Positives from Barcelona

[calscot 0]

I might be out on a limb on my own here but I believe I saw a lot of positives in the game at the Nou Camp.

 

I don't think a Rangers team of the last 3 or 4 seasons could have come away with a low scoreline and many would have been embarrassed.

 

We weren't embarrassed and I was pleased with most of the defending which I thought was very organised and very skillful. I was also very pleased with how we were in possession. There was no likenesses of rabbits in headlights, no hot potato, and all our players looked reasonably comforable on the ball and passed it about quite well - until they ran out of options in the last third due to lack of numbers.

 

In fact some of the play with the ball at their feet was as good as anything Barcelona produced.

 

I still actually feel a bit hard done by in the defeat, that goal should never have stood and brings back thoughts of tv replays like they have now in Rugby.

 

You could say the goal was coming but you could have said that at Ibrox, and it didn't.

 

Going back a step to the header, Papac's lapse was one of the very few in the game and I doubt Messi would have been so accurate had he been challenged by a focused left back.

 

The second goal was also slightly fortunate in that the good save from an excellent one-two rebounded straight to Messi rather than one of several Rangers players in the vicinity.

 

As for Barca's other chances, not many were close, and MacGregor didn't make any better saves than the two of his opposite number.

 

Rijkaard stated that it could have been 6-0, but by my reckoning we could just as easily argue it could have been 2-0 to Rangers.

 

In the end, for a comparatively inexpensive team cobbled together in the summer, we look very hard to beat even by the best teams in Europe.

 

If we can perform that well at Barcelona then we have every chance of good results against the lesser lights of Europe.

 

We have a lot of young players who are standing up to be counted at this airiated level and with a bit more time, I think that Walter can achieve great things in his second stint at the club.

[Gazza_8 233]

To counter your arguement Calscot I've just spoken to my mate who went to Barcelona to watch Rangers and he's gutted and annoyed at Rangers. He spent all that money to get there to watch a "training session".

 

I had to agree with him. It's one thing to be defensive but we were ultra defensive for about 80 minutes.

[ian1964 10,461]

You're not on your own with that view mate,as far as i'm concerned we actually looked a decent side,defended well, kept posession well,but we did fail in the last third and that's not a criticism just a fact,combined with the result at Ibrox I think we proved we are a good side and will get better

[DJBlue72 0]

Thought we didi ok in Barca ,

we were too cautious in the first half and invited an onslaught , and Henry's goal wouldnt have stood had a decent linesman been running the line ,

 

2nd half we were a lot better and looking to play a bit more i thought we might have sneaked one at the death with Novo clean through but better teams will go to the Nou Camp and lose by more than 2 goals ,

 

really think we can win in Stuttgart and if Barca beat Lyon were there with a game to spare

[ian1964 10,461]

I think we've got to be confident of winning in Stuttgart,not saying it will be easy,but we're not a bad side either and after back to back games against the mighty Barca we should be well prepared,and I can't see Barca failing to eat Lyon,and then we're home and dry !!!!!!

[calscot 0]

If it was a training session then to me it was pretty worthwhile. The team have spent 180 minutes training against the arguably the best attacking team in Europe.

 

To come away after only conceding one legitimate goal in those 180 minutes suggests that this training could be invaluable for the rest of our campaign.

 

I'm sure it has done the confidence of the defence the power of good and they will have learned much from the games.

 

After the way we've played in all the CL games, your mate was pretty naive not to expect a very defensive display in Barca, so I've no sympathy whatsoever. I'd also like to see him put together a team with the ability to attack Barca at will.

 

Seems to me that some of our fans would prefer the CL nights with Laudrup in the team where we got gubbed home and away.

 

Seems like Barca fans would prefer to be gubbed by team that attacks them, denies them the ball and scores a few spectacular goals.

 

Barca seemed to show a masterclass in attacking, while Rangers showed a masterclass in defending. You get to see great implementations of both sides of the beautiful game, so why the complaints?

 

I've watched all the Celtic games and they may have been exciting but also naive. They only scraped through against Spartak while giving their fans heart attacks, we bulldozed our way past Red Star with narey a heart in mouth moment.

 

We've got 7 points to their 6 and we have two apparently easier games to go in what was originally considered a harder group.

 

Celtic don't seemed to have learned much from the Artmedia thrashing where they chased the game. Walter has clearly learned from his thrashings in Europe and his pragmatism will bring us far better results, if not always the prettiest.

[Gazza_8 233]

After the way we've played in all the CL games, your mate was pretty naive not to expect a very defensive display in Barca, so I've no sympathy whatsoever. I'd also like to see him put together a team with the ability to attack Barca at will.

 

Seems to me that some of our fans would prefer the CL nights with Laudrup in the team where we got gubbed home and away.

 

Is it too much to have asked that Rangers maybe attack a wee bit more than they did? I totally understand the way we defended up until HT but being 2-0 we should've been that wee bit more attacking.

 

So, basically what you're saying Calscot is that as long as the defenders got a good work out against top quality players the attacking players in our team weren't needed and didn't have an important role as the defenders?

[pete 2,499]

You're not on your own with that view mate,as far as i'm concerned we actually looked a decent side,defended well, kept posession well,but we did fail in the last third and that's not a criticism just a fact,combined with the result at Ibrox I think we proved we are a good side and will get better

 

The only last third we saw was our own. That was the only place we didn't fail.

[Gribz 743]

It was a game of 2 halfs from us IMO.

 

First half was negative, cautious, defensive, - whatever.

 

Second half (or once we went 4-4-2) - we tried to get the ball on the deck and play a bit of football but the tie was already over.

 

There are a few ways of looking at it:

Was this game was a write off when the fixtures were made?

Are we happy it wasnt a cricket score?

Should we have attacked with nothing to lose?

Would a hammering have ruined confidence for the Stuttgart and Lyon games?

Was the intention just to keep the score down?

 

It was almost mission impossible to win in the Nou Camp. They are a terrific side with 3 strikers who are arguably the best in the world. Id have just like to have had a bit more of a go at them but its done now. Lets bring on the Stuttgart.

[Whosthedado 1,523]

It was a game of 2 halfs from us IMO.

 

First half was negative, cautious, defensive, - whatever.

 

Second half (or once we went 4-4-2) - we tried to get the ball on the deck and play a bit of football but the tie was already over.

 

There are a few ways of looking at it:

Was this game was a write off when the fixtures were made?

Are we happy it wasnt a cricket score?

Should we have attacked with nothing to lose?

Would a hammering have ruined confidence for the Stuttgart and Lyon games?

Was the intention just to keep the score down?

 

It was almost mission impossible to win in the Nou Camp. They are a terrific side with 3 strikers who are arguably the best in the world. Id have just like to have had a bit more of a go at them but its done now. Lets bring on the Stuttgart.

 

Some answers to Gribz's questions from my point of view

 

1 Yes I did write off the game at the Nou Camp as one we wouldn't get any points. To be honest I thought it was a major boost to get one at Ibrox.

2 Not many teams will go to the Nou Camp and restrict Barca to so few 'genuine clear cut chances'.

3 If we had attacked them I think that plays totally ionto a team like Barca's hands. We were fortunate a couple of times in the 2nd half when there final pass was poor on the break.

I think the Lyon and Stuttgart games are seperate games and ones we will approach in a slightly more attcking frame of mind although we can't afford to underestimate the Germans. By some accounts they were unlucky not totake something from Lyon. If you had said to us at the start of the group that we would have a home game against Lyon and the winner goes through I think we definitely would have taken that