Leverkusen, Slavia Prague, Lyon

Are Leverkusen, Slavia and Lyon vastly superior to Benfica, Porto and Galatsaray?

They may be slightly better but for me those games are all about us. We were flying when we came up against the latter 3 and confidence was high. When we came up against Leverkusen we were well off it and feared the worst. Had we played any of them pre Xmas I would have fancied it, same as Slavia.

Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield are important for the drive in our midfield in these games. We don't pose any sort of attacking creativity without them .

We're used to seeing us start well in Europe under Gerrard but we've been woeful so far. We don't have the balance right at all in this side.
 
3 teams we have lost by 2 goals in Europe.
We obliviously need to improve to compete.
Sakala has shown nothing so far.
Wright is a bit to hasty.
Lundstram not his worst game but is he an improvement?
This is not bashing any player as there was mistakes all over the park tonight.
Bacuna we haven't seen.
Simpson looks like he has a lot to do
Oboforth he has some health issues so a pass.
That's our recruitment in last 2 windows.
I'm not convinced any of them better the team.
We’re they supposed to be better than the team or were they to give us better depth?
 
Think this is our level at the moment without significant investment in the first 11 which would need either CL qualification or selling a few high profile players.

Had a v quick glance and over last 3 years Lyon have spent over 100m in total in transfers in. That has reduced this year to be fair with only c5m spent. They have also brought in millions from sales mind u.

I think malmo fucked us big time. Had we got through to CL we would have invested in the first 11 and you'd have seen our high profile players getting higher values in future windows due to CL participation.

Malmo was and still is a right old boot in the baws!!!!
 
Merely a suggestion on the internet :) don't think he's playing anywhere near his best and hasn't been for a while.. he's great when he's great. Would like to think we are bold enough to rotate / change when we are poor. As simple as that.
Morelos was one of our standout players last night though.
 
Certainly wouldn’t put the racists in the same sentence as Lyon and Leverkusen. They played a team dead on its feet, and used the most underhand, disgusting tactics imaginable to beat us.
 
Leverkusen
Lyon

Benfica
Porto
Slavia

Galatasaray
Braga


That's how I'd rank the teams we played in the last couple of years. Leverkusen and Lyon being a class above the rest. Not much between the Portuguese teams and Slavia.
 
Leverkusen
Lyon

Benfica
Porto
Slavia

Galatasaray
Braga


That's how I'd rank the teams we played in the last couple of years. Leverkusen and Lyon being a class above the rest. Not much between the Portuguese teams and Slavia.
Lyon were not a class above anyone. Bayer yes but let's stop peddling this story that Lyon were outstanding last night. We couldn't get the ball off Bayer at Ibrox, not seen the possessions stats from last night but must have been pretty close
 
I really think some of our support live in an alternate universe, we have a very good team to a certain level, but are exposed a bit when we have to step up a level, Kent, Aribo, Morelos, Kamara, Davis are our better players but none of them are good enough to play for elite teams, to get players who would instantly improve our starting 11 would cost big money and there is no guarantee we could get high value players to come play in our league, we have over achieved the past 2 seasons in Europe this is not the norm so lay of the players and management team they have performed as well as they can, which is all we can ask of them.
 
Lyon were not a class above anyone. Bayer yes but let's stop peddling this story that Lyon were outstanding last night. We couldn't get the ball off Bayer at Ibrox, not seen the possessions stats from last night but must have been pretty close

Nonsense. Lyon are as good as anyone else left in the competition and as others have said, they were in the semi finals of the Champions League just over a year ago.
 
Nonsense. Lyon are as good as anyone else left in the competition and as others have said, they were in the semi finals of the Champions League just over a year ago.
anyone else left? it's only just started and less than half that team started the semi final
 
anyone else left? it's only just started and less than half that team started the semi final

Didn't word that well. Out of the current teams in the Europa League, Lyon are right up there with the likes of Leverkusen, Napoli, Leicester etc.

You can talk them down all you want but their team is littered with guys who play for top international sides like France, Germany, Portugal, Brazil...they've got World Cup winners, Euro winners, Champions League winners.
 
Didn't word that well. Out of the current teams in the Europa League, Lyon are right up there with the likes of Leverkusen, Napoli, Leicester etc.

