Olympiacos 1-1 Rangers: Acropolis Now

Morning everyone, I thought that last night's result was a nice surprise given I was a little bit pessimistic pre game. I said on the Rangers Journal match preview, I'd take a point, given our remaining fixtures and how tough it is to go to Greece, a point is good.

To the game itself, it was a very sloppy start, I was worried watching us trying to retain the ball. At times it seemed like our goal was actually to give it away, such was the frequency that we managed to do that. I'm glad to say we settled down and started playing with a bit more purpose after that.

It was a frustrating half overall though, I thought Cerny was our biggest threat all game in the final third, and he set up a great chance for Dessers which was saved. Dessers had an earlier chance which looked very much offside but he still squandered. But the chances we created weren't what was frustrating, what was frustrating was the poor decision making and need to rush things that stopped us creating more.

But I was still happy to take the positives from the half, crucially Olympiacos hadn't really been allowed to threaten and the crowd had very much got on their back by this stage. It felt like if we tightened up our decision making, the game was there for the taking.

So imagine my surprise when 10 minutes into the second half, we were a bit sloppy dealing with a ball in behind, Souttar had lost El Kaabi, and the big man in form swivelled and blasted the Greek side in front with a fantastic finish. I think it was a very difficult finish which was executed to perfection, but we didn't give ourselves the best odds with the way we left him alone in the box.

I was worried that would rock us, especially given how fragile this team has looked away from home in the league. Clement had introduced Kasanwirjo for Sterling, which seemed a strange move even though the latter can't play 90 minutes right now. The fullback seemed just as confused and seemed to ask Clement for an explanation. Sterling had looked absolutely rock solid and used his athleticism and power to get us up the park, alongside marshalling the former Monaco winger Gelson Martins superbly, to the extent they had shuffled their pack to move him to the opposite side.

Kasanwirjo came close to equalising with a curling effort after good work down the right from Cerny again. We continued to threaten though, and I haven't mentioned Dessers much, but I thought this was maybe his best game outside of the 18 yard box this season. He continually met our balls up the park and brought others into play or allowed himself to be fouled.

And it was Dessers that proved to be the Achilles heel for Olympiacos in the 64th minute. Barron (more on him later) knicked in front of an opposition midfielder to meet a loose ball, they failed to clear the second ball adequately, it fell to Vaclav Cerny with the defence in a vulnerable position. Cerny spotted the run of Dessers and slid a superb ball into his path, he provided a brief bit of hesitation which sent the defender flying past him looking back forlornly, Cyriel then calmly faced up the keeper and placed a brilliant finish into the side netting.

Jubilation and also some confusion at what they'd just witnessed gripped most Rangers fans. But we've seen this before from Dessers in Europe, it's nearly a full year ago that he sat down the Betis defence before slotting it through the keepers legs. It was like he was our Trojan Horse last night, missing and snatching at chances in the first 60 minutes to lull the Greeks into a false sense of security, before striking ruthlessly once their guard was down.

In typical Dessers fashion, he continued to frustrate in the final third after the goal. Deciding to shoot from distance following a great turn when he had options either side. But I think given his work upfront overall, I'm pleased with his performance and happy for him.

So the game finished 1 apiece but there's quite a few positives for me, atleast from some individuals.

It was Socrates that said "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing". And I think last night showed us that maybe we don't know how a signing is going to be from their first 5 games. Vaclav Cerny was absolutely fantastic again last night, and that's fast become the norm for him, many wrote him off after the miss against Lyon. But I think he's fast become our best threat in the final third, he created the goal last night and the winner at the weekend. But it's his ability to consistently find himself in dangerous positions that has really impressed me.

I think the real players of the match were Nicolas Raskin and Connor Barron. These two have formed a very strong partnership, they know where the other is at all times, and I think they hunt for the ball higher up the pitch because they know their partner will have their back. I thought last night really felt like they had stepped up their game, we know that we need a proper 6 as both players aren't quite capable of playing as a lone pivot. But as of right now, the best option we have is this partnership that very much make up for each other's shortcomings. Time and time again an Olympiacos player would be caught out as one of the two got in front of them and intercepted a pass they were waiting for. Barron consistently got himself forward to support Cerny by getting beyond him and was happy to get the ball out wide to Sterling/Kasanwirjo early. Raskin had a moment when he gave the ball away in the first half but aside from that he consistently won the second ball and kept us calm as we moved the ball up the park.

The manager and players were unsurprisingly pleased with the performance and result. Not to pour some cold water over the positives, but we know we can play well in Europe, our issue is that when the onus is on us to attack and dominate the ball domestically, we really struggle. If anything last night should be a blueprint for how to play against Celtic, but who knows what we will see.

Have a good day everyone, back to it at the weekend for a game against a Hearts team that's really turned things around under their new manager.