How ready are we for Malmö or HJK ?

I’m having a minor personal meltdown over this pre season and the circumstances around with players either injured banned or not around. We’ve also been miles off it in the games.

hopefully this weekend helps take us a step forward but Morelos needs to come back next week.
 
Angrybluebear said:
That was Malmo’s first Euro campaign in 6 seasons, only their second in 10.

The season before we were drawing with Champions League finalists.

McCoist’s Euro record Played 4 won 0, Drew 2, Lost 2.
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You might be missing my point here.
I’m not sticking up for McCoist here.
I’m trying to point out the difference in our performance level after even just a week and one game and suggesting that the stage of the season we’re at doesn’t have to be a problem.
 
TPP said:
I’m having a minor personal meltdown over this pre season and the circumstances around with players either injured banned or not around. We’ve also been miles off it in the games.

hopefully this weekend helps take us a step forward but Morelos needs to come back next week.
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This is where I’m at too. I’m hoping for a really strong performance this weekend in whatever game the first team starts, one that’s reminiscent of last season’s Rangers and with Kent and Aribo involved too. So far in this pre-season we’ve looked shaky and unsettled and we can’t afford to take that into the first couple of competitive games until we’re back to having a full compliment of bodies available.
 
Madjid Moments said:
McGregor

Tav Goldson Helander Barisic

Lundstram Davis Kamara

Aribo Morelos Kent


Wright, Itten, Arfield, Hagi, Defoe, Bassey, Simpson, Sakala all in reserve.

Edit, Kamara suspended so Arfield in midfield.

Id say we are in a great place.
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Think it’ll be Bassey at LB. Wouldn’t risk Borna unless he’s 100% healthy which is doubtful.
 
Marstonbear said:
We knew these games were coming 6 months ago so I trust the management team to have prepared accordingly
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I have trust in the management team to be properly prepared for this… albeit I am very nervous about these upcoming qualifying matches.

Rangers have done incredibly well in recent years to navigate the Europa qualifiers - hoping that we get the bit of luck needed to go along with good preparation.

From a personal point of view, after the debacle in Malmo a decade ago then I’d love Rangers to put that one right over the next fortnight.
 
Rick_Sanchez said:
The standard is even worse in Finland. The second leg will be tight but can’t see past Malmö qualifying.

We’ll batter whoever gets through regardless.
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Again it’s great to be confident but I don’t think it’s game over already.
We lost to Gothenburg with a team of Albertz, laudrup, gascoigne , etc. We always need to be respectful of Swedish opponents, calling it the ikea league from posters on here just shows some think we will breeze through this game.
 
MarkWalters11 said:
Again it’s great to be confident but I don’t think it’s game over already.
We lost to Gothenburg with a team of Albertz, laudrup, gascoigne , etc. We always need to be respectful of Swedish opponents, calling it the ikea league from posters on here just shows some think we will breeze through this game.
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Memories of coming up against Malmo and Gothenburg at this stage of the season in previous years should sober up folk thinking that it’ll be a canter.
 
Jack and Kamara are big players for us in away games in Europe so to be without both is a blow.

Add in that we are definitely without Roofe and Balogun for the away tie and the concern over the fitness of Kent, Morelos, Sakala, Aribo and Helander then I don't blame folk for being concerned.
 
erskine bear said:
The lack of optimism some have genuinely baffles me.
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I can understand it to a point as it has been far more disorganised than previous pre seasons but when you step back and realise we will have Aribo, Itten, Kent, Hagi, Wright you have to think we will have far too much for either Malmo or Helsinki.
 
Think the tie is comparable to the Legia game a couple of seasons ago. Will be tight , let’s not kid ourselves but under Gerrard in European competition, we have grown as a team that is hard to bt & I expect us to make it through to the play off rd
 
erskine bear said:
The lack of optimism some have genuinely baffles me.
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It’s because of the injuries and suspensions and late returns of some players mate . If we were at full strength there would be a lot more confidence . It’s difficult to shrug off the fact we will almost certainly be without 5 or 6 starters and main players . The rest will hopefully step up to the play
 
Davie2021 said:
It’s because of the injuries and suspensions and late returns of some players mate . If we were at full strength there would be a lot more confidence . It’s difficult to shrug off the fact we will almost certainly be without 5 or 6 starters and main players . The rest will hopefully step up to the play
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Of course mate, but our squad is more than good enough even allowing for that.
 
Ron Swanson said:
Jack and Kamara are big players for us in away games in Europe so to be without both is a blow.

