The problem Rangers have now is that due to our failure to take any kind of lead to the Philips Stadion, we now have to figure out a way to secure an away win under a manager who has been very very poor for them in his managerial career.
While regulars will know we have nothing but respect for Gio, his away record in Europe is absolutely howling as a manager, with just one single win, and it was v Dortmund.
Every other result has a loss, bar three draws – and one of them was a dead rubber v Lyon.
And we’re including Feyenoord here as well.
In the Champions League he’s lost every away match he’s played, bar none. Whether it’s group or qualifying, Giovanni has never picked up anything on his European travels as a manager, and we’re asking him to reverse that trend after he was unable to win on our patch?
It’s a big ask.
As one reader reminded us, we’re still in this tie, and he’s right, we are.
Which is why despite history not being in our favour at all here, this is Gio’s chance to reverse the trend. However we do it, we need to win on the night to get to the CL.
And this is why the home leg was a bit of a missed opportunity.
PSV will be a much more capable outfit on their own turf, and they were evidently pretty solid in Govan as it stands.
Rangers certainly far from played poorly, but PSV are quite a leap from Union Saint and the bulk of the sides we faced in the UEL, so this really is a big task ahead of us.
Can we do it?
The last time we won away from home at this kind of level in the UCL was right back to that famous night in France v Lyon in 2007, with a 0-3 win, but that was at the group stage. In 2005 we overcame Famagusta away from home to secure a place in the group stage.
But this was a different time.
This really is a big, big ask. 2-2 was not a horrible result, but we didn’t get the breathing room we craved. We don’t take a cushion to Holland.
Unlike Mikey Mols’ day, we didn’t beat PSV at home with something to spare before we travelled to Holland for our second group match with them.
It’s on a knife edge, and the advantage is with the Dutch.
We just have to have faith that Gio can defy the odds and pull off the biggest win of his managerial career.
He’s done that before…
Rangers and Celtic are not Champions league teams. The quicker we realise that.then maybe we can move forward. We all know Celtic are not going to qualify for the champions league later stage. Our only hope of Rangers or Celtic lifting a European trophy is one of the lower European trophies. The quicker we realise this. Then we can move on
You miss the point about the Champions League. No one is saying we can win it, or compete with the top teams, or even get out the group. It’s ALL about the money at stake even if we don’t perform well. Can you imagine the money we could make if we get through 2 qualifying rounds to reach the CL group stages, lose to the big guns then finish 3rd to drop into the Europa League. The Europa League IS our level but that doesn’t mean we need to go directly there.
I suppose you could say same about sheeerif ? yes me neither … farncvaros ,midjytland (who we beat ) krasnodor,rennes,dynamo kiev,atalanta ,lokomotiv moscow,shakhtar donetsk ,olimpiakos who have been in CL in recent years and I would back us to beat 100% .
We have as much right to participate as these “GIANTS” so no point being a cup half full …lets get right in to them dortmund style tuesday and mix with the big guns once more where we belong !
*cup half empty …..lol
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