Difficult night for Rangers but goal changes everything

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Difficult night for Rangers but goal changes everything
210803 Steven Gerrard, head coach of Rangers during the UEFA Champions League qualifying match between Malmö FF and Rangers on August 3, 2021 in Malmö. Photo: Petter Arvidson / BILDBYRAN / kod PA / PA0261 fotboll football soccer fotball champions league kval qualifying round qualification rangers malmö ff bbeng *** 210803 Steven Gerrard, head coach of Rangers during the UEFA Champions League qualifying match between Malmö FF and Rangers on August 3, 2021 in Malmö Photo Petter Arvidson BILDBYRAN kod PA PA0261 fotboll football soccer fotball champions league kval qualifying round qualification rangers malmö ff bbeng, PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxSWExNORxAUT Copyright: PETTERxARVIDSON BB210803PA016

A critical goal from Steven Davis with the last kick of the ball tonight changed a potential difficult result into a more than decent one, but it doesn’t alter the reality check Rangers and some fans have received as a result of the overall performance and result, bar that last kick.

Yes, Rangers went into this one, their maiden voyage into the CL under the Steven Gerrard era, filled with a lot of optimism and belief Malmo were nothing to be bothered by.

Ibrox Noise has preached for months how this level is as high if not higher than the last 16 of the UEL, and that showed tonight as while our Swedish hosts were far from impressive, they were very canny, very much like Slavia Praha, and exploited the visiting team’s defensive naivety to get themselves in front on the night.

We can’t even suggest Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side have more CL experience than us recently because they last competed in it in 2015, and this Rangers side has only one player signed at that time.

The reality was Rangers were actually not bad in the first half, but exposed quite cruelly in the second, and that ruthlessness from the home side took advantage of Rangers’ vulnerabilities at the back, particularly that of James Tavernier and Connor Goldson, to get two quickfire goals at a crucial time.

It knocked all the wind out of Steven Gerrard’s men, and they struggled for most of the second half to lift themselves.

At this level, you have to be smart, and sharp – Rangers were neither of these tonight, and it’s a massive learning curve to take into next week.

The tie is far from dead, Davo saw to that, and we will have some players back for the return leg (we hope), but a lesson has been learned in just what it takes to win in the CL.

We aren’t going to make excuses about the ref – that’s for others to do. It wasn’t his best night but he didn’t concede the poor goals for us.

Hopefully good work is done in 7 days and the Ibrox Noise roars us to victory next week.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. It’s hard not to get hypercritical after that performance tonight but it’s very very frustrating when 2 of our stalwarts let the team down with poor defending and decision making at a key and critical phase of the match. Goldson and Taverner. Sorry I know it’s a little brutal but it was the case. Yes we missed a couple of our big guns Morelos and Kamara especially. Hopefully we can do the business . I’m sure SG and his coaching staff and the Team know the critical importance of this journey.

  2. The goals we conceeded were shocking and very unlike us of late. 3 bad minutes out of the 90 and it shows you how focused you need to be at this level as teams will punish you for your errors. Still, a goal at the death means it should be a different ball game infront of a packed out Ibrox and give us a decent chance of qualifying for the next round.

    • I don’t think you can claim it was unlike us. The signs were there from last seasons Europa League. Conceded 5 goals to Benfica, 2 against Standard Leige, 5 against Antwerp and 3 against Slavia Prague. It will only get worse in the Champions League and needs to be addressed.

  3. It wasn’t a great performance, but there’s not much I can really fault the players for. It was a CL qualifier and with so much at stake it was always going to be a tight affair. For the majority of the match, Malmö did not really test MacGregor. If I’m remembering things correctly, there were only one or two incidents when he was required to make a save in the first half.
    But what still rankles are those two or three minutes of sheer madness at the beginning of the second half, which could cost us dearly. You cannot get away with that kind of carelessness in defence at this level. Was it poor communication? Was it bad positional play? What worries me a bit is that this is not the first time in Europe. Take, for instance, those late goals we conceded against Benfica. Luckily, Steven Davis’ goal has given us a lifeline.
    As an aside, pity they scrapped the away goal rule.

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