Well it's the morning after and I have to say, it still feels like a defeat.
Our inability to see out a game we are comfortably winning is a bit bewildering to be honest; now 2 on the spin against Benfica. Of course people will point to it being Benfica and I get that, but to me, that is a moot point as we were still 2 goals to the good with what, 15 mins in both games to go.
I know it was discussed quite a bit last night on the 'Live' article but it does need addressing - the lack of substitutions.
FFS - It was abundantly clear that some of the players were pretty much passengers on the pitch - they had given their all and were blowing out of their erses. Great to see to be honest - they had left everything on the pitch. But the manager and his team must've have realised that and acted accordingly. He had enough on the bench to introduce and re-energise the team when they clearly needed it but chose not to - still can't get my head around that. Even bringing on Helander and playing a back 5 to see out the game would probably have worked.
Maybe my/our expectations of this side are a bit too high nowadays but why not.
Anyway - we are looking good to make the knockout stages as I can't see us not getting at least 2 points from the remaining 2 matches; hopefully we will get it done in the first against Liege. Aribo and Jack were sorely missed last night so hope to have them available for the Liege game.
From a financial perspective - it is very important that we progress as far as we can in the EL given the debt (albeit manageable) the club has. Who knows - the draw may be lucky to us should we make it through.
Falkirk up next and without risking losing the tie, it is imperative that we rest as many of our 'key' players as possible without compromising the quality.
Hey-ho; onwards and upwards.
Rangers v Benfica
posted on 27/11/20
If any of Aribo, Jack or Zungu were available there would've been more questions asked from me.
posted on 27/11/20
Hagi is fine, i think saying his confidence is shot is well off. Just off the back of doing the business for his country and got a good number of assists for us for the games he's played.
I'm not too downhearted about last night, they had luck in their first goal and we were denied a stonewall penalty. The game would have been won but i can accept the manager should have made subs.
Helander has made one mistake, he was the obvious one with 15 to go, Hagi is better in possession than what we had with Arfield or even Morelos/Kent at that stage. He really should have been able to see we needed freshening up but if we are caning Gerrard for a mistake/gamble he took then lets also say what he got right which was pretty much everything else
posted on 27/11/20
comment by Hot Shot Hamish (U21959)
posted 2 hours, 25 minutes ago
I can understand to some degree the argument about putting subs on.
And I would accept tiredness as being maybe the main issue if Benfica had absolutely ran us ragged for the last 15/20 minutes.
But Benfica rolled the dice and played some good attacking football for a period of about ten minutes.
There was still ten minutes to go plus injury time when they scored the leveller. And I dont think McGregor had a shot to save after the equaliser.
I think it was more down to Benfica throwing bodies forward and taking some risks that got them their goal tbh.
Yes it might have freshened it up a bit if we had put a couple of subbies on, But I am not convinced our lack of substitutions was the key factor.
I think it was Benfica were 2-0 down and they brought on more attacking players, mixed it up with men further up the park and it paid off.
They are a good team and will go far in this tournament.
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Benfica played good football because we were clearly blowing out their erse. First hour players were getting back and into the positions. Last half hours players were struggling to get the shape, struggling with their touches etc.
Even Gerrard identified and said it in the press conference that Benfica took advantage of our fatigue. So he knew it was a key factor.
Idea that our subs weren’t good enough is just ridiculous. Guys like Hagi and Barker have played in big games, could’ve thrown Bassey up on the wing, Itten on up top, they would’ve injected pace and energy and given a clear out ball.
It’s done. But we had what two injuries (not counting Zungu as he’s played less than any), so if we only now have 13 players that can play we’re in huge trouble and it’ll only kill the legs of those 13.
posted on 27/11/20
comment by RenegadeOF (U9457)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by Hot Shot Hamish (U21959)
posted 2 hours, 25 minutes ago
I can understand to some degree the argument about putting subs on.
And I would accept tiredness as being maybe the main issue if Benfica had absolutely ran us ragged for the last 15/20 minutes.
But Benfica rolled the dice and played some good attacking football for a period of about ten minutes.
