So, how does this new-look Europa League work. For those who are still confused, it’s simple. