Rangers’ demolition of Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps was a significant result in a number of ways, and Ibrox Noise takes you through the best of them:
1: By comparison, we absolutely gubbed Celtic’s result there. Brendan Rodgers’ side was humiliated in arguably the worst result in their European history, and Rangers put not only St Joseph’s away on this ground, but did the same with Celtic’s conquerors, and to the tune of five goals.
2: While this was not an outstanding performance from Rangers’ fringe players, it was exactly that – a performance from Rangers’ B team. Rangers showed that even their bench options are strong, and to lose one of the big summer signings mid-match and STILL run out triumphant winners with ease sends a serious message to the rest of the Premiership.
3: The only worthwhile team to have scored against Rangers this season is Bayer Leverkusen – that one of the best teams in Germany who just sold their star player for around £90M is the only one that has actually beaten our defence gives some idea of where Rangers are currently at.
4: Related to 3. If Rangers had actually tried in Germany (they didn’t) we might just have made the very latter stages of the UEL. Rangers were tepid in Leverkusen, in a performance which showed no courage or indeed interest. Even Steven Gerrard wasn’t that bothered about the result, and moved on quick, as if it was just an inconvenience. Rangers’ performances and results otherwise this season have all, Livi aside, been far better than that one.
5: Rangers aren’t reliant on Ryan Kent, and while this display wasn’t vintage, it showed we can win without him.
6: Alfredo Morelos had a big platform to show he was worth teams’ interest, and he took advantage of it with a double. If Rangers are to sell him quick, they may need to use matches and him in this way.
7: Nathan Patterson’s introduction showed Steven Gerrard is willing to utilise Tavernier as a winger. True, he’s never going to be Arjen Robben, but the option is there and the manager has demonstrated desire to use it now.
There were a few more but that will do.
Not a stellar performance, but a great result and our Rangers march on.