We have no belief in ourselves any more

trueblue77 said:
So were Dortmund, Liepzig, Porto and the rest, but we set up to compete in those games with the best starting line up, formation and tactics. We’re going backwards in every regard under Gio as time goes by. What he inherited, and all that has been good about Rangers since Gerrard arrived is eroding and fading fast.
Click to expand...
This is correct. You can go into a game as underdogs without being afraid of the opposition. We turned up tonight already beaten. I can't accept that. Turning up with a view to merely keeping the score down. I wouldn't do that in any walk of life. We're fucking Rangers. At the very least we should match the opposition for effort and physicality. We have players that could do that 6 months ago. We are underdogs in the CL. But we should never turn up with a view to keep the score down.
 
Gio has removed the high gears affecting fitness levels, high press as a unit and slow at times agonising passing often cheap give away passing and has wiped the smile of many players faces? I expected so much am not sure the players are buying what he is selling?

Last year's fitness levels we could at least fight and get closer to opponents as one now it looks like we have exchanged Aston Martins for electric scooters and Zimmer frames? We need an explanation as we should be playing every game in the CL like a final and enjoying being there?
 
I'm so tired of Van Bronkhurst, I've been quiet before but he's brutal to watch, the fans and the players won the games in Europe last year not him, he's so negative it's embarrassing to watch.
 
We look less fit than previous seasons, that shouldn't ever be a problem, that's something we absolutely can control, the players don't enjoy playing for him.
 
Stonedandhappy said:
Gerrard wouldn't have taken us to that final, he was too dogmatic with his 433.

But neither would Gio have if he'd stuck to the negative style of football he started with last season.

He realised that our players played to a certain strength and changed HIS style to accommodate it and we flourished in Europe.

He played Gerrards way but made small tactical changes during games which made the difference.

Now this season we are back to playing HIS way and are suffering.

Negative, possession based tactics, even at home against jobbers of teams.
Click to expand...
Best post on the thread!
 
Zwingli'sSausages said:
Sorry, but disagree. Shagger saved us an embarrassing scoreline.
Click to expand...
Looking at last night from a positive angle I think we can say we know that Shagger is our best goalkeeping option right now. The McLaughlin experiment has failed and he can't be trusted. Shagger is a top shotstopper, something McLaughlin is not. McCrorie may or may not be the answer, but unless GvB gives him a go I think Shagger should be our #1 until the end of the season. Let's see if we can win a trophy (a must) and then recruit in the summer for a new #1.

JM is an able deputy, no more no less.
 
Bigbluebeard said:
I wouldn't even bother bud, absolutely pointless with some on here.
Click to expand...
See because you play a top team it doesn’t stop you being able to pass the ball or tackle or any of the basics in a game we done none of these last nigh and it’s not the first time this season either,it’s all on a clueless manager
 
Sonic said:
The sentiment in the opening post is exactly what went through my mind. How have we gone to looking dangerous and lively to stagnant and petrified so quickly - although I think I know the answer.
Click to expand...
The answer is that Liverpool are streets ahead of almost everyone we’ve faced in the last few years.
 
Robbie Hepburn said:
How am I deluded. I know it should have been a humping. Most people predicted that, so why are people now acting surprised
Click to expand...
It was the WAY we lost that was disappointing. Right from the kickoff we pumped the ball from defence straight up the park and immediately lost possession. Then we repeated that tactic several times in the next few minutes. No playing themselves into the match, they constantly gave the ball away. It was brutal. I’d rather have lost 5-0 but competed. The fact we kept it to just 2 was down to one man, not the teams performance. The way we played was embarrassing.
 
Aaritalo said:
Yeah I agree. I was fuming about that and wanted Gio gone then.

You can't compare 2-0 Vs one of the best teams in the world Vs an absolute humiliation against Celtic.
Click to expand...
Aaritalo said:
See when we play St Johnstone, do you expect to come up against a confident side with a gameplan that might well take something off us or do you expect we should leather them 4-0?
Click to expand...
I expect Rangers players being paid well and a Rangers manager being paid well to be able to have a game plan, confidence on the ball, and being competitive. I’m not expecting us to play these elite sides at their own game nor am I expecting many victories. But being defeated meekly in three games is not good enough.

St Johnstone or the likes has nothing to do with it. Their standard of player is very low, and not our standard. There are similar size gulfs of course, but our standard of player we have & pay should be able to do far more than what we are seeing, £15-30k a week should absolutely guarantee attitude, first touch, positional intelligence, bravery & work rate.
 
Aaritalo said:
You piss off you clown.

We got beat off last season's champions League finalists. Away from home.

To think that constitutes as unacceptable makes you a fucking idiot.
Click to expand...
I was out of order quoting your post. Too much to drink in Liverpool so I apologise. I’ll let you away with the rest.
 
Aaritalo said:
Liverpool have in Mo Salah one of the maybe top 10 players in the world? One of the best right backs in the world. One of the best centre backs in the world. Spent 80 mil on a striker this summer.

