Rangers fans knew that we had a tough task when the Champions League draw was made and, after a hiding in Amsterdam, it has well and truly dawned on us exactly what we are up against.
Napoli sit top of Serie A and are currently unbeaten, however, there is some good news that you might not have seen already, Victor Osimhen, their star striker valued at nearly £60million on Transfermarkt is currently out injured with a hamstring strain, the bad news being that his two backs ups are both internationals for Italy and Argentina respectively and valued at a combined £40m.
As Lorenzo Amoruso said earlier this week though, Ibrox is a formidable place and any drop in performance or over confidence should be capitalised on by Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side, they have plenty of making up to do and now would be a decent time to start.
Expectations, despite the game being at home, have to be tempered and I think it’s fair to say that the least we, as Rangers fans, are looking for, is a significant increase in desire, work rate, commitment and bravery in possession. The last two outings simply haven’t been good enough.
The line-up could throw a surprise or two but we are still without key players like Tom Lawrence, my only worry being that Gio insists on playing Glen Kamara as a number ten with two defensive midfielders behind him – we aren’t going to create anything with that approach.
Everyone connected with the club wanted to make it to the Champions League, now that we are here, we need to prove to everyone that we deserve to be, last season is gone and behind us, and our reputation at the top table needs to be built from scratch.
Headline is a bit OTT , we are starting from scratch at this level but then we haven`t played at this level for 12 years and by the way we weren`t doing too well then either . Our European reputation built over the years is not out the window though after one bad result, we`ve just been to Eindhoven and win a few weeks ago and unrated team just got to the final of the second biggest European tournament. Is Liverpools European reputation out the window after the doing they got in Naples, beat 4-1 and it could have been 7 ? This site is usually quite level headed but not with that headline .
I get what you are saying but it’s more about how abject the performance was, we really didn’t look anywhere near being able to compete against Ajax, it was a worrying flashback to the 90s when we played them and the likes of Juventus. I’ve been defending Gio and players because I agree, we haven’t become a poor team overnight as PSV game showed but we need to find those levels again and quickly because this group could very quickly turn into a nightmare – last season would soon be forgotten about if we finish without any points.