Something to consider

[NeoGeo7 10,368]

I'm not alone in feeling that last night was an opportunity missed and we may look back and regret not taking our chances particularly in the first half, however perspective is something that we really need here and for anyone still struggling with it (because expectations are raised when we do well as thats how we get better) then here is some food for thought:

Our 13 players used last night in terms of transfer fees involved totaled £4.9m excluding loan fees (as I'm not sure what these will be lets say for arguements sake its another £4m  - 1m for each loanee that played last night making it £8.9m)

Spartak used 14 players that totaled £49m even their substitutes alone amounted to 17.9m

Now I know its not the complete picture since free transfers still add value to the squad as a whole but if we could spend £11m on a single midfielder I reckon it would be a better player than Jack, Ejaria and Coulibaly so the arguement still stands that whether it felt like it or not last night on paper we were the underdogs and we are kicking ourselves for not winning so its better to be in this position than getting pumped and sitting bottom of the table.

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

At least 2 of those loanees are probably worth 5mill+ and Coulibaly must be around 4mill, Worral is probably around 3mill+ simply because he is coming from English Football. 

Once you start adding it up we still have a fair amount of Millions on the pitch. 

[NeoGeo7 10,368]

1 minute ago, Courtyard Bear said:

At least 2 of those loanees are probably worth 5mill+ and Coulibaly must be around 4mill, Worral is probably around 3mill+ simply because he is coming from English Football. 

Once you start adding it up we still have a fair amount of Millions on the pitch. 

Don't agree with your valuation of Coulibaly and I doubt the agreed fee is that high with Angers probably more like £1.5m, but even if we do say Coulibaly is £5m and take that into account from the 4.9 lets add 18m then we are still less than half of the Spartak spend, so my point still stands that on paper we should have been beaten last night as we should have against Villarreal but we are punching above our weight so when we don't get the win at home against a team that won the Russian league 2 seasons ago then its not all doom and gloom.

[NeoGeo7 10,368]

2 minutes ago, Rangers_no1 said:

Spartak on form are a decent side, but they have been under-performing and have a big issue this season, without question a lost opportunity. Spending x more millions doesn't automatically mean it's much better players.

Not automatically no but take Hanni versus Grezda as an example.

One cost £7.2m and the other £1.8m and I know Grezda still needs time to bed in but it was pretty obvious who was the more effective player last night.

I reckon if we get a draw over in Moscow we'll be doing well and will have to target upsetting Villarreal or at the very least a win in Austria.

[cushynumber 25,178]

on Transfermarkt the total market value of our squad is £34M. Spartaks in £95M.

Doesn't take into account wages obviously.

[Prso's headband 35,257]

Am really struggling to see a negative from last night. We done a lot right, just couldn’t find that one goal. 

Spartak are a very good team, recent Russian champions and we’re disappointed we haven’t beaten them. 

We’re more than capable of going over there and winning and if you said before the double header we would walk out with 4 points then you’d have taken it.

It’s still very much in our hands

[ShanksRFC 3,867]

We weren't horrendous last night, some of our passing was poor and we rely a lot on Tav delivering quality balls which was totally absent. If Grezda had buried the chance at the death we would have praised the team for being great, very fine margins.

If we perform away from home in the same manner as we did against Villareal then we will progress IMO.

[kaiser1041 9,088]

No need to overanalyse anything we weren’t at the races and should have beat them but I’m over it onto Sunday 

[billscott 2,463]

1 hour ago, Courtyard Bear said:

At least 2 of those loanees are probably worth 5mill+ and Coulibaly must be around 4mill, Worral is probably around 3mill+ simply because he is coming from English Football. 

Once you start adding it up we still have a fair amount of Millions on the pitch. 

who in their right mind would pay 4 mill for coullibaly

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

2 minutes ago, billscott said:

who in their right mind would pay 4 mill for coullibaly

Why?

In today’s market a bog standard Midfielder that can play in European football will set you back around 4 mill. 

4 mill is peanuts these days. 

[billscott 2,463]

Just now, Courtyard Bear said:

Why?

In today’s market a bog standard Midfielder that can play in European football will set you back around 4 mill. 

on the evidence of recent performances i would not pay anything like 4 mill  reckon you could get much better than him for that money

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

Just now, billscott said:

on the evidence of recent performances i would not pay anything like 4 mill  reckon you could get much better than him for that money

So he has a couple of average games and he is worth shit. ?

You one of the guys wanting to sell Mo for a couple of mill if we could even get that. 

[billscott 2,463]

Just now, Courtyard Bear said:

So he has a couple of average games and he is worth shit. ?

