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The Preview - Ajax - Questions and Comments needed (Patreon)

Published:
2022-10-28 17:00:09
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

With the final Champions League match against Ajax being little more than a friendly match Alex, Steven and Kevin are seeking your questions for The Preview show.

Comments

SC81

Will (potentially) having the worst ever CL record spur the players onto getting a draw or win?

Ross Stirling

With their previous exploits in Europe not firmly consigned to the past, what's really brought on the decline of Kent and Morelos, as on the Europa league nights over the last few years, they've really came to the fore as big players. Is it the gap in quality along with a serious drop in form, perhaps also brought on by a potential breakdown in contract talks (no info just a hunch).

Steven Harvey

Hello Gents - Same lines as David Clapperton’s Q. What is going on with the fitness levels? Is it just too many games, is it Gio shifting from the base fitness levels SG/MB liked to build or are the majority of the players who featured and lost the Europa league final struggling mentally? Also, what are you giving Big Strider before these pods that allows him to keep up that positivity? 😀

ali t

Does the manager actually know his best XI for this game and more importantly what it is when everyone is fit. Let's face it this is for cash & co-efficent only so domestically need to get act together.

ANDREW CUNNINGHAM

A question for future transfer windows is there any Scottish players you think is a possible loan in January or buys for the summer

John Smith

On the topic of Scottish managers, and please don’t hate me Steven, but I want to defend Robbie Nielson here. There’s no doubt that he can play quite bland, safe and boring football. However, I remember during his first spell with Hearts, he was a lot more attacking oriented and at times last season, Hearts were a very attacking team. I think both injuries and Europe have really taken a toll on them. That’s just my view so I’d like to know what you guys think a Rangers team under Robbie and Lee McCulloch would look like ? P.S. I never miss a preview, thanks for always doing a brilliant show.

Darren james paxton

Last year at this point and yes it was the Europa lge we lost 2 games but picked up and we strides forward …this we know we’re not going we know we’re beat afore we’re on the park …is it simply to much for this group mentally and ability wise (it happens in elite sport ) or is there more to it is it the coaching is it the manager ?? Personally I’ve been disappointed in Roy Mcckay our strikers have went backwards again due to personal attitude colak hopefully won’t fall into that trap …so is the whole back room staff struggling ??

Alan Weir

Am I the only one who isn’t losing too much sleep over the “worst Champions League team ever” tag? It’s a label that goes without any context and I think I can live with comments from Celtic supporters bearing in mind their recent Euro record. (It’s a bit disappointing so many of our own support seem to be wallowing in this debate)

Pondo Sinatra

Is there an argument that the recruitment hasn’t actually been that bad? I’d say at this point that Colak, Lawrence, Davies & Ridvan look as though, over time that they’ll potentially prove their worth; Tillman may be inconsistent but he’s clearly talented - Souttar will end up being decent cover with only Matondo, so far, failing to impress. 5 out of 6 isn’t too bad! What do you guys think? 🇬🇧

Pedro

We heard a lot of excuses about how our league form was impacted by an extended Euro run last season. So how do we see the impact of being out early this season?

Ross Whitehead

Do you think the compressed schedule is partly to blame for our poor showings in Europe? All teams are on the same timeline of course, but I feel like we haven't adapted well to it for whatever reason. Just look at the amount of injuries we have had as an example. Also a normal schedule for UCL would have given us time to work on things during international breaks etc.

Paul

Tillman and Sands, do we sign them permanently? For me it is a no

Martyn Dick

You lads talk about they ‘eye test’ when it comes to players / games / form etc. To me, the ‘eye test’ on our fitness is not good in comparison to previous 2 seasons. I take ur point regarding the running stats in Napoli game, but we have Arfields statement preseason around Gios l different approach of being ‘football fit’ rather than just running preseason. Would a lack of fitness not also explain the drop in intensity from a number of our key players (pre-injured Tav, Lundstram, Kent) Could lack of conditioning not also explain the ⬆️ in injuries??

