As disappointed as I was with our heavy defeat last night, for some strange reason I’m not nearly as downbeat as I would normally be after a reverse like this. Put it this way, if we were to suffer a similar result on Sunday (we won’t, don’t worry!), then I’d certainly not be taking quite so well!
I can take a lot of positives from our performances in the Champions League so far: we earned a credible result away to Stuttgart in our opening game and we outplayed an excellent team in Sevilla for a large part of last night’s game.
I hate considering 'what if?' scenarios, but it’s hard not to think that things could have ended up so differently if we had been awarded what was a stonewall penalty kick. I really don’t think we’d have lost if we went in at the interval a goal up against a team with ten men. The fact that we were denied an obvious corner in the run-up to the award of a very soft free-kick for Sevilla just adds insult to injury — and don’t get me started on the fact that the guy who scored their opener is the same man that should’ve walked for his challenge on Steven Naismith!
Yes, there are things that we should concern ourselves with — not least the manner of our alarming collapse after we did eventually go behind to the classy Spaniards. However, for once, I’m content to look at the positives from last night.
While the likes of Steven Whittaker, the fading-by-the-game David Weir and the completely-off-the-boil Pedro Mendes were poor, we did have a number of decent performers. The much maligned Lee McCulloch impressed, as did Steven Davis and Sasa Papac — while Naismith was again outstanding. His rise to prominence is surely the most pleasing aspect of our fledgling season?
Let’s be honest: we’ll not be faced with such quality in the CL until our final fixture in Seville, so I’m full of hope we’ll manage to finish in second place. At the very least, I’ll be amazed if we don’t manage to finish third and drop into the Europa League.
The way the fixtures now pan out could be hugely beneficial for us. We should be looking for six points against Unirea, although four would be far from a disaster and perhaps more realistic. However, it’s the other fixtures which could prove to be just as vital for us.
Sevilla travel to Stuttgart for their next game, still needing a win to guarantee progression — and I expect them to get it. They then welcome the Germans at home, and I can’t see them wanting to let their home fans down. If their games were the other way around, then I’d say it would be more likely that the Germans will pick up some points, something which would be very bad news for Rangers. What I mean is - if Sevilla had them at home first and ended the night on nine points, they would then travel to Germany without the need to win. Who knows, perhaps Stuttgart would then find themselves with a greater opportunity of taking something. As it stands, I fancy Sevilla to take all six points.
I can see our fifth fixture being the pivotal factor in deciding who finishes in second position in our group. I’d like to think we will be going into this game from a position of strength and can clinch second place that night, meaning we could travel to Seville without pressure.As we all know, though, it’s never quite this simple in football and we could just as easily slip up against the Romanians. We never quite manage to do things the easy way, do we?
For now, though, let’s not be overly concerned with our heavy defeat last night. Let’s call it a blip, and accept what’s happened and move on. Our destiny in this group is still very much in our own hands and I fully expect to be feeling a lot happier after our next two fixtures. Let’s take last night’s result on the chin and ready ourselves for our next big game. I’m sure there’s another one of those just around the corner…