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

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.
Yes the difference is noticeable, doesn’t stop teams who you wouldn’t normally class as CL standard, picking up points though, Brugge, Salzburg, Copenhagen, Dinamo Zagreb etc all picking up points.
 
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.
C'mon A blind man can see the players have lost belief in him, look at amsterdam tillman out wide, we need pace and puts davis in there
 
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.
We might complain …they’re just playing to their strengths.
Don’t need to ‘smash’ them…but put in some hard tackles.
You’re not going to get anywhere in football without a bit of ‘dig’…and I don’t see that just now.
Sadly think Gio is maybe a bit ‘too nice’ to be a top manager.
 
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.
Agree , said earlier Valencia were exceptional that year and taught us a football lesson

If my old memory serves me ,did we not score an incredible goal against Dortmund at Ibrox that year was something like 30 odd passes in a row ?
 
Could have been in a group of actual champions. Because we are shit does not mean the group is great.
Put it this way. No one from our group will.make the last 4.
 
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

Nah. Our teams in those campaigns were better. We are weaker from last season, that's why we can't compete, or even score so far, in this group. We did better in those, imo, tougher groups because we were better equipped. That's not an attack on the board or whatever, just that if we're all about hypotheticals right now, I'd wager we'd have more points and goals so far if we still had Bassey and Aribo.
The group was hard, not strengthening has made it impossible.
 
Yes, because of the growing gap between us and the contenders. If we had drawn that group ten years ago we would have had a chance of 2nd or 3rd. Now? No chance.
 
When it was this group or the group with Inter/Barca/Bayern I just thought "%^*& sake, thanks for the TV money lads. At best we get a win at home and a couple of draws to sneak into the Europa"

At first I thought Napoli, but when I realised they'd signed Raspadori it was curtains for those games. Ajax were always going to be trouble with Bassey upping his game and Liverpool, despite being a spent force on the way down, are still a team with 4 European finals under their manager.
 
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.
No, they will beat us on head to head, even if we win.
We aren't overturning a 4 nil defeat.
We actually have to nick a point from Liverpool at Ibrox or Napoli in Italy and hope they also lose their next two games.
 
Even one lesser team in this group section would have given us a chance of some points, but Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax is brutal. As always, football can throw up some strange results, and we might pick up a point or two in the remaining games, but we were always going to be under the cosh in this group.
 
I don't accept this as an excuse at all. Napoli, maybe was a stinker. They are flying. Yet we gave them a solid 65 minutes until a the red card. But Ajax aren't a lot better than PSV, if at all. Liverpool aren't pulling up any trees this season. Fulham, Palace and Brighton have had results against them.The problem is the way we've approached the two away games.
 
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
Ajax lost 6:1
I bet their fan base is more civilised and switched on with where they need to be
 
It's a very tough group , no one has asked us to qualify, all we have asked is for us to turn up and TRY and compete, we have been rank rotten and its been embarrassing watching us trying to compete
 
Said it when the draw was made.

Killed a lot of the enjoyment of qualifying.

Brutal group.
There’s no question about it. We got the glamor group and with that you get difficult games, very difficult games. You could argue we have the best team in Europe right now in our group.
 
Still say it’s coming down to the last game against Ajax to get in the Europa .
Hope so. We need to pick up at least a point against Liverpool or Napoli tho and hope Ajax lose to both, cos we ain't beating them on the head to head.
 
PSV are in a EL group with Arsenal, Zurich and Bodo Glimt. In retrospect, would we have been better (or would supporters have preferred) losing to PSV in the qualifier and being competitive again in the EL, or do we take our medicine, suck up the results and hope this year toughens us up and gives us experience for hopefully another crack at the CL next year?
 
Aye it’s defo one of the hardest we’ve had. It’s easy to say aw have a go etc, do people understand the level it takes to have a go against a team like Liverpool? We were never getting any points tonight, you were deluded if you thought otherwise.

Napoli look like one of the best teams in Europe this season as well. Ajax are a level below Napoli and Liverpool but there’s a large gap between us and them.
Any team can lose 2-0 at Anfield. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad result.

However we did get some opportunities moving forward where we made poor decisions which stopped us doing anything. I think this is what Gio needs to change. I would drop Kent next game
 
For 32 team group phase by a mile.

PSV, Valencia, and Bayern under Advocaat and Juventus, Dortmund, Steau Bucharest under Smith would be up there but that was last 16.
 
Nope. GvB's tactics are making this a harder watch than it needs to be. This may be our first CL campaign in donkeys years but it's also going to turn out to be our worst ever by the way it's going. We could end up with no goals and no points which is embarrassing.
 
Valencia, Bayern and PSV will never be topped. Those 3 teams were tremendous at the time.