Add in that we are definitely without Roofe and Balogun for the away tie and the concern over the fitness of Kent, Morelos, Sakala, Aribo and Helander then I don't blame folk for being concerned.
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Good point about Jack and Kamara but hopefully Lundstram can do similar.
 
Malmo slightly the better side at half time but they dont look any great shakes on this showing. Even with our suspensions or players missing hopefully we will be good enough to progress to the PO round.
 
MarkWalters11 said:
Again it’s great to be confident but I don’t think it’s game over already.
We lost to Gothenburg with a team of Albertz, laudrup, gascoigne , etc. We always need to be respectful of Swedish opponents, calling it the ikea league from posters on here just shows some think we will breeze through this game.
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The management team and the players will be respectful to Malmo, which means we will breeze through.

So people thinking that we will are correct to do so, IMO.
 
we'll soon see how ready we actually are, going by the pre season showings so far, is a bit worrying however pre season is all about fitness and tactics to see what will work and what wont work, what we do on that day is all that matters.
 
Rick_Sanchez said:
The team Malmö are playing are near the bottom of the league. Apparently weaker than the team that conceded 5 to the sheep.
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This will still bring the panic merchants out

Wonder if there's panic merchants on the Malmo forum who will poo their pants when we beat Livi 3 or 4 nil?
 
Finished 2-0 Malmo. They were comfortably the bettee team second half but they werent great.

Will watch their game onTuesday v HJK to see if they perform any better but not impressed today.
 
Most unprepared we have been for a few years. Not one of our strongest front 3 has kicked a ball and neither have 2 out of the defence. It’s a bit of a shambles to be honest, and slightly concerned as Malmö should be in better condition In terms of match fitness.
 
Is it a rite of passage for a Rangers manager to have an absolutely embarrassing European failure.

Sorry, but as Jackie McNamarra would have said they aren’t even a good team.

We sh@t the bed against ten men.

45 minutes, even another 30 on top of that to score against ten men and keep a clean sheet. That was all that was needed.

I think we just need accept where we are, spending money (sorry spent) chasing a rainbow and it appears we are back where we started. We are at a push a last 16 Europa League team.
 
Itsjoeariboooooooo said:
Fucking bonkers to think that some believe after 3 seasons we are now going to be non prepared for our biggest matches in a decade...embarrassing lack of faith in our manager and team.. makes me fear for some greeting faced tits returning to Ibrox
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Must admit I made the same mistake. Can't believe how poorly prepared we were for our biggest gamese if the season.
 
My foreboding proved to be correct.

From two important players lost to the Slavia fiasco to the worst pre season we have had our fitness was lacking, plus players unavailable for the first leg it did not help.

That and underestimating Malmö who proved for me, taking into account the factors above, they are a very efficient side.

When the draw was made there were far too many on here who were Uber confident, far far too many when the evidence of our own teams performances did not merit it.
 
The Goal Machine said:
My foreboding proved to be correct.

From two important players lost to the Slavia fiasco to the worst pre season we have had our fitness was lacking, plus players unavailable for the first leg it did not help.

That and underestimating Malmö who proved for me, taking into account the factors above, they are a very efficient side.

When the draw was made there were far too many on here who were Uber confident, far far too many when the evidence of our own teams performances did not merit it.
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Not having a go at the posters themselves, as they had no idea of the disaster to come, but a couple of posts eerily foreshadowed tonight.

One pointed out Malmo had barely scraped by a team who had a man sent off in the first half in a previous round, as if that was a sign of their weakness. Another mentioned Malmo scoring two goals in three minutes against HJK. If only we knew ...
 
KensingtonBlue said:
We will wipe the floor with them.

Scandinavian teams are generally garbage, look at the state of the Danes the other night up against a makeshift shambles of a Celtic side. The only advantage they have is more games under their belt but over two legs our quality will see us through.
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We were a shambles and certainly didn’t deserve to go through. I think the last 2 weeks has been a reality check for many fans. We are not good enough for CL yet.
 
MarkWalters11 said:
We were a shambles and certainly didn’t deserve to go through. I think the last 2 weeks has been a reality check for many fans. We are not good enough for CL yet.
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Yeah, fully admit I was wrong about this team. The drop off in intensity from last season is getting worrying now.

Malmo are a poor side and we should have dispatched with them easy. But then so are Dundee United. Something is not right, whether there are some players that are looking for moves, or if it's a kind of 'second season syndrome' where teams have figured us out, I'm not sure. But we need to get it addressed asap.
 
Oh well. Whilst I thought Malmö would be a tough tie, I still felt we would have enough.

How wrong. Some people were expecting us to hammer Malmö.
 
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