How ready are we for Malmö or HJK ?

I've not been impressed at all with what I've seen so far. They look well of the mark. No creativity in the middle and unable to create chances. Certain players missing is a head scratcher. I get some players may have had extended leave or niggling injuries but this is the bread and butter. This season is massive. We won the league, can we continue winning. My biggest fear is that last season was so massive for a team where the vast majority win their first medal they can't come back down and do it all again. I hope I'm completely wrong on all of this
My biggest fear is we don't go unbeaten again
 
Your realism is excessive pessimism to others.

There's quite a few on here I'm not sure ever actually get to enjoy being a Rangers fan
Nearly reported my own post there. But considering I made the cardinal sin of confusing your with you're it would have been justified! 5 days in the clink.
 
As this tie gets nearer and nearer we have a few problems with the squad that worries me.

Kamara and Roofe banned.

Morelos not back in the country and others, transfer speculation that won’t go away not just with him but also with a few of our squad. A couple of players still to agree extensions. Ryan Kent, a very important player especially in Europe, has hardly been seen so far.

This tie will not be as easy as people think especially with these teams twelve or more games into their season.

Compare last pre season with this one and it seems night and day. This tie is mega important for us.

I just think things could have been a lot smoother for us and could have an adverse effect on the tie.
We have to live with & cope with this. Unless we (and others)improve the coefficient.
 
No we don't. What utter drivel.
It’s utter drivel to suggest that a pool of Davis, Lundstram and Arfield might not be enough over two legs? What if one of them gets sent off or injured? Those are the only players that are definitely available as of now.

Think before you speak.
 
We also have to remember that with covid transmission out of control, it would be no surprise to have a player or 2 missing at some point.
Getting through this round will not be easy.
 
I’ve lost count of the number of seasons we had great pre-seasons then fell flat or poor pre-seasons and started great.
The manager isn’t panicking so let’s trust him as he knows where the squad is better than us.
 
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.
Good to see we dont all resemble this guy on here

Gill.jpg
 
Under McCoist training methods hadn't changed in 30 years despite the calibre of player in relative terms decreasing and the rest of the world advancing 30 years. Also throw in the training 30 years ago leading to one decent European campaign in about 10 forgive me if I don't intend to judge our current squad and management against McCoist and his utter amateur hour tenure.
You’re post actually supports my point.
 
You’re post actually supports my point.
Yes it was just a general point for anyone mentioning we got beat off of them 10 years ago and why it would little to zero relevancy. Our management are organised, good and will know exactly what they're going up against and I'm sure will tweak the system in response to it. Any ideas of complacency and not being ready are hopefully just the usual histrionics.
 
It’s utter drivel to suggest that a pool of Davis, Lundstram and Arfield might not be enough over two legs? What if one of them gets sent off or injured? Those are the only players that are definitely available as of now.

Think before you speak.

Aribo will play in the midfield 3. Will be Davis, Lundstrum and Aribo.
 
Any encounter at the beginning of the season can have its own problems.
One against a Swedish side well into their league campaign must by the circumstances be one we have to be wary about.
I predict two tight encounters from which we should emerge, but not without some difficulties.

If we were to come through the ties easily, then I will be pleasantly surprised.
 
It’s probably a slight concern but really not a lot else we can do at this point.

Can’t wait till everyone is back and match fit.
I'm sure Stevie will have them ready alright. How long does it take player to get back up to match sharpness,given Alfie and Borna haven't really played many minutes for their National teams but they would've been training. I'm quite sure the gaffer knows what he's doing and I think we'll have enough to see off either of those teams, especially now we'll have a full house. That's got to make a huge difference.
 
Suspension and lack of fitness in the squad are a slight concern for me also.


Your first concern we knew about anyway, the fitness angle is the issue.

Glen & kemar are in the euro squad no danger, its getn up to speed to mstch the fitter opponents.
 
Memories of going out to Levski Sofia after having one of the most memorable seasons in our history is enough to make me worry about this upcoming tie
 
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Good to hear.

The main area of concern for me is up front. Roofe and Defoe both injured, Alfie still in Columbia and will need time to get back up to speed when he does arrive.

Hopefully big Cedric can continue his good pre season form and kick on.
Itten is a good striker, he's still young and has developing to do but I'd already say he's better than anything HJK or Malmo have uptop.
 
How long do we have before we have to register our squad?

Would we still be able to register a new signing before the deadline.
 
I'd be lying if I said I was 100% comfortable with where we seem to be at this point in pre season but a decent performance from the strongest team we put out at the weekend and that'll be out the window.

Player availability for the qualifiers is a bit of a worry but assuming Kent and Aribo make the games, it's only really the CF position that bothers me. Huge chance for Itten and to be fair, he showed up well against a half decent Lech Poznan when thrown in last season so i'm not unduly concerned.
 
I remember the same apprehension before we faced that Danish mob the tims played the other night.
Turned out ok for us.
It's good to be nervous. Keeps us on our toes.
 
Having the qualifiers the last couple of years has actually helped us build up to a good level with competitive football. I think we are further behind this season due to the number of international players away and fewer qualifiers but we should be at a good enough level to beat Malmö / HJK and believe we will. We have a good squad, we can beat those teams without Kamara, Roofe and Balogun but will obviously need to find a better level for the playoff round. Our management team are so focused and professional that I can’t see us not being ready.
 
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
The negativity and panty wetting is suffocating on here at times. Show your opponents respect, by all means yes. But we're playing Malmo or fecking HJK, not Barcelona or PSG.
 
I trust our coaching staff. They’ll have us ready for it.

I actually think being with Colombia might be a good thing for Alfie. He shouldn’t need much work to get up to speed when he starts back.
 
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If the forth best team in scotland can put 5 past the third best team in Sweden then the best team in scotland are pumping Malmo.... Or Helsinki :D
 
The 2 suspensions don’t leave us much leeway. We need everyone back and firing on all cylinders.

I don’t like the fact away goals have been scrapped either. It’s worked to our favour in recent years
 
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
I’ve not missed that part of going to Ibrox.Sadly, we have a sizeable minority who love nothing better than getting on the players back .
 
I'm a bit worried about this disjointed pre season, the one down side about having good players is them coming back late. Good thing is though they should be in relativity good shape as they will have been training on international duty at least.

Injuries to Jack and Kent are a bigger concern.

But we should be fine for the qualifier. We are a hard team to beat with any personal due to having a style of play.
 
Thread is like a mini match thread. This group of players went unbeaten last season, they were guided by this management team, who have navigated every European qualification asked of them - let's show them a little trust, I'm sure they've earned at least that.
 
When we played Malmö under McCoist we lost the first game, at Ibrox, 0-1 and were poor.
In the second leg, we had improved considerably from that performance and I’m fairly certain we’d have beaten them had Whittaker not been sent off.
I’m putting this out because I don’t believe the position we, or they, are in, in terms of how far through the season each club is, will have a major effect.
It might but it didn’t last time!

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.
 
Under McCoist training methods hadn't changed in 30 years despite the calibre of player in relative terms decreasing and the rest of the world advancing 30 years. Also throw in the training 30 years ago leading to one decent European campaign in about 10 forgive me if I don't intend to judge our current squad and management against McCoist and his utter amateur hour tenure.
Exactly mccoists level of tactical detail was to shout come on lads from the sidelines

we will deal with whoever we get in a professional manner
 
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.
Gerrard has never lost a qualifying game

we have beaten some of the best teams about Porto for example

mccoist would have us beaten 4s and 5s v teams like that
 
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