The second viewing on Friday morning would not have been any easier to watch than the first one was to live through on Thursday evening. The result, of course, will not have changed in favour of Rangers.
Last week, Philippe Clement’s side reported for duty at Auchenhowie on the back of their finest performance of the campaign and an accomplished, encouraging win over Malmo. This time, there were few positives to take as Clement and his players came to terms with a 4-1 defeat to Lyon at Ibrox.
It could all have been so different for Rangers had chances – most notably the one that Vaclav Cerny squandered in the opening minutes – been converted in big moments. At the other end, Lyon were classy and clinical. On the night, the French side were everything that Rangers were not.
Clement found comfort in the black and white of the statistics in the immediate aftermath of a difficult 90 minutes. For John Souttar, the fullness of time will perhaps offer more perspective as Rangers look at where they are and where they went wrong.
“It is tough speaking so soon after the game,” Souttar said as he attempted to analyse and assess in the immediate aftermath of a whirlwind encounter at Ibrox. “Obviously we need to watch it back. They had quality players and they punished us in the end.
“Yeah it is small margins at both ends of the park. I think we could have done better for the goals. As you say, it was a chance [for Cerny]. I need to watch it back.
“I think last week we performed really well in the same competition away from home. [Against Lyon] it is difficult, it’s a sore one, but we need to dust ourselves down and have a look and see what we can do better.
“It is so soon after the game so you don’t get a fair reflection of the game. You need to watch it back to answer that question [if it felt harsh] because when it is so soon you remember things, you forget things. I need to watch it back to answer that.”
Rangers set a new bar with their performance and result in Sweden. It couldn’t be raised once again as Lyon ran out comfortable winners on matchday two. For all the frustration over what his side could have done, Clement must surely be relieved that the margin of the defeat was not even more comprehensive.
Rangers have another six fixtures to play in the new league format of a competition that has given them so many highs in recent seasons. If Clement is to savour future success, he must find a way for his side to punch above their weight.
“It is a difficult question to answer,” Souttar said when asked what Rangers needed to compete with the top teams in this competition. “I think last season we played against top teams and this season we played against a good team last week and done well. [The Lyon game] was an off night in parts, thought we done well in spells of the game. In other spells we were poor.
“It is one night that we weren’t at our best. We can’t let it affect us going forward. We need to bounce back and do that on Sunday.
“Yeah it isn’t too bad [to have three points from two games] but [Thursday night] has gone nothing like we hoped it would. We need to stay positive. We have got three points out of six.
“Yeah definitely [we can bounce back]. There are a lot of players playing in the Europa League for Rangers for the first time there or boys that just played last season. It is one to learn from.”
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Rangers were masters of their own downfall in many regards. The miss from Cerny came minutes after James Tavernier was denied from close range but it was in their own half where the hosts repeatedly shot themselves in the foot.
The mistakes for each of the four Lyon goals were individual and collective. Malick Fofana and Alexandre Lacazette both netted doubles as a sequence of four successive clean sheets was ended in emphatic fashion.
The Sunday night visit of St Johnstone was always going to be significant for Rangers. The reaction on the park and in the stands will be telling this weekend.
“The clean sheet run we were on was good,” Souttar said. “We need to get back to that on Sunday. We need to draw a line under [Thursday], learn from where we went wrong and get back to business on Sunday.
“I think any club in the world is going to have bad nights and good nights and it is how you respond. I am positive we have got a group in there that will respond on Sunday.
“The boys will just be desperate to bounce back. Whatever the kick-off is we will look forward to that.”
