We are a long long way from that level of opponent.

The Goal Machine

The Goal Machine

Well-Known Member
We can no longer compete against the money that is being spent in the Top 5 leagues.

We try, we battle but the £millions that buy superior players from all over the world is just too big a gap. Gerrard has done well up to a point but we hit a glass ceiling against the better teams.

Lyon were so comfortable on the ball and for me had more gears to go up.

If we do win the League it will be case of collect the Champions League money and go. Even the Malmö performance tells us that.

Sorry to be so negative but that is how I feel. Scottish Football is our level. I cannot see us in a European Final again. With Champions League teams dropping down now to the Europa League it has made that much much harder.
 
I don’t think we’re far off them at all, a wonder goal and a freak OG were the difference. They’re a very good team, but so are we, they just have a little bit of extra quality.
 
There is a a difference between negativity and being a realist. I don't see the OP as anything but being realistic. On the subject of being realistic I think our aim going forward will be to get in champs league groups and prob finish third and maybe every couple of years actually get out of the group.
 
We’ve only just made the step up to winning the league and to be fair, even in our 9 in a row years we took plenty of beatings in Europe.

I do think we look a bit tired though.
 
Not for me. We've not sparked yet, but if this was last year's form we would be in the CL. We would have beaten them tonight on that form as well.

We have been slow off the mark, that's all.
 
It’s obviously difficult to compete with sides with a far higher budget.

the harder thing to accept will be if we face Man City or psg in the Cl and take a doing off their second string.
 
In short they are a side buying players for £10-£15 million looking to sell them for £30 million, we are club signing player for £50 k to £4 million looking to sell them for £10- £15 million. We will always be miles behind them
 
I said to pals at half time that we could lose 3-0 but we are still capable of competing with these teams.

They had one or two players that were classy, the striker was nearly always an outball for them, but we weren't outclassed by any stretch.

If they weren't quite on it tonight we would have won. Football isn't as black and white as the team with the best players wins so let's not chuck the away match just yet.
 
Realistically, and I know it'll upset the 'we should be winning everything brigade', there's only so far, with our budget, where we are etc, that we can reach in Europe. I know its no what we like to hear but last 32/16 of the Europa with maybe the odd time we get above that and more times we'll not reach that far is probably our level.

Winning the league is more important than anything this season.
 
They've probably spent near enough what we have on our entire squad on one player.

I know we're getting there bit by bit but Kent is our biggest signing in decades and he's about half of a couple of theirs. It's a higher level and it's one one we're getting better and working towards.

Lyon are favourites to finish first. If we were favourites to finish first, we'd expect to win tonight.
 
We could (largely) compete last season and the season before, so what's changed?

If we strengthened like we should have in the summer then we should have improved the first 11 but that clearly hasn't happened.
 
Every one of their outfield players could control a ball stone dead, first time. Regardless of the pace on the ball.

Us? Maybe 4-5, and even then it’s not every single time. It’ll bobble, bounce off a shin or a knee etc.

The amount of time it gives a top player to think and play a pass at that top level is one of the many differences between us & them.
 
We can compete up to a point. We’ve been left behind by the big money leagues.

We need our entire team to be on it to compete. Tonight they were not.
 
Maybe a long way off Lyon (I don't think we are) but they aren't a Europa League team.

We made two mistakes and lost two rotten goals, albeit the first was a brilliant finish.

With our full team starting I don't think there would have been much between us and the goal aside, the first half showed that.
 
DavieM said:
We could (largely) compete last season and the season before, so what's changed?

If we strengthened like we should have in the summer then we should have improved the first 11 but that clearly hasn't happened.
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We didn't compete v Bayer Leverkusen or Slavia at Ibrox. Lyon were in CL semis very recently.
 
For some reason our form has been poor, I think the same team, this time last season would have got something from this game.
Our energy levels have dropped to a very low standard we have stopped our high press when last season we were running on top of teams. Don't no if its players with knocks or a change in our style. We need to get back.
 
DJ_RFC_1872 said:
Europa League is our level.

UCL money will be nice next season tho.
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Heard folk saying just as well we never got into UCL this year. That’s nonsense. We need a player upgrade. We’ve a stronger squad no doubt but first team isn’t progressing a great deal.
 
Bulletproof said:
There is a a difference between negativity and being a realist. I don't see the OP as anything but being realistic. On the subject of being realistic I think our aim going forward will be to get in champs league groups and prob finish third and maybe every couple of years actually get out of the group.
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Agreed. OP is spot on.

We didn't really get going tonight, but a lot of that was down to how comfortable Lyon were. Reminded me of the Leverkusen tie as well.

No shame in it at all, sometimes you just come up against better teams.

Look at their squad and the talent throughout...they're simply better than us.
 
My worry at the moment is how poor we’ve been across all 5 of our European games this season, a massive drop-off from Gerrard’s teams the previous 3 seasons.

