The Seville ‘blame game’ for Rangers

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The Seville ‘blame game’ for Rangers
SEVILLE, SPAIN - MAY 18: Rangers line up during a penalty shoot out during the UEFA Europa League final match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers FC at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on May 18, 2022 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Now, before we continue this piece, there’s a subset of Rangers supporters who first surfaced when Steven Gerrard left.

Any discussion about the man was greeted by this group with ‘he’s gone, ffs move on’.

And indeed, that group likes to dismiss any articles/debate/conversation about anything contentious from the past with ‘it’s gone, get over it ffs’.

If you are one of them, this article isn’t for you and your opinion doesn’t matter in this piece and will be ignored.

So with that all said, we wanted to have a look at the UEL final, and specifically, ‘the blame game’.

Following the final, Aaron Ramsey was getting it thick, with all kinds of abuse about his merits or otherwise. That lead to a response at Hampden where fans gave him support, albeit he played no part and merely warmed up.

Instead, the ‘blame’ began to shift slowly over to both Connor Goldson, and lesserly, Ryan Kent.

Goldson’s defending was poor, and he did indeed allow a cross past him. Calvin Bassey let his man get goalside, but Goldson should never have let that ball through – Bassey’s mistake should never have been exposed in the first place.

Then there’s Kent. He absolutely botched a last-minute chance to win the cup, dunting it straight at Kevin Trapp rather than firmly battering the ball into an empty net.

There is of course Bassey too – with Scott Wright having cocked up letting the cross in, Goldson failing miserably to clear, the Nigerian isn’t free from blame having let his man get goal side. He didn’t defend well at all himself, as brilliantly as he played otherwise.

That’s five names.

Aaron Ramsey, Connor Goldson, Scott Wright, Ryan Kent and Calvin Bassey.

At what point do we accept no one was to blame, and we win as a team and lose as a team?

Every member of a team is responsible for mistakes, for gaffes, and they all take part in great goals and wins.

Winning and losing in football is a team game – none of the players deserves blame, because of how football works.

Individuals will always make errors, it’s part of the sport.

But it’s our contention no one is to blame for anything that happened in Seville. Ramsey might have missed, but Goldson’s error led to that situation arising. So did Bassey’s. Kent could have won it too, but if Wright had blocked the cross in the first place, Kent could have been in line to make it 0-2 to Rangers, rather than 1-2.

As it is, it is what it was. We lost, and it hurt. But there’s no one to blame for any of it. Only the whole team to praise for getting there.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Sorry but Ramsey is to blame as missing a penalty at that level…You noticed no doubt Alan McGregor had NO chance of saving their five penalties!!

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