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Good luck for the game I will drink a few of Der Berliner's beers tonight, and bought some ear-plugs too, just to be in the safe side.

Given the circumstances, that is a really good result tonight. Everything that could go wrong decision wise did and add in two serious injuries to Rice and Sterling, then we bad luck doesn't begin to cover it. Yes, we didn't play well per se but we're still in the tie. Job done.

Yeah, peak Morelos was so good at that. I think that's why others scored so much more then too, he occupied at least one, often 2 defenders, was still able to either hold it up, lay it off or draw a foul allowing Kent, Aribo, Arfield, Roofe etc to use the space he'd created. Igamane has shown moments that he might be able to do this, but he's not there yet.

Very good performance given the early red card. Patch Sunday and keep everyone fit for next Thursday

I didn't think much of them, apart from the penalty save Kelly was never troubled. Two bad injuries, I hope they are not too bad. Now I'm going to jinx it, us at our best we can get a result over there.

In fairness, everyone thought we were getting pumped tonight. We held on with nine men in the end, and Liam Kelly didn't actually have too much to do. I fancy us at full strength.

I think I lean more to Real Sociedad as my Basque club, it's the blue colours plus Arteta. Athletic Club are fascinating, I admire their signing policy and love how they built their new(ish) ground. I'm uncomfortable with some of the politics their fans bring (as I am with Rangers...). They'll love the St Etienne bike in our boardroom, cycle racing is more popular than football there.

I agree about Igamane. He looks like he has the potential to be a great player and with a better temperament than Morelos.

Proud of our players tonight. Up to them to have a go now at their own midden Fancy our chances....i'm feeling it

This is what the UB do best

When you think about it, Maeda and St Maximin have run Tav ragged, yet he stood up to the best of the lot tonight.

Brilliant mentality to have from Kelly! “ I just wanted to help the team, I don’t really care about me” 👏👏👏👏👏

Dunno how we manage to find people, even build like an ox in Sterling's case, and they don't survive three games on the trot. Great performance, albeit being backs to the walls for most of the 102 mins ...

This mob are no hibs are they

Officiating has been junior level today. Refs going home with new Rolexes and fur coats for the mrs.

Propper prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity as, without the 'tackle', Williams Major was through with only Kelly to beat. Is this not a standard red card? We'll soon see if 'taking one for the team' was worthwhile. The Basques have been less fearsome than I thought.

I say well done Barry, He's done what he thinks is right. Butland needed dropped in particular, but a bit of an all round shake up was necessary. The general set looks good to my eye.

It's hard to find reasons -or even a reason- to approach tonight's match with anything other than trepidation. After the performance against the Leith XI, I expect very little against the Basques, and that irrespective of selection, and shape. In particular, the Williams boys , on either flank give me cold sweats, and shivers. It's not the DTs, it's The Fear, as it's known by some, on here. Both lads are capable of tearing our backs a new one. The younger sibling, Nico, will probably be the next 100M+ player. We'll need to double or treble up on both flanks. The days of the early reducer are in the past, alas. We have had decent, some more than decent, performances in European competition - Govan glory nights against more fancied sides. I do not propose to take that history to the bank. Determination, perspiration, concentration, inspiration, and ambition, are all needed, all at the same time, all from the off, and all for the full 90. It would help if a leader with command on the pitch, somehow emerged, fully formed. It's a beautiful night for football. I hope, against hope, that it ends well.

I'm normally optimistic about our chances but I fear the worst tonight. C'mon Gers.

Hopefully this is not home defeat number six 🤞🏻 At least a draw would give us a fighting chance over there. C'mon The Gers

Morelos would beat him hands down in taking the ball with his back to goal and redistributing it. Dessers doesn't do enough of that for me.

Was at game and did not see incident with Rice as I was looking at the main stand linesman who for the umpteenth time flagged late for an offside. I have been saying for years that a serious injury was likely due to this stupod rule and it finally happened.

We live to fight another day a bit more guile in our half backs and if our centre forward is on his game they can win this match over in Spain.

Don't ever talk to me about Scottish refs again.

I thought his run was taking him wide of the goal and a harder angle to score. I don’t think looking at his run trajectory and given how close other defenders were to him how it can be such an obvious goal scoring opportunity. https://x.com/footballontnt/status/1910411561283223998?s=46

Fucking ball was miles out.

Not just Scottish refs, eh?

Subs and the timing of those subs will be crucial in the 2nd half.

In the directors box

Tavernier again posting missing on the right flank ...

Never a red, but there was no need for him to go to ground there. Stupid.