We need a big performance both in Prague to keep ourselves in the group and domestically to shake off the cobwebs.
 
RfcIbrox said:
Heard folk saying just as we we never got into UCL this year. That’s nonsense. We need a player upgrade. We’ve a stronger squad no doubt but first team isn’t progressing a great deal.
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The guys signed haven't hit the ground running but the player linked is a positive win league and get them signed with that money.

Really want Veerman and Doekhi for example.
 
DonDraper said:
In short they are a side buying players for £10-£15 million looking to sell them for £30 million, we are club signing player for £50 k to £4 million looking to sell them for £10- £15 million. We will always be miles behind them
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I think what frustrates me is knowing if we were given the money we would be challenging at the very top . I’d jump at the chance to leave Scotland tomorrow if we could . Even if it meant not winning the league every year . To be an elite club we need out of this country
 
Thought we were just a level or two below them. We were playing within ourselves but they were pretty comfortable keeping us at bay and picking us off on the break.

Did ourselves few favours with the pedestrian pace, silly fouls playing into their hands and obviously unforced errors at times. But always felt they could have gone up a few gears if they needed to as well.

Disappointing night and a pretty dull affair in all honesty, but a dose of reality more than anything. Up against a very good team who were simply better.
 
Rangers in Europe last season would have seen them off, didn't think they were that great, absolute basic Street mistake ridden football from us was the difference, countless times we gave possession away in key areas, no one looking to fill the spaces, 2nd to every loose ball, we hunted teams down last year, now we are affording them, acres of space, no idea why we've changed
 
They won’t be far away from winning it, they are packed with players who cost and would be sold for a fortune

me aren’t really meant to be at their level
 
Potnbear said:
Rangers in Europe last season would have seen them off, didn't think they were that great, absolute basic Street mistake ridden football from us was the difference, countless times we gave possession away in key areas, no one looking to fill the spaces, 2nd to every loose ball, we hunted teams down last year, now we are affording them, acres of space, no idea why we've changed
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Second to every lose ball is right, they were well drilled - it seemed they just made a challenge -not necessarily to win the ball , knowing a team mate with be there to get the ball.
 
They were fa superior to us on many levels. Their defence was largely untroubled and both the 8 and 10 looked excellent players. Some of the interplays from midfield to attack were very effective and, thankfully, they didn’t have their top forwards on the park.

Also thought the young lad Gusto at right back looked pretty talented and the level of sportsmanship he showed probably showed his youth.

The level of gamesmanship displayed by the rest of the team, in fact, every other team we face in Europe is quite staggering.
 
I'm just in from the game and (thankfully) haven't even looked at the match thread and only just scan read this one so I might be going against popular opinion but I don't think there was too much of a gulf between the two teams.
We were slightly below par tonight and that will always cause a problem when you're playing against a team of Lyons calibre.
If we didn't contrive to lose that ridiculous second goal and Tavs free kick was two inches lower it would have been a completely different ball game.

Tin hat now firmly in place!
 
sammy1872 said:
I think what frustrates me is knowing if we were given the money we would be challenging at the very top . I’d jump at the chance to leave Scotland tomorrow if we could . Even if it meant not winning the league every year . To be an elite club we need out of this country
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Rangers are an elite club playing in a tiny league with next to no tv money. We have punched above our weight the last 2 years. All things equal we could compete but a country of 5 million won’t get the tv money of a country of 50 million, it is actually that simple. Sky bt et al have made football a monopoly imo just look at Ajax. A giant of European football but now normally struggle to compete whilst let’s say Leicester city are fancied to win the europa league. It’s set up that the smaller countries have actually no chance and until that changes or we can join some sort of league that people want to watch it won’t change. I’m of the age where Dundee Utd were getting to uefa cup finals. No tv money just hard work. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can compete with the present circumstances.
 
These teams are bringing guys like shaquiri off the bench lol I dont know what people expect.

Lyon had several gears they could go up IMO, with missing players like dembele, kadaware etc.
 
Reading through and several good points made. Especially, apart from the 2 goals, McGregor had little to do. We forced their keeper into several good saves. I don't think anyone had a bad game tonight but a few, weren't at their best. But, if 1 of our chances had gone in, it could have been such a different game. In short, I think we afforded them too much respect and really should have pressed them from the off, but, we didn't. Their 2nd goal was so deflating and looked like it killed any belief we had, both from the players on the pitch and the support.
 
To take on teams of that quality we need to be at our very best, we are miles away from that at the present time
I have seen much better Rangers teams lose to teams that weren't as good as them, unfortunately they were just better than us
 
We are not the team of last season. There's something not quite right too many of our better players are off the pace. Frankly that team are beatable. I think Braga were a better side.
 
Fine margins.

I’ve seen us torn apart by far better European opposition but still managed to get a result. It was hardly a backs to the wall performance.

I don’t think we are that far away from Lyon, we haven’t started this season and missing key players.

Did McGregor make a save apart from the one at the second goal ?
 
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