Europa League - possible opponents

[calscot 0]

You've got to enjoy European football when we get it and right now we've as good a chance of progressing than we have had on average throughout the last 35 years. A second round exit used to be the norm so we only got to see about four European games which perhaps made it more of a treat. The fact we've got at least eight and maybe more is something to savour especially as our performances have been pretty decent compared to most years.

 

We were the poor relations in our group and yet were better than Bursaspor and competed with Man U and Valencia. Indeed considering the size and cost of our squad we could have done with a bit more luck and it wouldn't have taken much for us to have achieved another win and two draws against those two leading European teams - and maybe even qualified. I've also enjoyed a lot of the football that we've played, even though most of it is sitting in defence. But even the latter has a satisfaction to it, considering how tight we were at the back, as it showed a lot of Scottish character as well as a certain sophistication and wisdom about the game. I really like it when we're the savvy ones.

 

Despite the negative nancies on here (do they ever actually ENJOY watching Rangers?), I'm looking forward to our next games with reasonable confidence we can give a good showing and have a good chance of getting through. Of course whether we spend in January and our injury situation will both play big parts.

 

Overall, I think it's already been one of our better European seasons and results-wise is pretty much a match for almost any other CL campaign bar '92.

 

It's been a great season so far despite the thinnest squad in modern history, so I'm hoping we can spend a modest amount and build on those strong foundations.

[Norris Cole 0]

To say this year is as good results-wise in the CL as any other season bar 1992/93 is slightly strange. For a start we didn't win any away games, as we did for example in Eindhoven in '99, Monaco in '00 and, gloriously, Lyon in '07. It's also hard to say it's a match for '05 when we got out of a group including two recent winners of the tournament.

 

What it has been is a vast improvement on last year and a return to respectability.

[maineflyer 0]

It's been a great season so far despite the thinnest squad in modern history, so I'm hoping we can spend a modest amount and build on those strong foundations.

It hasn't been a 'great season' or anything like it. That's simply inflating the truth to the point of wishful thinking. We've started the season OK in domestic competitions without ever achieving the standard of play that would attract descriptions like 'great'. The most you can say about Europe is that it has been a relief not to fail utterly like last year - but we are still in the same old circle where we start well and then fade badly. Neither has the club been sold, the managerial future been resolved, or funds yet been allocated to strengthen the playing staff.

 

Ffs, I'm at a complete loss to see where any of this could be considered to be 'great'.

[Zappa 0]

I think calscot was meaning it's been a great season so far all round, not specifically in the CL and tbh I think he's right. We won our first nine league games for the first time since 1919, we're still in the cups and still in Europe. If that's not a 'great season so far' (as cal put it) then I really don't know what is.

[Totti 0]

It's been a great season so far despite the thinnest squad in modern history, so I'm hoping we can spend a modest amount and build on those strong foundations.

You could get a job on the Rangers website with the bullshit you come out with

[Norris Cole 0]

You could get a job on the Rangers website with the bullshit you come out with

 

I think he's Lindsay Herron.

[rbr 1,247]

It hasn't been a 'great season' or anything like it. That's simply inflating the truth to the point of wishful thinking. We've started the season OK in domestic competitions without ever achieving the standard of play that would attract descriptions like 'great'. The most you can say about Europe is that it has been a relief not to fail utterly like last year - but we are still in the same old circle where we start well and then fade badly. Neither has the club been sold, the managerial future been resolved, or funds yet been allocated to strengthen the playing staff.

 

Ffs, I'm at a complete loss to see where any of this could be considered to be 'great'.

 

I think it just shows how low our actual aspirations have fallen when this season can be described as "great" , what we are actually doing is surviving , every �£�£�£�£�£ that we manage to wring from europe whilst avoiding losing points in the league is a bonus , but at best we are treading water .

[calscot 0]

You could get a job on the Rangers website with the bullshit you come out with

 

You should try growing up; we're here to talk and debate about Rangers, not to throw insults around because you have a hard-on for trashing the team you say you support at every opportunity. Try a Tims website, you'll get a lot more of your own kind of talk there.

[calscot 0]

I think it just shows how low our actual aspirations have fallen when this season can be described as "great" , what we are actually doing is surviving , every �£�£�£�£�£ that we manage to wring from europe whilst avoiding losing points in the league is a bonus , but at best we are treading water .

 

What aspirations? Winning the league? Winning the league cup? Or do you really think we're perpetual contenders for a competition we've never won in our history?

 

Money and takeovers have absolutely nothing to do with our results on the pitch so far - only for the future.

 

Tell me, what is not so great about being top of the league with 37 points and 42 goals in 14 games? What's not great about being the semifinal of the League Cup? What's so poor about having what is a better than average European campaign with keeping our pride against two of the best sides in Europe?

 

Tell you something, I'm not that old but I remember many, many worse starts to the season and few better.

 

You know there is something very wrong with today's fans when it is frowned upon to be pleased with the above results.

 

If that's treading water, then we've being doing that for 95% of our history and probably drowning 50% of the time.

 

I can't remember when our aspirations have been that much greater where actually think that winning a couple of trophies a season and having the odd European run is something to be miserable about.

 

We may have hoped to win a European trophy in the past, but we never actually expected it and we still celebrated winning a league and cup double. We didn't moan how bad things were when we were top of the league and still in three more competitions.

 

I'm really at a loss to understand what some people's expectations are.

[Frankie 8,186]

Come on folks - let's be a bit more respectful towards other's opinions.

 

The season (or more accurately the football) may not have been truly great so far but considering the circumstances we're in, neither has it been too bad. That isn't to say we can't look for more but there's nothing wrong with a bit of positivity on occasion.