We lost. Of course we lost.

I'm not Gio's biggest fan but there's nothing to read into tonight.
Click to expand...
Brighton took 3 off them a few days ago. They’ve not been in good form, we lost and that’s fine - we made it an absolute walk in the park for them by applying no pressure, that’s not fine.
 
55beatsall said:
I'm so tired of Van Bronkhurst, I've been quiet before but he's brutal to watch, the fans and the players won the games in Europe last year not him, he's so negative it's embarrassing to watch.
Click to expand...
He deserves a lot of the criticism he gets but this is completely unfair.
 
Ataturk said:
Gerrard 2018-2022 - never lost by more than 2 goals.

GVB - lost by 4 goals twice, 3 goals twice.

Last season’s EL run was amazing but we’re clearly not as difficult to beat as we were under Gerrard.
Click to expand...
How many times did SG manage in the UCL? He didn't even get past 10 man Malmo.
 
The gulf between the teams last night can't just be down to talent. We showed no character, tactics, cohesiveness and poor fitness levels.
 
Stonedandhappy said:
Gerrard wouldn't have taken us to that final, he was too dogmatic with his 433.

But neither would Gio have if he'd stuck to the negative style of football he started with last season.

He realised that our players played to a certain strength and changed HIS style to accommodate it and we flourished in Europe.

He played Gerrards way but made small tactical changes during games which made the difference.

Now this season we are back to playing HIS way and are suffering.

Negative, possession based tactics, even at home against jobbers of teams.
Click to expand...
For a player who spent most of his career at free flowing Barcelona and a title winning Arsenal the season before he went to them is baffling the negative style of play. The game as a whole has moved to a more attacking style, we should have put 10 past Hearts on Saturday, it really showed then now I think more about it!
 
OlegKuznetsov said:
Look at the tactics and team selection pre match.

Negative negative negative.

That feeds off on the players. Beat before a balls kicked.

No belief whatsoever
Click to expand...
Agreed, and when you are playing a team admittedly at a much higher level than the Europa, who play high intensity football, you surely don't put an aging Davis who doesn't have the legs in midfield, put Tillman who had a shocker at porkheid in same position and start with Morelos who can't possibly be match sharp.

He is turning into the dutch Craig Levein, f uck knows what him and Vos are looking at on the I Pad in the dugout but it ain't tactics and as you point out from the moment they walked out not one of them believed we had a chance and that's the time when you need to consider if you have the right leader in place
 
If Liverpool hadn’t dropped points at the weekend yet again I think it could have been a different game. But as a result they turned up to the game with a point to prove. We were never going to play well if they were on top form, and they were. It’s similar to in our league. If we turn up on top form against any team we will dominate and the other team will look poor.
 
I think we have a growing belief domestically (Colak being the main reason for that) but the European days are waning due to the huge step up with this group and the fact we've not improved and lost a lot of physicality
 
Aaritalo said:
Liverpool have in Mo Salah one of the maybe top 10 players in the world? One of the best right backs in the world. One of the best centre backs in the world. Spent 80 mil on a striker this summer.

We lost. Of course we lost.

I'm not Gio's biggest fan but there's nothing to read into tonight.
Click to expand...
Bingo.

We lost to Liverpool, the way some would have you believe it was akin to losing to Ross County away
 
Let's just be clear about this.

Liverpool and Napoli are levels above any side we've played since we got back into Europe. It isn't even up for debate.

They would have both utterly dismantled us under Steven Gerrard and Mick Beale too.

Ajax are also as good as anything we've faced too. They took 5 off Dortmund last season before we played them.

We're in the toughest group we've ever had and it shows.
 
Amadaeus said:
Liverpool are one of the best three sides in the World. This isn't Ross County FFS
Click to expand...
Well said. They where last years CL finalists a dont get why fans are shocked we lost? Im glad it was only a 2-0 lose. Better than 4. This sack gio patter is pathetic people need to start getting behind our team. No wonder the team are doom n gloom cause they know our fans are expecting them to win every single game. Domestic ok i get but CL please get a grip were playing teams tht are worth us 10x
 
I‘m not interested in the bloodlust re Gio right now. We got a nightmare draw and find our three best creative mids injured. Do you honestly expect us to go gung-ho at Anfield? Would‘ve been another Bournemouth. However, next week is different. They’ll rest players for Man City and i dont see the same intensity in their game. We simply have to go for it, come what may. We paid a lot of money for these CL tickets and deserve a proper game (and a goddam goal!).
 
55beatsall said:
I'm so tired of Van Bronkhurst, I've been quiet before but he's brutal to watch, the fans and the players won the games in Europe last year not him, he's so negative it's embarrassing to watch.
Click to expand...
This is my thoughts aswel pal, gio needs too go......now!
 
Long term, I think it’s obvious the players don’t fully buy into the manager.

Our European campaign ended as soon as we made the CL groups, it’s just a shame they didn’t tell the fans that and decided to charge them absolute top dollar for these insipid performances.