There was still ten minutes to go plus injury time when they scored the leveller. And I dont think McGregor had a shot to save after the equaliser.
I think it was more down to Benfica throwing bodies forward and taking some risks that got them their goal tbh.
Yes it might have freshened it up a bit if we had put a couple of subbies on, But I am not convinced our lack of substitutions was the key factor.
I think it was Benfica were 2-0 down and they brought on more attacking players, mixed it up with men further up the park and it paid off.
They are a good team and will go far in this tournament.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Benfica played good football because we were clearly blowing out their erse. First hour players were getting back and into the positions. Last half hours players were struggling to get the shape, struggling with their touches etc.
Even Gerrard identified and said it in the press conference that Benfica took advantage of our fatigue. So he knew it was a key factor.
Idea that our subs weren’t good enough is just ridiculous. Guys like Hagi and Barker have played in big games, could’ve thrown Bassey up on the wing, Itten on up top, they would’ve injected pace and energy and given a clear out ball.
It’s done. But we had what two injuries (not counting Zungu as he’s played less than any), so if we only now have 13 players that can play we’re in huge trouble and it’ll only kill the legs of those 13.
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100% on the money.
posted on 27/11/20
I’m not for a minute going to sit here and say I’m happy we drew that game last night instead of winning it.
However, there is a small part of me that, in a way, sees the collapse last night as perhaps a good thing.
With everything we are doing right and everything that’s going on across the city, it would be very easy for us and the players to get a bit carried away with things, and start taking things for granted.
So the result last night may just serve as a wee reminder that we are not invincible, we can be beaten, and teams can score goals against us, and quickly too
So I was disappointed with the manner of the defeat, but at the same time, we can’t win every game this season, and if we are going to drop points and maybe get a wee wake up call, I’d rather it was in a game like that last night against Benfica in Europe, rather than trip up domestically with a pi$h poor performance against an also ran, like we have done so bloody often in recent years
posted on 27/11/20
‘ So the result last night may just serve as a wee reminder that we are not invincible, we can be beaten, and teams can score goals against us, and quickly too
So I was disappointed with the manner of the defeat, but at the same time, we can’t win every game this season, and if we are going to drop points and maybe get a wee wake up call, I’d rather it was in a game like that last night against Benfica in Europe, rather than trip up domestically with a pi$h poor performance against an also ran, like we have done so bloody often in recent years.’
You didn’t lose.
posted on 27/11/20
As I was reading through and scrolling down...
I could just see this was coming
posted on 27/11/20
Wasn’t going to miss that one.
posted on 28/11/20
comment by Hot Shot Hamish (U21959)
posted 11 hours, 29 minutes ago
I can understand to some degree the argument about putting subs on.
And I would accept tiredness as being maybe the main issue if Benfica had absolutely ran us ragged for the last 15/20 minutes.
But Benfica rolled the dice and played some good attacking football for a period of about ten minutes.
There was still ten minutes to go plus injury time when they scored the leveller. And I dont think McGregor had a shot to save after the equaliser.
I think it was more down to Benfica throwing bodies forward and taking some risks that got them their goal tbh.
Yes it might have freshened it up a bit if we had put a couple of subbies on, But I am not convinced our lack of substitutions was the key factor.
I think it was Benfica were 2-0 down and they brought on more attacking players, mixed it up with men further up the park and it paid off.
They are a good team and will go far in this tournament.
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Good point. And Morelos nearly scored a 3rd, due to Benfica commiting guys forward , unlucky having his shot saved onto the bar.
Gerrard made the correct call I think.
Good result in both games. 5-5 on aggregate, Rangers given the advantage in head to heads due to scoring more away goals.
Let's look at things another way - what criticism do you think Benfica fans are giving their team after those two games against us?
posted on 28/11/20
Some might say substitutions might have helped us keep Benfica out but who's to say it might not have disrupted the teams balance and Benfica might have scored a third.
Gerrards management and tactics have been near enough spot on this season and his unbeaten run continues.
Two cracking games of football to watch and we matched them in both games.
There's not anything to criticise as far as I'm concerned.