Thursday, October 20, 2011
Crestor Lawsuit
Rangers plot europe return
The Scottish champions crashed out of both the Champions League and the Europa League at the qualifying stages earlier in the campaign at the hands of Swedish side Malmo and Slovenians Maribor respectively.
Rangers and Liverpool both made use of the free midweek as a result of no European action to face each other in a friendly at Ibrox, with the home side coming out on top with a 1-0 win.
McCoist said: "I can't speak for Liverpool but for this club Europe has to be a target and we want to play in Europe every year.
"We have been fairly successful in playing in Europe over the years and this year has been a big, big disappointment, of course it has.
"Tonight was an opportunity, albeit in a friendly, to play against one of the teams you would recognise as being a top European side and that's where you want to be.
"You want to play against the top teams and the top players in Europe."
Lee McCulloch grabbed the only goal of the game on a night where both clubs handed game-time to players who have not featured as regularly as others this season.
And, despite the nature of the meeting, McCoist believes the victory shows that the difference in quality between the top teams in Scotland and England may not be quite as great as some believe it to be.
He said: "I don't think there is that massive gulf. You can look back on our games against Manchester United in the Champions League, where the team handled themselves against one of the top sides in the competition.
"But you look at some of the performances this year in Europe and the pessimists would argue there is a gap. But I definitely don't think the gap is just as big as some of the pessimists would have us believe."
Asked about the ability of Rangers to reclaim their place among Europe's elite once again, Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish said: "There is no reason why they can't get into the Champions League, is there? They have been there quite recently.
"We're not in Europe so who are we to talk? We've got to step up to the plate as well and get ourselves into Europe, so we have got something in common."
On the meeting with Rangers, he added: "It was worthwhile in some aspects. We've got some boys who haven't played so it was a useful exercise for some of the boys."
Dalglish disappointed
Dalglish's men lost 1-0 to the Scottish champions at the Ibrox in a game that saw 19 Liverpool players get a run out.
Lee McCulloch's first half side gave Rangers the win and in comments quoted on Liverpool's official website after the game, Dalglish said: "It was a disappointing result and we're a lot better than that but I suppose it was in mitigating circumstances because we had people coming back who haven't played too often."
However, the match wasn't a complete washout for the Reds - allowing some returning players important time on the pitch.
"It was worthwhile in some aspects," explained Dalglish.
"We've got some boys who haven't played for a while, like Glen Johnson. He got injured before the end of last season, went with England, came back and has never really been fully fit since. For him to get an hour was important.
"For Daniel Agger to get some time after injuring his rib and the same for Fabio Aurelio - it's a useful exercise for some of the boys.
"I haven't seen much of Rangers this season so I don't know if that was them playing well or badly. For us, that was us playing badly. But that's not to take anything away from Rangers.
"I don't think there was food for thought for the Norwich game [Liverpool's next opponents in the Premier League]."
The club's reserve goalkeeper Alexander Doni impressed before being taken off due to a dislocated finger.
"He's dislocated his finger, though it's been put back in," said the Scot. "I don't know how long that takes to recover from but it was good for him, aside from the injury, because he made a couple of decent saves. It was good for him to get a game."
Finally, when quizzed about whether Rangers had enough quality to play in the Premier League, Dalglish said: "It's a one-off friendly and I don't think we'll ever see that anyway."