I think itâs too easy to blame Lennon. We created more than enough chances to win those games. Simunovic clearly shouldnât gift them a goal like that. Rogic shouldnât try a chest pass in his own half when weâve just equalised. Forrest and Elyounoussi and Griffiths should bury their chances.
Lennon could have swapped Frimpong for Simunovic at half time but thatâs about it. We were better than them throughout. We made appalling errors.
I thought Cluj was worse. We were wide open all game. We had more control in that match despite being too vulnerable. Obviously far from good but that was absolutely there for the taking and we missed a glut of chances before handing them a couple on a plate.
Lennon doesnât seem to be very good in big cup ties or derby games whereas Gerrard seems to excel on the big occasions but doesnât have the consistency to win a league. A bit like his playing career actually, with the exception of his sole Premier League title in 2013/14. There was no element of fluke about Rangersâ dominance in those last two Old Firm games however.
Itâs a collective thing alright but he had a very poor night. Absolutely maddening and baffling to leave Simunovic on. The team shat it and were leggy but he left Frimpong on the bench whoâs full of pace.
The fact that he played for them around 50 times and scored probably the most famous goal in their history didnât give you a clue why he might support them?
Not sure why youâd think I was a football hipster. Youâre only here about a month and Iâve barely watched a football game outside the CL/PL since
I would have brought Frimpong and Bitton in. We lost the midfield in the last quarter. Think Rogic and Elyounoussi both tired and we lost control as a result. Even McGregor got sloppy and he had been very assured until then.
So I think he could have tweaked things better but the formation worked better than I thought it would and we had some brilliant chances. The one Griffiths missed was unreal.
Iâd have Simunovic taking most blame. Brown I thought should have been showing better leadership on the pitch, particularly after we equalised. And the likes of Ajer and Rogic have to take at least as much blame as Lennon does. They didnât have players who made the type of casual error that Rogic did. Maybe theyâre better coached but a guy with that experience shouldnât need someone yelling at him to not try that sort of shit. Same as Ntcham in the first leg (though Ntcham has far less experience obviously).
A very disappointing result. Not a great night for Lennon by any means but if Edouard takes his chances in the first leg and if anyone takes their chances in the second leg we would have won comfortably. I donât think the scorelines reflect the balance of play at all. And obviously you canât just ignore them but equally itâs not the whole story either.