... my memories of Scum players starts only with the likes of Brian McClair, Anton Rogan, and Frank McAvennie.

35/1 Rangers to win one nil and Dessers the scorer . Just getting ready to go home from Glasgow plenty of support for tonight's opponents all noisy and colourful in their red and white tops

You get 3 Carlsberg Extra Strong and be quiet anyways ...

Diego Tristan, yes! Molina, Naybet, Mauro Silva, Pablo, Juan Carlos Valeron, Scaloni, Roy Makaay, Fran, Capdevila. It was a good side.

I agree with you. I think Dessers is wasteful. The xG does not show he is performing 'well'. It shows he is performing slightly below average (a 0.52 difference is not insignificant). It's just that he's not as wasteful as you or I thought he was. Combining the data with what I see, I would suggest that he tends to miss easy chances and score harder chances (e.g. Dundee Utd), which would skew the numbers slightly. He does only average 2-3 shots a game (64 shots he has taken this season) so his misses are more obvious. At the end of the day, 12 goals in 32 league games from a number 9 is not great. It's also more of a problem because no one else is scoring - Dessers is hitting the same numbers, or better, than Morelos (excluding the fact that Morelos was a superior player in all other regards, IMO). It's interesting that you see the variance between the data and what you see and think, 'the data is bollocks'; whereas I see the variance and think, 'let's dig deeper into the context to try explain it.'

Ok, apologies. Where's the error? It's based on what has actually happened. I don't know what you mean by 'fact.' It's just the probability. And it is just a discussion point. Let's simplify it and just consider penalties. From the historical data, penalties are scored 79% of the time. You can watch them all back. It gets a value of 0.79 xG. The only fact is that a penalty has been scored 79% of the time in the past. That's indisputable, surely? We then analyse the data by comparing it to what actually happens. (It's the variance that is interesting, as it can be analysed: Are the players rubbish or just unlucky? Are the chances poor quality? Are we not creating enough? Is a player scoring less or more than he should be? Who is getting chances from high xG situations?) A one-off penalty won't tell you much. If after 10 penalties and the player has 2 goals from an xG of 7.9 (10 * 0.79), then he's rubbish. As I've said, the Opta model goes into much, much more detail and volume than what anyone could ever judge with their own eyes. Have a browse of this article, which will explain it better than I ever could: https://theanalyst.com/2023/08/what-is-expected-goals-xg

If you are talking appearances, it's Morelos 0.46 goals per appearance vs Dessers' 0.45 goals per appearance. But I don't like that because a 2 minute spell is considered an appearance. Per 90, it's Morelos 0.56 goals per 90 mins vs Dessers' 0.65 goals per 90 mins. Dessers is the better goalscorer.

2-1 FGS Dessers, My daughter and I were at the MyGers Broxi party last night at Edminson house and got treated to a surprise visit from the man himself Dessers and Ross McCausland both down-to-earth guys. Fantastic evening last night.

All players. Otherwise it's meaningless. It's comparing millions of shots. xG measures the quality of a chance by calculating the likelihood that it will be scored by using information on millions of similar shots in the past. If you were to hypothetically put Fran Sandaza in the exact same position that Dessers was in, it would still be 12.52 xG. Because, historically, that's the result of millions of shots in the past. Sandaza was rubbish, so he'd score, say, 6 goals or fewer from that xG of 12.52. That difference would suggest he was rubbish - or really unlucky. If you were to substitute in Haaland or Ronaldo, they might score, say, 18 plus goals from that 12.52 xG. That difference would suggest they are good strikers. Haaland's first season at City saw him score 36 goals from an xG of 28.76, which is unbelievable. Subsequent seasons - which I think would align with most people's view - he hasn't quite been as clinical, he's hitting his xG quite closely. Obviously he's getting lots of chances, so he'll have a higher xG and he'll get more goals. The key thing is how they compare. I would expect a Rangers striker to hit their xG. I would also expect a Rangers striker to get lots of chances, so higher xG and high goals. However, our team is not creating good chances (hence the low xG), and few of them, at the moment. Dessers averages under 4 shots a game, which is not a lot, really. With Dessers, it feels like he misses good chances and scores more difficult ones. This link has more information, if you're interested: https://theanalyst.com/2023/08/what-is-expected-goals-xg

Naw should have saved that

But very inconsistent and been on a bad run since Brugge knocked them out of the CL. Surprisingly, Brugge looked comfortable against them (home and away). For every 4 or 5 nil victory there is a 1-0 defeat. Lost their last 3 games since winning 4-0 away to Juventus. On their day, a great team to watch but very frustrating and inconsistent.