You can talk them down all you want but their team is littered with guys who play for top international sides like France, Germany, Portugal, Brazil...they've got World Cup winners, Euro winners, Champions League winners.
I'm not talking them down but the way some on here are going on as if they were outstanding last night is cringe. They weren't, we missed a chance. That can't be said about our games with Bayer who completely dominated us
 
I'm not talking them down but the way some on here are going on as if they were outstanding last night is cringe. They weren't, we missed a chance. That can't be said about our games with Bayer who completely dominated us

Lyon are ranked 10 places above Leverkusen in the UEFA Club Coefficient table. The highest ranked side in the Europa League after Napoli (who are 22nd).
 
3 teams we have lost by 2 goals in Europe.
We obliviously need to improve to compete.
Sakala has shown nothing so far.
Wright is a bit to hasty.
Lundstram not his worst game but is he an improvement?
This is not bashing any player as there was mistakes all over the park tonight.
Bacuna we haven't seen.
Simpson looks like he has a lot to do
Oboforth he has some health issues so a pass.
That's our recruitment in last 2 windows.
I'm not convinced any of them better the team.
I would argue Covid has impacted our finances greatly, therefore without a big player sale or champions league football, our hands have been tied somewhat in the recent windows. I was certain we would have lost Morelos or Kamara this summer so although recruitment hasn’t been great I do feel it’s harsh to lay too much criticism due to mitigating circumstances.
 
Unfortunately for us, at this stage, all of these teams are better than us. Sure Rangers is a bigger club but they all have better teams than us and 9 times out of 10 they’ll beat us on the park.

Until we can spend €20m on one player on a semi-regular basis then this will continue.
 
I would argue Covid has impacted our finances greatly, therefore without a big player sale or champions league football, our hands have been tied somewhat in the recent windows. I was certain we would have lost Morelos or Kamara this summer so although recruitment hasn’t been great I do feel it’s harsh to lay too much criticism due to mitigating circumstances.
I think we have been spoiled by how well we have performed in Europe last season.
We are probably currently at our ceiling, it's now a case of how we move on forward.
 
Since Gerrard took over, only Malmo can be considered a shocker.

Just as well some of you guys weren't around in the 90s when we got annually pumped by some pretty poor sides.

Despite having the likes of Goram, Gough, McCoist, Gascoigne, Laudrup to call upon so recruitment isn't the be all and end all.
 
Think, if truth be told, we have been punching above our weight in the UEL in the past couple of years. We also had plenty of poor European campaigns under Walter and Advocaat when we were spending a lot more money than we have now. I don't want to go back to these days of over spending which ultimately took us to 2012.

Anyway we're far from out of it, after just one game, plenty still to play for.
 
3 teams we have lost by 2 goals in Europe.
We obliviously need to improve to compete.
Sakala has shown nothing so far.
Wright is a bit to hasty.
Lundstram not his worst game but is he an improvement?
This is not bashing any player as there was mistakes all over the park tonight.
Bacuna we haven't seen.
Simpson looks like he has a lot to do
Oboforth he has some health issues so a pass.
That's our recruitment in last 2 windows.
I'm not convinced any of them better the team.
If you don’t think Wright brings something to the team you clearly know nothing about football.
 
I think we have been spoiled by how well we have performed in Europe last season.
We are probably currently at our ceiling, it's now a case of how we move on forward.
We can’t forget that Lyon are normally a consistent CL knockout team and we’re right in the french title race until game week 37, Lille and PSG went to the last day. They are a top class side. I would have liked us to have a go for more than 10mins but the idea that we could just press them high up the pitch all game would have been suicide.
 
Success for us in my opinion is either qualifying for CL group stage where we will likely take a pasting or two, or aiming to get out a europa league group. Lyon were a class above us last night although I didnt think we played badly, but that they had that extra bit of quality. Plenty to play for in this group.
 
We can’t forget that Lyon are normally a consistent CL knockout team and we’re right in the french title race until game week 37, Lille and PSG went to the last day. They are a top class side. I would have liked us to have a go for more than 10mins but the idea that we could just press them high up the pitch all game would have been suicide.

Exactly. I've read that we shouldn't have feared them because they finished 4th in the league last season. 4th is only six points behind PSG and seven behind winners Lille. Ligue 1 is a completely different beast these days.
 
