Dutch FA step in to make major influence on Rangers v PSV

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Dutch FA step in to make major influence on Rangers v PSV
EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS - AUGUST 24: Scott Arfield of Glasgow Rangers celebrates with his teammate John Lundstram of Glasgow Rangers after the UEFA Champions League Play-Off Second Leg match between PSV and Glasgow Rangers at Phillips Stadium on August 24, 2022 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)

Just like last year, PSV Eindhoven will get a week off thanks to the Dutch FA stepping in yet again to rearrange a domestic fixture, and just like last year Rangers won’t get that rest.

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This caused a furore last summer, with Kris Boyd calling Ally McCoist an effective ‘idiot’ for suggesting the domestic match with Hibs should be postponed to prepare for the second leg for PSV.

Many Rangers fans agreed with Boyd that the postponement was unnecessary and while they didn’t degrade McCoist as a fool, they ridiculed the idea.

Ibrox Noise supported him, but when McCoist saw the general backlash he backed off, and made just a little quip on former BT Sport during commentary. And that was that.

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But here we are again.

Now, Rangers won that playoff a year ago, despite not getting the rest, so there’s a case to say it’s not needed, but the fact is that PSV will come to Ibrox a lot fresher than we will be.

Rangers have been playing around two matches a week for a considerable amount of time now, and while there’s no evidence we’re in any way jaded, PSV will have an advantage here in terms of ‘freshness’.

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Now, there’s a big caveat – PSV have been nowhere near as active in the summer market, bringing in just three men, including Malik Tillman of course, but they have lost Xavi Simons. This means the squad doesn’t quite need the gelling time Rangers’ new group probably does.

Fans would have a strong case to say keep playing.

And of course while last season’s place in the Champions League was absolutely critical, it’s maybe not as important this season so it’s not like an injury midweek would derail a vital UCL slot. We’ll get to that in another piece.

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PSV will have that extra rest compared to Rangers.

It didn’t make a difference last season, but who knows what difference 12 months has made.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Last thing we need is a rest
    We need games to get this team sorted out and ready for the task ahead
    This psv game maybe just to soon for us,as i dont think we’r ready yet
    If we’r going to do anything,we need to kill it at ibrox
    We’ve got the eastenders coming soon to ibrox which we must take the 3 points aswell
    All to play for
    Onwards💪🫡🇬🇧

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