Andrew Meldrum
>>94485239

I think you can add Tav into that. Last season, he had Alfie, Aribo ahead of him, with Jack/Davis/Lundstram dropping in behind. They knew each others games, and could run combinations almost by rote,that ended with a player hitting the box. This season, Colak doesn't peel wide, Tillman stays central too, and there has been a revolving door on the right side of attack. Suddenly Tav has to do it all on his own.

Ronnie Gallacher

So, say we win 5 nil against Ajax, qualify for the Europa League and win a domestic treble … whoa, wake up man, what am I saying!! In all seriousness, I’m not too concerned about the UCL outwith I wish we had better performances. The results, Liverpool at home excepted, have not been unexpected. The signings in the summer window are not as bad as some make out. We have had more injuries than most, we are in poor form yet only 4 points behind the best team Celtic have ever had, if you believe the media and their support. It’s not me being overly optimistic, more realistic. We stay in touch till the World Cup, some players return from injury, we have 4/5 weeks to reset and I believe Gio and the team can turn this around, I say we stick by them, do you?

David Innes

Given the level of prize money at stake should we play our full strength team against Ajax? Related to that how important is is that we avoid the unwanted record of being the worse side in CL group stage history?

Pondo Sinatra

Zak Lovelace! Realistically, when? 🇬🇧

Douglas Innes
>>94485867

I mentioned Robbie Nielsen on the follow follow thread , but I could never take to Lee McCulloch for some reason more so the lower league stuff , great utility striker but never a centre half but loyal servant

Joe McCallum

With all the recent talk about playing Morelos and Colak together, and questions about accommodating this by playing Morelos on the right, I was wondering what you guys thought about using Morelos indtead as a 10? No one has been amazing there since Lawrence, and Alfie definitely has the technique/link up play that could see him do well. It also allows him to drive forward and occupy defences and have a pop at goal when required, whilst keeping our main goal threat and traditional 9 in Colak

Scott Watson

Give you a choice of two for whichever you like best 😀 First, a really simple one: Strider posed this question himself a while back - how many times has Gio been able to pick his preferred first XI? (Helander, Davies, Goldson, Morelos, Lawrence) Are we being realistic enough about the implications of that? Then a much more open ended one: As a support, are our minds still stuck in the 90s? Two decades have passed but have we really adjusted to the reality of the seismic changes in the footballing landscape? We spent the first of those decades dabbling in, let's say, "questionable" financial chicanery to try to circumvent our natural capacity and the second of those decades in a wilderness with many consequences we understand well but maybe one that we haven't really got to grips with yet - we were always thinking about reclaiming our natural place, and perhaps never realising that the past is gone and the present will never be the same We got hounded 7-1 by Liverpool, one of the worst scorelines we've had in 150 years. But have we ever lined up on the wrong side of such an imbalance in those 150 years? Why would we NOT expect our worst results be now, when the gulf between our resources and the rest of Europe is greater than it has ever been? Gio has the best win % of any Rangers manager that managed in the top flight and has never lost any domestic match outside of the Old Firm - but that hasn't been enough to win the league or have us out in front. Times have changed, the two horse race now has a different finish line than it ever has. Some fans make very strong statements that "We should have spent more" and "We must buy quality for the starting XI in January." There seems to be precious little recognition of the ~£80m losses we've incurred in recent seasons in particular but more generally a mindset of "This would improve the team, therefore it should happen" and very little in the way of "What can we sustainably afford?" Are all these examples symptoms of a bigger general lapse? We've spent years in denial of how our dominant position had vanished, then more years desperate to get back to it - and the world just isn't the same anymore and we're stuck in a cycle of fury that the club isn't what we still expect it to be and can't yet accept that we're never getting back there?

Ralph Wiggum

If we are shortly going to begin another managerial search, are leadership and a big personality the most important traits for a Rangers manager? Souness, Smith, McLeish and Gerrard all had both to varying degrees. PLG, Warburton, Pedro and GVB were found wanting in these areas. I'm instinctively drawn to a Head Coach type appointment but I cannot ignore the successes and failures during my lifetime.

