A few British clubs must do better in Europe
Some of the results for British clubs in Europe in midweek were surprising.
Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all lost.
It’s very unusual to see so many of our teams not get positive results, especially with three of our clubs conceding four goals.
Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham all had victories, and credit to them.
Thankfully, for the clubs who suffered heavy defeats, ties are not over two legs.
They are in a Group Stage, and there are a handful of games to recover and to try to qualify.
There is also the fact that there are big financial gains to be had for picking up points, and that is always beneficial.
With the games quite rightly being called off this weekend as a mark of respect to the passing of Her Majesty, The Queen, it will give the clubs a bit of respite.
They can focus on their midweek challenges, and it’s vital for Rangers and Celtic to get something on the board. They don’t want to be sitting on zero points from two games.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst will demand better from his players at home to Napoli on Tuesday after their back-to-back 4-0 defeats.
Ange Postecoglou was pleased with his team’s performance against Real Madrid but knows they need something from the away game with Shakhtar on Wednesday.
There is no doubt that European games can be very, very tough, and if you are not 100% on it, then you will be punished.
Taking the lead is so important as it can give you something to hold on to.
Callum McGregor came close to doing that for Celtic against Real, and it would have been interesting to see how it turned out if he had done so.
Rangers never came close to taking the lead but they were unfortunate to concede a second when James Sands deflected a Steven Berghuis shot into his own net. That ended the match in Amsterdam as a contest.
Overall, there is much improvement to be had from several British sides, and let’s hope they can step up and achieve it.