Will Rangers take it to Valencia tonight?
Another big Ibrox night beckons
The Champions League has rolled around again and Rangers fans have another big Ibrox match to savour tonight. Spanish football is on an absolute high at the moment, even if the national team narrowly avoided a draw against one of football’s minnow nations last midweek.
Valencia have commonly been the team behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in recent years, which immediately marks them out as a major player. With three points, Valencia come to Ibrox behind Rangers but no doubt the Spanish side will be keen to rectify this.
The return from injury of Kirk Broadfoot will allow Walter Smith to return to the five man defence he has utilised successfully in Europe this season. It is primarily a defensive tactic but it can offer some attacking options.
The five at the back will know that Davie Weir will anchor the backline and that Broadfoot won’t venture too far forward. However, if space does open up, expect Bougherra to venture up the right hand side and Papac to mosey up the left. If Valencia start to populate the Rangers half, as we expect they might, the space for the break becomes more evident.
Add to this the fact that Rangers have pace in Miller and Naismith. A stretched game won’t be a huge imposition for Rangers and is likely to suit the tactics that Walter Smith will deploy.
With Naismith, Davis and Edu making up three of the likely midfield spots, the last place could be taken up by Kyle Lafferty. There was a lot of hullabaloo over this weekends SPL action and Lafferty’s role in Rangers second half blitz against Motherwell has been overlooked.
The maligned player had a creative hand in much of Rangers attacking play and he delivered some defence splitting passes to assist the strikes. The Northern Irish internationalist appears to have picked up his game in recent weeks; perhaps critiscm in the wake of his red card at Easter Road has seeped in.
With four points from 2 games, tonight’s Ibrox match gives Rangers the chance to transform their Champions League expectations. A win would see them four points clear of Valencia and would make the last 16 a tangible, if still tricky to achieve, prospect.
A defeat would see Valencia overtake Rangers and leave the Ibrox club with the Europa League as their serious target. This has been the main focus for many Rangers fans and therefore, would not be a massive disappointment.
A draw? Well, it’s still up for grabs and the return game in the Mestalla would take on even greater importance.
We fully expect caution to be the watchword at Ibrox and patience will be needed from all in blue. Scotland almost frustrated Spain at Hampden last week so there is no reason to say that Rangers couldn’t do the same. With an unbeaten record to maintain, you can guarantee that Rangers will not make life easy for their Spanish opponents?
Can Rangers grab all three points again?
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It’s a tough ask, I’d settle for a draw right now.
Valencia made Barcelona look very average in the first half of their weekend fixture and if they replicate that form, it might be a long night in Govan.
The spirit is there though and hopefully we can match them in the way that Scotland matched the national side in the 2nd half at least. Thankfully we have a back line that can head a ball though so we might just sneak a draw!!
Valencia did look great early on versus Barca but any comparison with that match is invalid.
Barca, as great as they are, will bomb forward and leave space behind the full-backs and midfield. If you have the intelligence of Valencia and can get on the ball, you can hurt this style of opposition and they did get behind Barca.
Tonight, the Spaniards will face a completely different task where their passing will need to find a way behind strong Walls or perhaps coax Rangers out. This is where Rangers require patience. There will be opportunities to get behind Valencia…but at times it may just ne the opposition trying to draw you out.
Not everyone appreciates football games being played like chessbut the style of the two teams will make for an intriguing game.