***** The Official Benfica v Rangers Europa League Round of 16 Match Thread *****

[Loyal72 11,484]

Just now, STEPPS BOY said:

Difficult for us to hoover up the best Scottish talent now as EPL teams swarming all over Scotland.

14 EPL team scouts at an Under 15 game last week.

Hibs becoming a feeder team to Brighton. Awk it's crap honestly man. 

So much talent is getting taken out of this country before it's even started and there's nothing we can really do.

Scotland might benefit overall. But Scottish teams are getting fucked here.

[STEPPS BOY 74,241]

2 minutes ago, Loyal72 said:

Hibs becoming a feeder team to Brighton. Awk it's crap honestly man. 

So much talent is getting taken out of this country before it's even started and there's nothing we can really do.

Scotland might benefit overall. But Scottish teams are getting fucked here.

There’s going to be massive changes at our club now with NK in. Issue will be how much talent we lose out on until he can make his mark.

[STEPPS BOY 74,241]

5 minutes ago, GA1972 said:

Think Lawrence should’ve been subbed early second half, he ran himself into the ground right from the first whistle. Tremendous shift from him and everyone else, even the players that weren’t at their best still gave everything which is all we can ask 

For who though?

Did Jack have 30 odd mins in him?

Raskin looks miles off it fitness and form wise.

With injuries and lack of fitness from others, his hands are tied.

[PromDeAnglais 5,556]

16 minutes ago, GA1972 said:

Weird career so far, was magic at Ajax then took a couple of sideways steps if not backwards ones with Shakhtar and Benfica 

That's Neres mate. Think he got a bad injury at Ajax and fell down the pecking order.

Neves is 19 and already reported worth 50-100 million euro with scouts from Barca and United tracking him.

[.Williamson. 82,795]

[Loyal72 11,484]

8 minutes ago, STEPPS BOY said:

There’s going to be massive changes at our club now with NK in. Issue will be how much talent we lose out on until he can make his mark.

Tbf, you can see the level and age of player we're looking at with Cortes, Dio, Silva etc.

I'm excited for a proper summer window, completing the rebuild as it were.

Still think Clement can lead us to success this season, but I can't wait to see him fully equipped.

Might even win five trophies next season 😄

[G.E.C. 18,865]

2 hours ago, STEPPS BOY said:

The boy Neves will be their next big sale.

Thought he was brilliant last night and unlike the rest of their players, he didn’t act like a dick.

He looked absolute class, don’t think he misplaced a pass all night.

[STEPPS BOY 74,241]

20 minutes ago, Loyal72 said:

Tbf, you can see the level and age of player we're looking at with Cortes, Dio, Silva etc.

I'm excited for a proper summer window, completing the rebuild as it were.

Still think Clement can lead us to success this season, but I can't wait to see him fully equipped.

Might even win five trophies next season 😄

Noise coming out club and they’ve been pretty open about it, is that sweeping changes at all levels will be happening.

[J-Maestro 11,234]

53 minutes ago, BlueThunder said:

It definitely does hit his head. Is there a reason this rule wasn’t followed? The handball deflects the ball into play, instead of out for a corner.

Aye his hand forced a good save from Butland, they wouldn’t have cancelled the goal if it went in.

[GA1972 9,658]

1 minute ago, STEPPS BOY said:

For who though?

Did Jack have 30 odd mins in him?

Raskin looks miles off it fitness and form wise.

With injuries and lack of fitness from others, his hands are tied.

Yeah very true, maybe McCausland/McKinnon out wide and shift Sterling into the centre for a bit until those players could come on. Definitely a hard one though we don’t know how many minutes the subs that came on really had in them. 
 

All in all think the gaffer managed it really well. Threw McKinnon on at a time when both teams were tired and he could make positive impact just by having fresh legs so it wasn’t as much of a case of chucking him in at the deep end 

[STEPPS BOY 74,241]

7 minutes ago, GA1972 said:

Yeah very true, maybe McCausland/McKinnon out wide and shift Sterling into the centre for a bit until those players could come on. Definitely a hard one though we don’t know how many minutes the subs that came on really had in them. 
 

All in all think the gaffer managed it really well. Threw McKinnon on at a time when both teams were tired and he could make positive impact just by having fresh legs so it wasn’t as much of a case of chucking him in at the deep end 

I think Sterling was fucked by then too tbh.

