We’ll have tonnes to cover on Thursday’s wonderful romp over Slavia Prague in easily Rangers’ most convincing UEL performance against a side with some credibility this season, but the first thing we wish to look at is the radical change new manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst has made to the formation.
The 4-3-3 might just be finished going by what we saw v Prague, and replaced by a fluid and dynamic 4-2-3-1 which we have to say worked wonderfully well and is arguably the best formation for the players we actually have.
Despite Joe Aribo starting, he wasn’t held back in midfield or isolated on a wing, he, alongside Ianis Hagi and Ryan Kent, sat in a 3-man attack behind Morelos, and the interswapping was a joy to behold.
It got the best out of each player, particularly Aribo, and Hagi’s assist for Morelos’ opener was wonderful.
While we’re not saying this was a flawless performance (the shape fell apart around 32 minutes as the side struggled to remained disciplined in the face of some Prague pressure), it showed a tonne of potential and demonstrated players who hadn’t shown up v Hibs still have life left in them.
In simple terms, they stopped playing for the Slippy regime, no longer believing in him, and the first thing Gio’s done is to rip up all the man left behind.
Starting with his non-system.
Thursday night was a system alright – it was the first time we’ve seen players actually look organised to a clear plan pretty much this calendar year, and it reaped dividends.
It only deserved more goals, but for some bad finishing and a bit of bad luck.
Rangers secure their place in the next stage of the UEL, a play-off v CL third-place teams, and that won’t be easy, but there are no massive expectations.
Gio’s start to life as Rangers manager couldn’t have gone much better.
Thank goodness we got shot of the ex and replaced with this guy.
What a joy to watch tonight guys a different team different manager forget about hibs match we have a lot to look forward to now with an ex super rangers player and from what we’ve seen tonight super manger he knows what we expect at ibrox and he will deliver WATP super GIO 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧👍
I’m not going to get to ahead of myself and agree this was anything like a romp. It was a vast improvement and the stifling tactics we have been watching this year were nowhere in sight. We have all discussed Gerrard’s lack of tactical nous and hoped long enough he would get over his own stubbornness but Gio has come in and swept any remnants of that out the door. We might have achieved a romp had Kent taken a few more yards only 11 seconds in or if someone else more versatile had arrived to bury the chances Aribo missed but if there are any ghosts left that didn’t follow SG to Villa it would be that question of margins. We needed two, we toiled and lost our shape briefly a couple of times and allowed the game to be played on a knife edge calling upon our veteran keeper many of us, myself included keep writing off but it got us over the line and that’s why we love football and this club. Gio’s reaction at the final whistle was the highlight of my night and he witnessed the first step of his reformation with lots to be satisfied about. He can change our attitudes about some of the players we find ourselves complaining about and maybe we will have a quiet transfer window in January and win 56 with who we have. Then we can get down to some business at the end of the season with a manager whose ambition doesn’t lay somewhere else.
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