MOTM Poll Rangers v Lyon - 20:00 Thursday - BT Sport

Your Man of the Match


  • Total voters
    521
  • Poll closed .
A lot of players are off form and it was a poor transfer window. Add to that I think a few player are looking for a move so it all adds up to.
It is my own personal opinion but I fail to see why joe aribo is in the team. He contributes nothing. A lazy luxury we can’t afford in our team.
If players were looking for a move, they should have been moved on at the start of the window imo. I understand that SG said that no bids that matched our evaluation came in but I’d rather sell a £10M rated player for £8M (we’d probably still make a decent profit given our initial outlay) and upgrade for players who want to be here and would freshen the squad.

Just like you said, Aribo has all the skill in the world but he doesn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck and change things when we are down. I wish SG/GM would coach that side of the game into him - if possible .
 
The issue we have with our player valuations is they have the Mhedia & their pals bumping up their players but also downplaying ours.
If more so called Rangers men stood up for the Club in that sense then we would get there
I think once we sell a few players who go onto do well in England or abroad then we will start to get excellent bids for our players.
 
I'm not sour about the defeat. I'm sour at the way we were beaten. And the performance as a team that led to that defeat. Seems like there is a fog over this team, something just isn't clicking, the management know it. But how can you figure out an unknown, unknown?

One thing is for sure, the team needs freshened up. May it be someone else being a starter? Or generally trying to work on a new way to actually get the ball up the park, and not this pishy 5 yard passing man to man in midfield.

They're a good team, that first goal was of real quality. It worries me however that we had 3 strikers on and no real chance coming from any of them. However you can't blame them, the service just wasn't there.
 
That starting line up doesn't look as strong as it could be. I hope Barasic has recovered a substantial amount of fitness for this game, and Lundstram hasn't done enough to be selected at this level in my view.
You were spot on mate, Barasic was lacking the fitness to get beyond the last man. Don't think it was a particularly bad performance, just he lacked the fitness to punish thier RB.
 
I'm not sour about the defeat. I'm sour at the way we were beaten. And the performance as a team that led to that defeat. Seems like there is a fog over this team, something just isn't clicking, the management know it. But how can you figure out an unknown, unknown?

One thing is for sure, the team needs freshened up. May it be someone else being a starter? Or generally trying to work on a new way to actually get the ball up the park, and not this pishy 5 yard passing man to man in midfield.

They're a good team, that first goal was of real quality. It worries me however that we had 3 strikers on and no real chance coming from any of them. However you can't blame them, the service just wasn't there.

Good post buddy.
 
I'm not sour about the defeat. I'm sour at the way we were beaten. And the performance as a team that led to that defeat. Seems like there is a fog over this team, something just isn't clicking, the management know it. But how can you figure out an unknown, unknown?

One thing is for sure, the team needs freshened up. May it be someone else being a starter? Or generally trying to work on a new way to actually get the ball up the park, and not this pishy 5 yard passing man to man in midfield.

They're a good team, that first goal was of real quality. It worries me however that we had 3 strikers on and no real chance coming from any of them. However you can't blame them, the service just wasn't there.
Agree with this, absolutely. I think a few of our starters need to be rested. I had hoped that the international break would help, obviously not. I hope SG is thinking along these lines. Hard to believe this is the same team which won league last year.
 
I'm not sour about the defeat. I'm sour at the way we were beaten. And the performance as a team that led to that defeat. Seems like there is a fog over this team, something just isn't clicking, the management know it. But how can you figure out an unknown, unknown?

One thing is for sure, the team needs freshened up. May it be someone else being a starter? Or generally trying to work on a new way to actually get the ball up the park, and not this pishy 5 yard passing man to man in midfield.

They're a good team, that first goal was of real quality. It worries me however that we had 3 strikers on and no real chance coming from any of them. However you can't blame them, the service just wasn't there.
Agree with alot of what you've said. They may be arguably a better side but that doesn't mean we lose in the manner we did.

Sluggish play on the ball, tactics that looked suitable for an away tie I.e everytime we lost the ball and their back 4 had possession we just dropped into our 433 shape, I mean at Ibrox you've got to play pressing for periods-clearly not all the half, it gets the crowd going, builds confidence, mentally tests the opposition. I mean they must have passed the ball out of the park at least 6 times today.