You one of the guys wanting to sell Mo for a couple of mill if we could even get that. 

i cannot remember when he last had a good game as for your last comment i dont know what the hell you are talking about    v

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

1 hour ago, NeoGeo7 said:

Don't agree with your valuation of Coulibaly and I doubt the agreed fee is that high with Angers probably more like £1.5m, but even if we do say Coulibaly is £5m and take that into account from the 4.9 lets add 18m then we are still less than half of the Spartak spend, so my point still stands that on paper we should have been beaten last night as we should have against Villarreal but we are punching above our weight so when we don't get the win at home against a team that won the Russian league 2 seasons ago then its not all doom and gloom.

A comparison of squad value is a pretty pointless to be honest. 

If that’s the case then what about the teams above us in the League, are we poor or are they punching above their weight. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

Just now, billscott said:

i cannot remember when he last had a good game as for your last comment i dont know what the hell you are talking about    v

The fact you claim you can’t remember when he last had a good game says everything about your opinion. 

The fact you don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to Mo having a couple of poor games and his value according to RM just hits the nail on the head. ?

[Brian Fantana 28,894]

sick of hearing people talk about "remember where we were a few years ago" the minute someone says last night or any away games were a poor result. Wait and see if they spout that bullshit if we fail to stop the scum getting 9IAR and how well it goes down.

last night wasn't a disaster (that might change by the end of the group games) but can we fuck off with this reflective pish. We can all see there's still work to be done but last night should have been 3 points with the chances we had and being better than we were a few year ago doesn't compensate for our shortcomings.

You're supposed to improve year on year FFS, it's not a bonus it's what's expected.

[Blue Avenger 22,567]

Didn't feel we did that much wrong last night, except put the ball in the back of the net. Thought we played some silky stuff in the first half, but just couldn't score. The final ball in was fucking horrendous. Mo done well and was well pissed off at the end. 

We lack that midfield general and dare I say another super Ally or a Hateley. I could say a Gazza, but we will never see his like again.

Great opportunity missed I feel. Work in progress and a couple of players of quality needed.

BTW. Kent is a fuckng player!

[Supersonic 4,654]

Expensive team or not they seemed really poor last night. 

[Leeds_Bear 8,094]

2 hours ago, cushynumber said:

on Transfermarkt the total market value of our squad is £34M. Spartaks in £95M.

Doesn't take into account wages obviously.

Which means pretty much fuck all 

[Thermopylae 15,286]

I think the fact we are disappointed with a draw against Russian opposition shows how far we have come in a very short time.

Funnily enough I was thinking yesterday afternoon about the 93 0-0 drawn with CSKA that cost us a place in the final and it just goes to show that even when we are on a high Russian opposition are never easy

[Tomatasauce 1,253]

3 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

At least 2 of those loanees are probably worth 5mill+ and Coulibaly must be around 4mill, Worral is probably around 3mill+ simply because he is coming from English Football. 

Once you start adding it up we still have a fair amount of Millions on the pitch. 

How true this is I’m not sure, but “apparently” Burnley offered 10m for worrell last year.

Plus I wouldn’t like to guess much we’d get for, statistically the best defender in the EL so far this season.?

[Iggy666 2,875]

7 minutes ago, Thermopylae said:

I think the fact we are disappointed with a draw against Russian opposition shows how far we have come in a very short time.

Funnily enough I was thinking yesterday afternoon about the 93 0-0 drawn with CSKA that cost us a place in the final and it just goes to show that even when we are on a high Russian opposition are never easy

Agree completely. I'm pissed off that we didn't beat that mob last night but in a weird way I'm delighted that I'm pissed off. It's like the good old days again. If we get through the group stage I don't think many teams would actually fancy their chances against us now.

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

10 minutes ago, Tomatasauce said:

How true this is I’m not sure, but “apparently” Burnley offered 10m for worrell last year.

Plus I wouldn’t like to guess much we’d get for, statistically the best defender in the EL so far this season.?

10 mill!!!!!

Holy fuck, I thought I was being a touch optimistic with the price. 

[Big Al 55 9,230]

It’s irrelevant how much each squad is worth, confidence is everything, they were pish last night, there for the taking, we were just as bad. 

Most frustrating game I’ve been at for a long time, Gerrard spoke about getting the fans on their feet, failed miserably in that regard too.

[gmcf 34,085]

I think what disappointed was that we didn't really create many chances , and the few we did create , we missed - Tavernier and Grezda not getting shots at least on target , was particularly disappointing . At this level we really need to be taking them as they are few and far between . 

Having said all that , I do agree with the OP . This is a level above what we get week in week out and we should be positive in that in such a short period of time , we are competing against these teams and not looking out of place . Villarreal , Rapid and now Spartak we have earned everything we've got and looked , at least , their equals and though we should be happy at that , it doesn't mean we shouldnt be disappointed when we don't take advantage of opportunities given to us like we had last night .