Thursday nights in the Europa League have so often provided Rangers supporters with a sanctuary away from the misery of domestic results.
Well, this season, they’re not even getting that.
This week, the Gers were easily swatted aside 2-0 by Roma, with Matías Soulé ghosting in at the back post to break the deadlock, before Lorenzo Pellegrini slotted home the second, teed up by Artem Dovbyk, rubber-stamping victory for the Giallorossi in Govan.
Having also been beaten by Brann in Bergan and Celtic in Sunday’s League Cup semi-finals at Hampden, Danny Röhl has become the first permanent Rangers manager in history to suffer three defeats from his first five matches in charge; not even Russell Martin started this badly!
Thus, the German faces some tough selection decisions ahead of Sunday’s potentially tricky trip to Dens Park to take on Dundee, but which player in particular deserves to drop out of the lineup?
Rangers' miserable European run
As recently as January, Rangers set the Scottish record for most away European matches unbeaten, a streak of seven games ended by Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Now, they are in danger of also setting the record for most successive European defeats by a Scottish club.
Thursday night’s 2-0 loss at the hands of Roma leaves the Light Blues rock bottom of the Europa League table, having finished eighth last time round, also beaten by Genk, Sturm Graz and Brann in this season’s league phase so far, conceding eight goals and scoring only once.
Overall, the Gers have now lost seven successive outings in UEFA competition, following qualification defeats at the hands of Viktoria Plzeň and Club Brugge twice in August.
The unwanted record is held by Motherwell, who lost eight consecutive games in continental competition between 2010 and 2012, beaten home and away by Odense, Panathinaikos, Levante and Kuban Krasnodar.
Up next for Rangers, Braga will visit Ibrox later this month, before they’ll conclude the league phase with games against Ferencváros, Ludogorets Razgrad and Porto, so more defeats could very much be coming their way in the near future.
Before then, as they go in search of three precious Premiership points at Dens on Sunday, which summer signing suggested that they are not up to the level that Röhl requires?
The Rangers flop Danny Röhl must axe
Following Sunday’s energy-sapping clash with Celtic, playing close to 90 minutes with ten men at Hampden, Röhl made four changes against Roma, with Max Aarons, Connor Barron, Djeidi Gassama and Mikey Moore restored to the lineup.
However, Moore in particular did not stake a case for more regular playing time, as the table below highlights.
Shots
2
5th
xG
0.14
8th
Attempted dribbles
5
1st
Successful dribbles
2
4th
Accurate passes
14
20th
Key passes
2
5th
Big chances created
1
1st
Possession lost
11
8th
Duels contested
13
2nd
Duels won
5
12
Touches
35
18th
Rating
6.8
17th
As the table documents, Moore did show glimpses of quality, attempting the most dribbles of any player on the pitch, producing two key passes and creating a big chance for Youssef Chermiti.
Nevertheless, these moments were far too infrequent, successful with only 40% of his dribbles, losing possession on 11 occasions, while winning just five of the 13 duels he contested.
The teenager was also a peripheral figure for long periods too, registering a miserly 35 touches during his 81 minutes on the pitch, which is fewer than both goalkeepers Jack Butland (45) and Mile Svilar (42).
When Moore arrived on loan from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, he did so with sky-high expectations.
Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout labelled the “absolute top talent” as “the English Neymar”, while then-manager Martin called him an “outstanding young player”.
However, he is yet to show the Rangers fans much of this quality, still awaiting his first goal for the club, hence why former Gers midfielder Andy Halliday believes “Moore hasn’t shown me anything that tells me that Rangers should be developing a young Spurs player rather than developing their own”.
Moore was replaced by one of those homegrown prospects Findlay Curtis on Thursday, a player who does have three goals to his name this season, on target against Panathinaikos, Alloa Athletic and St Mirren.
Meantime, with Gassama, Danilo, Oliver Antman and Thelo Aasgaard also vying for the starting spots in behind the centre-forward, Moore’s performances, both against Roma and in general, have done little to suggest he should be high up Röhl’s pecking order.
As well as Chermiti: Rohl must drop 4/10 Rangers flop who lost 100% duels
Danny Rohl must drop this Glasgow Rangers flop as well as Youssef Chermiti.
ByDan Emery