Close second but.
Valencia made the final that year. Bayern made the semi final stage. Both played each other in the final the next season. Bayern also lost the final to Man U the season before we drew them.
 
There are some on here who decided a long time ago that Gio is not the man for them and appear determined to be proved right.

When the draw was made that was a game almost all of us would have written off as one we’d lose.

Then it happens and half the board is up in arms?!
 
You didn’t happen to watch Jamie Carragher’s piece on Man City and Haaland at the weekend did you? He summarised perfectly the challenge that our players face when up against Champions League opposition. They are in your mind before you set foot on the pitch. Mo Salah has been one of the world’s best players for the last few years, our players step onto the pitch against him wondering what he could do to them and it makes the game so much tougher.

Carragher spoke of what Henry used to do to him before he even stepped onto the pitch. He was beat. His focus was on not being embarrassed rather than playing his best game. This is the situation a lot of our players will be facing against these teams, particularly away from home. It’s all well and good coming onto a forum saying there is no confidence in the team but it’s a different situation all together being those players taking the pitch against some of the world’s best.
It’s the managers job to install that belief, gerrard was brilliant at it….Gio declared we are shite after the Ajax mauling
 
No, they will beat us on head to head, even if we win.
We aren't overturning a 4 nil defeat.
We actually have to nick a point from Liverpool at Ibrox or Napoli in Italy and hope they also lose their next two games.

So exactly as I said then?
 
You can see that down to the manager the team have nothing to offer. The teams in the group are just a very convenient excuse for some.

There is no way round it. Gio is an awful manager.
 
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 .

Normally I would agree but Valencia were the Aberdeen of Spain remember according to the Daily Record. One of the best teams I have seen.
 
Normally I would agree but Valencia were the Aberdeen of Spain remember according to the Daily Record. One of the best teams I have seen.
Quite possibly the peak of Scotland's media ignorance, and looking to simplify a situation with nonsense like that, while also downplaying the task we faced.
 
It's by far the toughest group we've had imo. You like to think you've got a chance against the Pot 3 team but we've got Napoli, who have completely rag dolled Liverpool and Ajax. The financial gulf between us and the top teams now is massive compared to what it was. If you go back to the 90's Real Madrid were the richest team in the world and they only had around 2x our income. Now the top teams have around 10x our income. Our first team last night cost about 1/4 of the what Nunez cost Liverpool. It's depressing really.

The fact is that the Europa is our level and is much more enjoyable than the CL, in footballing terms.
 
No excuse for giving up before the match has started which has happened two out of the three matches now.

We should be loving being in a group like this and do ourselves proud. Pathetic so far.
I can take losing if we try like against Napoli.

The thought of playing SlaviaPrague on a Thursday night every season bores the hell out of me along with playing the same teams 4 times a season at least.
 
Yes the difference is noticeable, doesn’t stop teams who you wouldn’t normally class as CL standard, picking up points though, Brugge, Salzburg, Copenhagen, Dinamo Zagreb etc all picking up points.
Markedly easier groups and all have multiple years of CL experience.
We overachieved last year and folk think that is our new level, it isn’t.
 
The support are paying top money for this tournament.
Maybe the club should have been more honest with their pricing if it’s to big a step up.
 
You didn’t happen to watch Jamie Carragher’s piece on Man City and Haaland at the weekend did you? He summarised perfectly the challenge that our players face when up against Champions League opposition. They are in your mind before you set foot on the pitch. Mo Salah has been one of the world’s best players for the last few years, our players step onto the pitch against him wondering what he could do to them and it makes the game so much tougher.

Carragher spoke of what Henry used to do to him before he even stepped onto the pitch. He was beat. His focus was on not being embarrassed rather than playing his best game. This is the situation a lot of our players will be facing against these teams, particularly away from home. It’s all well and good coming onto a forum saying there is no confidence in the team but it’s a different situation all together being those players taking the pitch against some of the world’s best.
Great post
 
Check the thread with the poll about where we would finish in the group when the draw was made. Plenty of punters saying second and arguing with anyone saying otherwise. Absolutely mental.

I said we'd be doing well to get a point before a ball was kicked and sadly it looks correct. What I didn't quite expect was the heartless and pathetic showings on the road that we have given.
 
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 .
Yes to the first and no to the second.
Either way, it’s a different world from back then.
Back then we were spending as much as most of our opponents were.
I posted last night that our team cost £20m and theirs cost £200m knowing I’d understated it.
VvD cost them £50m?
Anyway, another poster corrected me with the correct figures.
Liverpool £350+m against our £18m.
 
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.
There are genuinely people in our support (and definitely some on here) who would watch us beat Man City 2-0 away from home in a European semi-final and moan because we missed a penalty to make it 3-0.
There absolutely is NO pleasing some people, ever, under any circumstances.
 
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