Rangers in the Champions League: the importance of being unpredictable

Before looking at how Ajax play we thought we should highlight the massive, and we mean massive difference that playing in the Champions League makes to the value of players.

During this transfer window Ajax spent £100 million ($115.6 million) on incoming players, which sounds a lot.

But before you start worrying that Ajax may have over-extended themselves in this summer window, Ajax made £205 million ($237.84 million) from the sale of eight players, which for those who like maths is a cool £105 million profit.

And that is the single reason why every, single team wants to be in the Champions League.

It is not just because of the crazy amount of money that is dished out just for qualifying. It is the fact that the value of all the players in the team suddenly jumps to silly levels, for teams that are successful.

As we all know, a few years ago, Morelos was one of the top scorers in the Europa League, but that was the Europa League

And now we are in the Champions League, which means if Goalak (or Morelos if he gets his act together and can work his way back into the team) are able to climb the scoring charts in the Champions League, and if their names appear in the top three, then we are talking serious money.

So, what are our chances of doing well in the Campions League, and can we qualify from this group.

Here there is no sugar coating it. The Champions League is football at the highest level.

When Rangers play the ball neatly through the lines we (the fans) are often blown away by what we see, and sometimes we can remember individual moves for years.

Well, in the Champions League these mesmerizing, intricate plays are routine, and the top teams can often play this type of neat passing football non-stop, for the full 90 minutes.

That is why Liverpool have been so strong for the last few years. Tactically, and in terms of skill they are up there amongst the best, and they match this with countless hours practicing how to break through an opponent’s high press.

And this takes us to the 100 million dollar question. A question that is seriously worrying the top teams in the Champions League who have taken notice.

How do Rangers keep getting results against teams that on paper should be miles ahead of us.

Is it speed? Being blunt, no. Many of the top teams play against speedsters. Our team does have some very fast players, but that alone is not enough to scare the very top teams, and not enough to account for all our wins against top European teams.

Is it quality? No, many of the teams we have played are filled with players who are both stronger and far better on the ball.

No, the reason we keep winning is nothing to do with “quality”. It is something a bit more enigmatic.

It is how we work the ball, and how we take advantage of an “undesired” feature in highest levels in football.

It’s unpredictability.

Have you ever wondered why our front line cannot find their team mate? Well the answer is we are so flexible in how we play no-one (not even those playing in the Rangers team) know what is going to happen next.

And it is that in-built unpredictability in the Rangers team that confuse the hell out of all the top teams we play.

They watch videos of us playing and half the critical passes will go astray, and they think to themselves oh my god, we are so damn lucky to be playing against Rangers.

Then they play us and out of nowhere they are a goal down.

Remember how the Real Madrid fans were raving about Rangers after we beat them 2-1 in last year’s friendly? After that game they were petrified to draw us in the Champions League.

The only reason why we were outplayed (but only marginally) by Spurs, is our team had just been decimated, and the new players were still trying to find their feet.

In the last few weeks the team has started to bind again, and I think our attack is the strongest it has ever been.

Our only concern (as we have said often) is now our defence, which was once the strongest part of our team.

With no new players coming in, we truly hope those in charge have got this one right.

Because there is more on the line than just £40 million.