Exactly. I've read that we shouldn't have feared them because they finished 4th in the league last season. 4th is only six points behind PSG and seven behind winners Lille. Ligue 1 is a completely different beast these days.
Yawn. Folk Clutching at straws to compensate for the fact we didn't hit full steam last night. The issue is we haven't clicked yet this season, not that Lyon are some footballing powerhouse
 
Yawn. Folk Clutching at straws to compensate for the fact we didn't hit full steam last night. The issue is we haven't clicked yet this season, not that Lyon are some footballing powerhouse

Who said anything about a powerhouse? It's more about highlighting the fact they're a more than decent team who, on another night, we just might have nabbed something from. It's affording respect to Rangers, if anything.
 
Leverkusen
Lyon

Benfica
Porto
Slavia

Galatasaray
Braga


That's how I'd rank the teams we played in the last couple of years. Leverkusen and Lyon being a class above the rest. Not much between the Portuguese teams and Slavia.
I think I’d agree with this, though Porto did well in the CL last season.

The Galatasaray team we played were really poor.
 
All very good teams. All have different qualities and strengths. I would say well beaten by all 3. But, we had really chances in all of these games. If you'd listen to FF some weeks you would forget we are a really good team.

What this shows is at the Europa level, any team is beatable on our day. We've had a slow start this year and it STILL could have been very different against Lyon.

Few injuries now, but hoping we can kick on and get more decisive, less 'safe' in midfield and clinical with any chances we inevitably make.
 
Every year we have improved, sometimes with great strides from the previous year.

This year we have stalled, and it's not unsurprising really.

We were always going to hit a sticky patch with injuries, form dips and bad luck. We certainly have not set the heather on fire, but we are still top of the league and have yet to settle into any sort of rhythm.

This is when we, the fans, have to understand that we have no divine right to win, we have to stay with the team to give them the backing when things don't go our way.
 
The only European sides we've under achieved against since Gerrard took over aren't on the OP list. Malmo and to a lesser extent the mob in the last EL qualifier were piss poor displays.

Losing to the teams in the OP isn't a disgrace with the budget we have. And we've done better in the away ties against the 2 of them we've played, when we've set up to be more solid. Also we've done better against other sides of a similar level - Benfica and Porto. Those teams are all better than us over a long term sample but we have been capable of matching them on any given night.

In all of the games except Leverkusen though it has been fine margins either way. We've neither dominated nor been dominated, and the deciding goals have often been worldies or flukes which just emphasises how easily the games could have gone the other direction.
 
I really think some of our support live in an alternate universe, we have a very good team to a certain level, but are exposed a bit when we have to step up a level, Kent, Aribo, Morelos, Kamara, Davis are our better players but none of them are good enough to play for elite teams, to get players who would instantly improve our starting 11 would cost big money and there is no guarantee we could get high value players to come play in our league, we have over achieved the past 2 seasons in Europe this is not the norm so lay of the players and management team they have performed as well as they can, which is all we can ask of them.
I agree with this. Even with big money to spend, many players just wouldn’t want to play in Scotland. It’s why our academy and development players need to be cleverly sourced and fed into the first team squad. It’s the only model that can work for us. It’s either that or loans, which isn’t the best for us in my opinion
 
2 of those losses were in the last 16 in consecutive seasons. None of our new signings can be judged yet, especially those who haven't even played yet
They are not playing because they are not better than what we have as a first 11
 
All very good teams. All have different qualities and strengths. I would say well beaten by all 3. But, we had really chances in all of these games. If you'd listen to FF some weeks you would forget we are a really good team.

What this shows is at the Europa level, any team is beatable on our day. We've had a slow start this year and it STILL could have been very different against Lyon.

Few injuries now, but hoping we can kick on and get more decisive, less 'safe' in midfield and clinical with any chances we inevitably make.
I don’t think Slavia Prague are a ‘very good’ team.
 
Just how wrong are you on an average daily basis?
Still waiting to see something, thought he was very average other than a tap in, and one good ball turn around. By all accounts he looks a proper Warbs era player. Keen, enthusiastic but not very good. Happy to be proven wrong in the future, but if that's what you think a good player looks like, we'd be struggling going forward.
 
France is a much bigger country with a much better league. Lyon and Leverkusen for that matter are expected to beat us. We would have to really play to the best we possibly could to beat them. We didn't.
 
They had a very good season last year though, similar to us. Pretty sure they went unbeaten in the league.
I think they’re a solid, organised, dirty team with one player who stood out to me - Stanciu.

I wouldn’t hold them in the same regard as Lyon or Leverkusen.

Plus Arsenal gubbed them, so they can’t be that good!
 
We need upgrades in midfield, but since we ain’t got the dough to solve the problem, we’ll just have to see if our players pick up form, as that’s all we can do
 
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