Lehmann - Gers can't cut it

Veteran says Rangers aren't good enough for Champions League

By Richard Bailey   Last updated: 26th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Lehmann - Gers can't cut it

Lehmann: Rangers blast

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Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann does not believe Rangers are good enough to play in the UEFA Champions League.

The Bundesliga side knocked the Gers out of Europe on Tuesday after a comfortable 2-0 win at Ibrox.

The defeat means that Walter Smith's side will finish bottom of Group G and miss out on the consolation of a Europa League place despite having one game remaining.

Rangers have endured a sorry Champions League campaign this term, especially at home where they have lost all three games, conceding 10 and scoring just twice.

The defeat on Tuesday was made worse by the fact that Stuttgart are currently in the bottom three in Germany and headed into the game having failed to win in 10 games.

"Rangers don't have the quality of a Champions League member any more,"

Lehmann told the Daily Record.

Awestruck

"That became obvious in those past 90 minutes. I can recall times when opponents were awestruck and scared to play here but those days are gone and Rangers are not the fierce opponents they used to be.

"We could have won by an even wider margin. In fact Rangers only had one real scoring opportunity in the whole 90 minutes."

Stuttgart midfielder Alexander Hleb echoed the sentiments of his team-mate and was surprised at how easily the victory was earned.

"Rangers allowed us to play our own game and we were very surprised. It was not a difficult game," he said.

"Normally they don't give you time to think, especially at home but not this time. Rangers were really aggressive against us in the second-half over in Stuttgart and we were surprised we didn't get the same again."

Comments (9)

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Roddy Brown (Rangers fan) says...

I totally agree with Jens Lehman on this one. Rangers have been on a downward spiral for sometime. Regardless of the fact there is no money left, something needs to be done about the talent that is being lost from Ibrox. Over the past few years players like, Gavin Rae, Charlie Adam, Chris Burke, Ross McCormack and even Barry Ferguson have been deemed not good enough yet they have gone on to prove very good signings for other teams. I think there is an issue with man management and this need to be done to prevent this happening moving forward. Murray Park was a huge investment and we are not going to reap the benefits unless we have a coach who is willing to give young players a chance, not just play them when injuries force thier hand. Walter Smith has been a good patron to the club to date but I feel he has run out of ideas and it's time to get some fresh blood in the management position and on the pitch every week.

Posted 14:45 26th November 2009

Greig Millar (Rangers fan) says...

Jens is right with regards to our poor quality. Fact of the matter size of club is not determined by results or money available to spend on players both Rangers and Celtic are bigger than any other club in the world in terms of fan base etc. Otherwise why would the English teams be running scared of a league where we have a level playing field?

Posted 12:45 26th November 2009

Mark James (Rangers fan) says...

Dino alves clearly doesnt follow football, or else he would be aware that Rubin Kazan are funded by a billionaire who has spent more on one player than Rangers and Celtic have combined on all their transfer actvity this season. Russian teams also manage to avoid work permit problems so can sign up Brazillian players etc without fear of work permit problems. So for all Rangers are having a difficult time at the moment the strength of the Old Firm will prevail!

Posted 12:41 26th November 2009

Tom Hanley (Rangers fan) says...

Rangers HAVE invested in youth as they have the biggest youth system in Scotland in the form of Murray Park, which was introduced in the Advocaat era. They have brought through the likes of Alan Hutton, John Fleck and Danny Wilson who is currently on great form for such a young lad. We are struggling to compete with other teams such as English sides, as English sides recieve so much more money each season. Give Rangers the amount of money you lot get each season and the gulf in class would not be so huge.

Posted 12:12 26th November 2009

Graham Cleland (Rangers fan) says...

I agree that Scottish football is not the best but we lack the funding of all the other top league's in Europe to buy the overpriced players out there (Over pricing is caused by teams with more money than sense making players think they are really worth the £ spent on them). English teams relay heavily on SKY funding and most of them run their accounts in the RED. Rangers and Celtic have tried this in the past and for a few seasons it worked for both of them and we could more than hold our own against the likes of Man U and Liverpool and Leeds but now the money's not there. Scottish football needs to be looked at off the pitch and the scottish FA has to do more to make football more accessible for the next generations. The top teams around europe apart from the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Real Madrid all do it with home grown talent. The sooner everyone wakes and understands that Rangers and Celtic need to start producing youg talent and ditch the old gaurds the better!!!

Posted 11:37 26th November 2009

Dino Alves (Fulham fan) says...

i totally agree with what Jens Lehmenn has said, the SPL doesn't have the same impact as other leagues around europe, even look at the russian team Rubin Kazan, they have beaten Barcelona twice in the champions league and Rangers fail to win a game at home? It would also be a bad move for Rangers and Celtic to join the English Premiership because they would just hinder the chance of teams like Everton, Aston Villa, Tottenham etc getting into the Europa League and someone like Hibbs will qualify for the champions league through the SPL... It just doesnt make any sence!

Posted 10:49 26th November 2009

Graeme Malko (Chelsea fan) says...

I agree with Ross, the fact of the matter is that Rangers and Celtic will never be good enough to compete with the likes of manchester utd and Chelsea unless they have a bad day. When Rangers got thumped by Unirea Urziceni the fans where furious, i dont see how you can be ashamed of getting beat with teams from Ukraine, Romania etc when in fact Rangers in my eyes are classified just as the same as them, they are one of the smaller teams in the Champions League. All Rangers fans think theyre bugger than what they actually are and when they start realising that they might actually show a bit of determination when playing like Rubin Kazan.

Posted 10:46 26th November 2009

Johnny Davidson (Motherwell fan) says...

Pretty much says it all. Rangers have only themselves to blame for not investing properly in youth. Surely they must have pondered the fact in the 90's that one day the money would run out. For years rangers and celtic hiked up the price of football to suit themselves and their fans kept turning out in their droves to watch second rate football. Now they've hit a brick wall. I personally have no sympathy for either of them.

Posted 10:42 26th November 2009

Ross Mackay (Manchester United fan) says...

I do agree with jens, but not just is it Ranjers there is something missing from scottish football, and i think its determination, its not there same whith celtic who 3 years ago were beating milan,united, making it to the uefa cup final whith style am sorry b=ut a cant say that for gers because they went 2 the finals whith defending after defending, penaltys after penaltys! but the old firm no longer are a threat in european football they are 1 of the smaller sides for big teams 2 play there smaller side against!

Posted 10:06 26th November 2009
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