Ofcourse Lyon are a good team and can play but the reality is they were their for the taken tonight just like Leverkusen, Benfica and Slavia also. Our team is totally capable of a better performance than what they produced tonight.

As others have said, a draw in the other match will hopefully help.
 
Agree with alot of what you've said. They may be arguably a better side but that doesn't mean we lose in the manner we did.

Sluggish play on the ball, tactics that looked suitable for an away tie I.e everytime we lost the ball and their back 4 had possession we just dropped into our 433 shape, I mean at Ibrox you've got to play pressing for periods-clearly not all the half, it gets the crowd going, builds confidence, mentally tests the opposition. I mean they must have passed the ball out of the park at least 6 times today.

Ofcourse Lyon are a good team and can play but the reality is they were their for the taken tonight just like Leverkusen, Benfica and Slavia also. Our team is totally capable of a better performance than what they produced tonight.

As others have said, a draw in the other match will hopefully help.
To sum it up mate, we cannot finish our dinner at times.
 
We are back the walking football of the season before last after xmas.

Whats happened to the guys taking the ball on the half turn like last season, rather than touch touch side to side. its boring as %^*&.

We are so predicable and lack of width from Kent and Aribo tonight meant we were hitting crosses from 30 years out to no lady's front bottom.
 
Disappointing but they are a level above us. A lesson learned hopefully.
Yep this was my initial feeling after tonight as well. Well taken goals and they had quality throughout the team. I’m just disappointed that it only really seemed to be Morelos that was putting any effort in. Ryan Kent was a disappointment for me tonight. Gave the ball away in the run up to both their goals and just didn’t look interested. Not sure if he was carrying a knock, but he looked like he didn’t want to be here. Thought Davis was also disappointing tonight as well. Pair of them were bullied all over the park tonight. Lundstram has improved since his moment of madness the other month so that’s a positive. Onto Motherwell on Sunday. Tonight is one to forget about.
 
They are definitely a better team, but...

Their keeper made two excellent saves, Greegs had little to do; we could have had two penalties, Tav hit the post; they scored an outstanding goal and got a lucky deflection.

On another night?... that's European football.
 
I swore I wouldn't post when I'm gassed a bit, but here goes I thought we would get beat before the game but having watched it I feel mugged, their first goal was special but we had chances after that the second was a lucky goal for them, I suppose the thing that gets me most was the diving at the slightest touch sometimes no touch at all and the ref stopping the game when we had advantage, we have alot to learn on that front.
 
Disappointing but they are a level above us. A lesson learned hopefully.
They scored a goal that other teams wouldn't score against us, they made a save barely any keeper would make against us and then we had a brain-melt for the second goal.

We ground them down to no clear-cut chances. They were extremely efficient with the half-chances they got.

Decent performance, but they just had that little bit of quality to get the first and break of the ball to get the second. It happens at this level.
 
Teams have sussed us out now. We rely heavily on Borna and Tavs cross balls, Goldsons diagonal and Kent off Morelos. It's easy to nullify, especially if those named aren't 100%. We lack creativity on the wings and midfield. OK that makes us hard to beat but predictable.
The shape is always the same.
 
Just in the door. What were TV saying about Kent pulling up? He looked alright walking off?
 
Was at the game tonight and I thought we didn't deserve to lose that. They didn't look half as good as I expected and we were unlucky. There's still something missing but I thought it was a decent performance. The ref was a joke as well - one of the worst I've seen in Europe.

Struggling to understand all the mom votes for Lundstram. He was better once Davis went off but he was still average at best. I voted for Alfie as I thought he did brilliantly with the rubbish service he got. And I thought Balogun looked next best. Also thought Aribo did quite well. To be fair no-one was that bad.

I keep reading people saying Barisic isn't fit - well if he isn't fit he shouldn't be playing because he was woeful again tonight. I'd be dropping him immediately and playing Bassey until Barisic proves he is worth his place again.
 
Mix of feeling somewhat unlucky and also rather frustrated. Lyon are clearly a very good side with a lot of skilled players. We competed pretty well for the most past against such a side and came close more than once to finding the goal which couldve changed the game. Just at certain key moments we were a dollar short or a day late and thats cost us in the end.