[Ross-Gazza genius 1,915]

1 hour ago, G.E.C. said:

He looked absolute class, don’t think he misplaced a pass all night.

He looked like a throwback to Lothar Matthäus, even the way he had his oversized strip tucked into his shorts. 

[Ross-Gazza genius 1,915]

2 hours ago, Loyal72 said:

Hibs becoming a feeder team to Brighton. Awk it's crap honestly man. 

So much talent is getting taken out of this country before it's even started and there's nothing we can really do.

Scotland might benefit overall. But Scottish teams are getting fucked here.

We should be doing better to identify them and keep them here then. 

[Blacky Bear 882]

Gaffer played a blinder last night team on the park looked stronger than it actually was.

Changes made it stronger when required.

Only a mixture of bad luck and a poor decision by Goldson who i felt sorry for dammed if you do, dammed if uou dont go for it, let us down.

All in all great performance, decent result.

If someone asked me in Sept if all you had to do was beat Benfica at Ibrox in a one off game, and your in last 8, I'd have bitten hand and arm off

 

[nik2402 1,322]

6 hours ago, STEPPS BOY said:

The boy Neves will be their next big sale.

Thought he was brilliant last night and unlike the rest of their players, he didn’t act like a dick.

He was outstanding btw. Seen Bellingham at a similar age in this competition and I think we will look back in a few years and talk about Neves aswell. He’s going to the top of the game. 

[Bad Robot 21,346]

3 hours ago, GA1972 said:

Yeah very true, maybe McCausland/McKinnon out wide and shift Sterling into the centre for a bit until those players could come on. Definitely a hard one though we don’t know how many minutes the subs that came on really had in them. 
 

All in all think the gaffer managed it really well. Threw McKinnon on at a time when both teams were tired and he could make positive impact just by having fresh legs so it wasn’t as much of a case of chucking him in at the deep end 

Cole McKinnon was a brave sub which not many of us probably seem. I’m sure Cole down a great block at one point 👏👏👏

[Madina 3,841]

31 minutes ago, Bad Robot said:

Cole McKinnon was a brave sub which not many of us probably seem. I’m sure Cole down a great block at one point 👏👏👏

A pleasantly surprising substitution. I always like to see young Scottish lads that support the club get a chance. Hes played more knockout European football than the scum have in years 🤣

[TamCoopz 19,605]

@PromDeAnglaishurry up with the next match thread 

[BookWorm 4,162]

1 minute ago, TamCoopz said:

@PromDeAnglaishurry up with the next match thread 

Just logged in hoping a hibs match thread was up.

Get it sorted please @PromDeAnglais.

[Drunk and disorderly. 14,543]

6 hours ago, GA1972 said:

Ignore me we’re talking about Neves and not Neres aren’t we? 

It's as Neres you're gonna get.

 

[esquire8 43,030]

50 minutes ago, TamCoopz said:

@PromDeAnglaishurry up with the next match thread 

Rather wait for a good match thread post than get a really shit one quickly.

[TamCoopz 19,605]

7 minutes ago, esquire8 said:

Rather wait for a good match thread post than get a really shit one quickly.

We don’t know what kind of state @PromDeAnglaisgets himself into at weekends so this could end up a disaster 

[PromDeAnglais 5,556]

59 minutes ago, TamCoopz said:

@PromDeAnglaishurry up with the next match thread 

 

1 minute ago, TamCoopz said:

We don’t know what kind of state @PromDeAnglaisgets himself into at weekends so this could end up a disaster 

On it, give me 10 minutes.

[teddybear1975 2,031]

6 hours ago, .Williamson. said:

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,613]

7 hours ago, STEPPS BOY said:

For who though?

Did Jack have 30 odd mins in him?

Raskin looks miles off it fitness and form wise.

With injuries and lack of fitness from others, his hands are tied.

Id have brought mccausland on (if fit enough) and moved sterling back next to lundstram who was struggling to cope defensively, let Diomande do the wandering up the park if need be, 

Not like our number ten could play off dessers anyway, nothing was coming off for him

Mind you Clement got us a draw in Portugal missing countless first team players, hard to argue with any of his decisions since coming in (other than fucking barisic away to killie)