I thought I’d be buzzing for the CL, but now I don’t know if I want us near it again while Gio is in charge.
 
The fans dragged us to Seville and that has saved his skin really.

When was the last time you went into a domestic game really buzzing to watch us play? He has sucked the life, fitness and intensity right out of our team. We are going backwards at an alarming rate.
 
The biggest worry is that Gio set that team up last night to protect his managerial reputation and didn't have a thought for how we could impose ourselves in the game. He appears to be fine with 2-0 but the subdued body language of most of our players throughout tells a different story I'm afraid. The cliche of losing the dressing room gets thrown around too easily but the application last night has been all too common. Anyone with a half decent grounding in football can accept that there's light years between us and Liverpool technically but what shouldn't be accepted is half-hearted, defeatist, lazy, spiritless lack of understanding in the game-plan or coherent instruction from the management team.

He's had enough previous warnings about allowing freedom to teams coming in from the sides and he's done exactly the same thing again without even a tactical tweek. He's also seen Tillman on the right more than once to understand how in-effective it is yet he's done exactly the same yet again. Good managers adapt and can coach and manage what they see. Gio can't and its not always entrirely down to quality of player and money. It's about setting up a style and system to suit the squad you have not trying to shoe-horn players into a system they clearly don't believe in or are capable of carrying out.
 
Steve Stifler said:
The fans dragged us to Seville and that has saved his skin really.

When was the last time you went into a domestic game really buzzing to watch us play? He has sucked the life, fitness and intensity right out of our team. We are going backwards at an alarming rate.
Click to expand...
The manager just won the most important game we will play this week at a difficult venue away from home.

I’ve gave him it tight but he has the chance to now go on a run domestically and give us a right good chance before that World Cup break.

The job was done in Europe this season just getting to the groups. The draw confirmed what most of us knew. We had no chance doing anything of note.
 
RotterdamBear said:
You could tel he was stunned at what he was watching.

It’s a chronic brand of football
Click to expand...
Ajax away was exactly the same. Gio said afterwards that we were naive and closed them down too quickly. Absolute nonsense, thats exactly what we didn't do. We stood off them and let them have time and space. Against Napoli we didn't and we had a bit of success. Last night we were back to doing the same, allowing time and space in areas that needed pressure put on the ball or the player.

There was over a dozen moments last night similar to the goal we lost in the Europa league final (Scott Wright not closing down on the sides), King, Barisic, Tavernier, Davis, Goldson. They were all at it and its the very basics of football.
 
SuperGers07 said:
The manager just won the most important game we will play this week at a difficult venue away from home.

I’ve gave him it tight but he has the chance to now go on a run domestically and give us a right good chance before that World Cup break.

The job was done in Europe this season just getting to the groups. The draw confirmed what most of us knew. We had no chance doing anything of note.
Click to expand...

As long as we keep winning in the league it will keep the wolves from the door but our style of football is turgid. If we drop points again he will be under pressure because that's when the style comes back into play, we will be fickle and accept it when we are winning but not when dropping points.

We also have the issue that he hasn't won an Old Firm game in 90 mins and he has been here a year nearly.
 
It's the manager's style.

If we took these CL games in isolation you could say yeah big step up, but we made Celtic look as comfortable as Liverpool did last night too. We also had warning signs away to Union, and even at home to PSV

I said it last night, Gio was such a silky player, attack minded, and we have the u18 Ajax coach beside him where total football was bloody invented yet they've teamed up to serve up the most negative, scared, tentative football I've seen from us in years.

Gerrard sussed we have to win the midfield battle in Europe. Gio doesn't seem to get that. Starting Davis away at anfield in 2022 is on both him and the board (btw no slight on Davis who is one of my favourite ever Gers players, but he's finished at this level)

I can't work out what our style is at all under Gio
 
Steve Stifler said:
The fans dragged us to Seville and that has saved his skin really.

When was the last time you went into a domestic game really buzzing to watch us play? He has sucked the life, fitness and intensity right out of our team. We are going backwards at an alarming rate.
Click to expand...
The fans are taking credit for taking the team to a European final? :D
 
Stuart_WATP said:
It's the manager's style.

If we took these CL games in isolation you could say yeah big step up, but we made Celtic look as comfortable as Liverpool did last night too. We also had warning signs away to Union, and even at home to PSV

I said it last night, Gio was such a silky player, attack minded, and we have the u18 Ajax coach beside him where total football was bloody invented yet they've teamed up to serve up the most negative, scared, tentative football I've seen from us in years.

Gerrard sussed we have to win the midfield battle in Europe. Gio doesn't seem to get that. Starting Davis away at anfield in 2022 is on both him and the board (btw no slight on Davis who is one of my favourite ever Gers players, but he's finished at this level)

I can't work out what our style is at all under Gio
Click to expand...

We were warned by the Feyenoord fans about his negativity. We didn’t bother listening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top