Watching the post match inter/pressers with Gerrard I think he feels much the same and doesnt seem too down so I wont be either.

I had hoped for a win and I think overall we could have made it happen, just the smallest of margins make all the difference at this level and for us last night it wasnt to be.
 
I think we have regressed - you could see that during pre-season but we gave them the benefit of the doubt to get up to speed and that clearly hasn't happened. We are clearly playing in short bursts, that might be good enough in the SPFL but not at this level.

Borna offering nothing going forward and looking a weak link.
Midfield - offering nothing and being overrun at times. Still that lack of creativity.
Defence - now looking ropey.

None of these were concerns last season but they sure as hell are now.
The defence wasnt great in europe last season either, far too many goals conceded..
 
I felt like I'd seen that game before. Our games against the better side in Europe; Braga, Leverkusen, Maribor, etc. all follow a similar pattern.

I thought our shape was a problem. It's great when we're playing teams we're better than domestically, but it has limitations in Europe and I'm not convinced it's the way to go against the better sides.

We were over-run on the wings and Lyon could have got another couple goals down our left side. Kent and Aribo were playing really high and narrow, up alongside Morelos; the problem was they weren't winning the ball high up or coming back to help their full back. Would we have been better playing them as part of a flat midfield 5?

I felt sorry for Barasic last night, he was hung out to dry. He was responsible for all the width on our left with Kent playing so narrow, that's a big ask playing in a back 4 against a team like Lyon. Defensively he kept getting overloaded when the Lyon RB came forward. He badly needed protection that he wasn't getting.

I thought we were threatening going forward and probably should have scored first half, but it always like we were going to concede and I think Lyon had a few levels to go up had they needed to.
 
Agree with this, absolutely. I think a few of our starters need to be rested. I had hoped that the international break would help, obviously not. I hope SG is thinking along these lines. Hard to believe this is the same team which won league last year.
I agree the performance wasn't as good as it could have been, but I don't see anyone else beating us to the league title playing like we did last night.
Winning the league hss to be priority with guaranteed champions league football and the cash
 
definitely spazzed that comment the result was not embarrassing at all but the second half performance was
Nonsense. We didn't get the result, or even play at our best, but the 2nd half performance was not "embarrassing". We were beaten by a team who were more clinical on the night, that's all. Aided by a shocking referee.
 
my tuppence worth

McGregor - no chance with the goals, had nothing to do outwith that

Tavernier & Barisic - were ok, not to their ususal level but certainly not poor
Balogun & Goldson - played well

Lundstram - played well aside for a couple of minor errors
Kamara - poor
Davis - worst i've seen him play in a long time, perhaps ever

Kent - offered little going forward, abysmal with both goals
Morelos - excellent, MOTM by some distance
Aribo - ok but needs to impose himself on games more

subs
Wright - as usual was on it from the moment he came on, has to start games now
Sakala - ethusiasm and drive, needs game time fast before he becomes an Itten
Roofe - offered something to get in behind them but his final ball wasn't quite there


we clearly set up to play them the way we did with the Yahoos
piss about at the back if you want
and largely it worked
both teams had chances spurned slightly wide
but Kent losing the ball in key areas + the lad hitting a worldy of a finish did for us

no disgrace losing to that Lyon side
stats show we gave them a game

as for the officials
started ok, Goldsons yellow was justified
then decended into farce, let them away with murder while being conned by them at every turn
paid no heed to their time wasting as well
starting to really despise Sweden
 
Disappointing but they are a level above us. A lesson learned hopefully.
Correct ,I was never convinced we would do anything in this game,we are just nowhere near the levels we were at last season, the players need a good kick in the balls..We really miss Ryan Jack , Alfie is way off form and if he keeps this up we will be lucky to get £5m for him.
Kent like all wide men is an enigma, as is Aribo who is a fantastic player but can't influence games..Our defence is very shaky, remember last season we lost a lot of goals in Europe and our defensive record at home really papered over a shaky defence.
 
Lyon were the better team technically
Rangers seem to hold back for some reason, a lot
of our players seem to have their brakes on and
not willing to have a go.
There is something amiss right now and I hope Gerrard gets it sorted soon.
 