Angus Mackay
>>94498617

Outstanding post. Reading the on-line support, and even a lot of fan media, I've recently realised that many if not most of our fans only pay lip service to having learned the hard lessons of the wilderness years. Alex is right, the front loading took us much further and faster than anyone could have foreseen; last season was one of extraordinary over-achievement and combined with the sales that had to be made in the summer there was bound to be a period of significant adjustment. The fans showed almost zero patience with that and instead within a matter of days toxic pressure and vitriol was being piled on a team with a lot of young players and the manager. Fair enough, playing for Rangers come with pressure, but what we are now seeing is actually absurd and the kind of thing that will take us backwards quickly. A glance at FF tonight (not the most accurate gauge, but still) suggests that most on there have decided they want blood no matter what follows. That's despite the fact that only the forth man ever to take us to a euro final has lost a single league game this season and is only four points behind. I'm honestly much closer to loosing faith with the support than I am with the manager. PS, I do believe that we can return to greatness - Ajax have proved it can be done; the club has had to change to do it, but it will only work if the fans change too. The alternative is a gradual downward spiral into mediocrity.

Angus Mackay
>>94487138

Tillman, possibly, Sands I'm less and less convinced by, although he was fairly effective on Wednesday in some respects.

Angus Mackay

Perhaps you could discuss the fact that we've gone with players that have less immediate impact but a higher potential ceiling that those on the other side of the city. It seems to me at least that that was the thinking with Ridvan and Tillman at least, probably Matondo too, although that's not looking too likely right now. Other than O Riley (and that's seems more like a scattergun accident than anything else) most of their signings seem pretty much as good as they're going to be, the usual inflated valuations are conspicuous by their absence. I'll grant you that current circumstances suggest we don't have that balance right yet, but the idea is right.

LAURENCE MACRAE

Is our performances so far in the champions league down to the jump in quality compared to the Europa or down to piss poor form ? I think there’s no doubt it’s a higher level but performing at last years levels would have resulted in probably 3rd place in the group and no embarrassing results , Leipzig are a great example of teams not struggling to adapt to the jump.

Piggott

How do ajax compare to us, did we made them look brilliant, they have terrible like us since then in champs league

Alan Ferguson

Can’t get the preview to play?? The play button has disappeared

Scott Watson
>>94505667

The amount of B team/youth signings in the summer may also be part of the same strategy Charlie McCann is also perhaps part of that

Zander Staff

Why don’t Rangers play Rangers Legend Scott Wright more? Winners breed winners and we can’t forget the Scott Wright final from last season against Hearts

Angus Mackay
>>94505667

Yes, I believe you're right about the B Team purchases, Scott. In comparison with Lowry and King, McCann hasn't knocked me out thus far, but he's clearly rated so hopefully he's just finding his way into top team football.

Angus Mackay
>>94487740

It's no coincidence that these things are affecting the players we had last year more than the new players, it looks pretty clear to me at least that they're now paying the price for the exertions of last years Europa over achievement.

Jimmy Price

I was really impressed with our fitness last season, playing extra time in Europe then competing on the domestic front. We regularly ran teams off the pitch. This season they’ve looked unfit as compared to last season. Why? I understand the quality of opposition in the CL matters, but surely the most basic prerequisite for a pro player should be fitness and effort.

Scott Watson

Soft ball for Strider... Have we stumbled into Sands/Lundstram as a very promising midfield combination in much the same way we stumbled into Jack/Lundstram last season from the wreckage of Parkhead? One swallow doesn't make a summer of course, but as someone pointed out in advance of the Aberdeen game, Sands is probably the closest to Jack that we have on the books so may be the best facsimile we have of the Jack/Lundstram axis that underpinned so much of all that was good in the second half of last season What sort of visionary could have picked all of this out in advance? 😀 If he isn't going to have to cover centre back again...

ali t
>>94577081

Been saying for a while like to see Sands in the middle as we lack energy there. Ideally Lundstram knicking a couple of goals recently points to better form.

Martyn Dick
>>94487740

Leeds ran 121km v Liverpool with only 34% possession. We had 38% possession v Napoli and ran 114km Is it as much to do with belief and confidence as it is fitness?