blows, the battle-fever will kick in, WE ARE RANGERS, after all :))
 
we were outclassed at home and the third goal I think has killed the tie........cant remember too many teams conceding 3 at home then going on to go through , however, that doesn't stop the thoughts coming in to your head....you know, it is slightly different to a normal return leg this game..... .......no crowd.....German season over/ not started yet.....an early goal and who knows what can happen.....
 
The third goal likely killed it but given how well we've done this pre-season I'll be optimistic come kick off!
 
I reckon we have a good chance of winning the match .
I don't however see us scoring three.

But I will reserve the right to change my mind rapidly if we start well and score 1st.
 
That 3rd goal has the odds massively stacked against. If we go through it’ll be a bigger comeback then Braga.
 
bobally said:
It might be just me but the lack of excitement about Thursday's game is weird. We are in the last 16. An outside chance to progress to quarter finals. Rangers name all across Europe in terms of tv coverage(counted 40+channels showing us). Biggest game in years coming up IMO.

Are we playing it under the radar.
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I've thought about nothing else. We go through
 
CrunchBear said:
It's a very tall order as they are a good side. But their last game was a month ago, they've only played intra squad friendlies since and we should be a little sharper.

You look at a few of the great comebacks in Europe in recent years, they all went in believing they could do it. We get an early goal, who knows.
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Theyre pish
 
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