It’s about attitude. Our ability at this level is reasonable, though we stood off Lyon too much. When Kent lost the ball in midfield I just knew it would lead to their first goal. I expected Kent to hare back to be on top of the scorer. Instead, he let it go and the guy scored. He should have been closed down, but wasn’t. There seemed to be an aire of inevitably about the result. Barisic tried but the front runners didn’t gel. It was usually Kamara-Barisic- and back to Kamara. Far too slow a build-up. So far this season it has become all too familiar play. It worries me that if we hit a bad patch of results it will be difficult to get out of that kind of rut. We must keep winning in the League.
 
Disappointing performance on the night. Lyon were ok first half and scored a good goal. Once they scrambled the second they took the rest of the night off and looked poor. They gave up possession endlessly but we were clueless as to what to do with it. Kent gave them the ball for both goals. What is up with him? Alfredo worked hard with no support but he never looked like besting their centre halves. We were average all over the park and it was a missed opportunity to get a result that would have raised our profile across Europe. I'm not sure what kind of football we are trying to play right now, whether that's down to the coaching staff or the players but everybody needs to shape up or ship out in January because we look disinterested and disjointed. The rest of the teams in this group are poor so we should still qualify but we need to sort ourselves out.
 
What worries me the most is not that we lost ( annoying as that is) - but we look like a shadow of what we were - say the middle of last season

I know we've had injury, covid & suspension problems - but considering we didn't loose any 1st choice players in the window - I'd have expected a more settled set-up than we've got

In fact I've got concerns just how balanced our squad is
Even with all players available for selection (& I'm aware that isn't happening any time soon) it still seems to me that we don't know our 1st choice 11

Although we've got 2 men for each position - it's becoming obvious that we can't play identical formations / systems with certain players - compared to others IMO

It seems a very long time ago when we were able to switch defence & midfield into attack with slick forward movements & a genuine 'up & at them' approach

It's as if we've developed engine / gear box trouble & are in 'limp' mode & can't get into a higher gear
 
Can't argue with Balogun, Lundstram and Morelos being our top three (I went for Alfie). They did well to make an impression given those beside them weren't too good at times.
 
Disappointing performance on the night. Lyon were ok first half and scored a good goal. Once they scrambled the second they took the rest of the night off and looked poor. They gave up possession endlessly but we were clueless as to what to do with it. Kent gave them the ball for both goals. What is up with him? Alfredo worked hard with no support but he never looked like besting their centre halves. We were average all over the park and it was a missed opportunity to get a result that would have raised our profile across Europe. I'm not sure what kind of football we are trying to play right now, whether that's down to the coaching staff or the players but everybody needs to shape up or ship out in January because we look disinterested and disjointed. The rest of the teams in this group are poor so we should still qualify but we need to sort ourselves out.
Agree mostly with your summary mate but with respect I'd argue that there are no 'poor' teams at this stage of the Europa League. Some are better than others as Lyon proved last night but I think we've still got a shed load of graft ahead to qualify from this league. There are no walk-overs now.
 
Agree mostly with your summary mate but with respect I'd argue that there are no 'poor' teams at this stage of the Europa League. Some are better than others as Lyon proved last night but I think we've still got a shed load of graft ahead to qualify from this league. There are no walk-overs now.
Fair enough mate. I meant they looked off it and were maybe there for the taking. They probably had another gear in them and have a big game on Sunday but we let them see the game out too easily I felt.
 
I know the whole Joey Veerman speculation has been done to death but I think we desperately need a player like him tonight and the board not speculating to accumulate has come back to bite us at this level. Let’s hope Bacuna can bring something different.
I’d be surprised if a guy from Huddersfield, whose fans didn’t seem to rate that highly, was the answer to us competing with top European teams.

Our side is lacking quality, and I don’t think players from the lower leagues in England are the solution.
 
I’d be surprised if a guy from Huddersfield, whose fans didn’t seem to rate that highly, was the answer to us competing with top European teams.

Our side is lacking quality, and I don’t think players from the lower leagues in England are the solution.
I think you’re probably right regarding Bacuna and I should have capitalised and highlighted the word HOPE. .

I replied to an earlier thread saying I was quite underwhelmed with the transfer window especially when SG said he was excited with the conversations he had with the board.

Have a good weekend, Max.
 
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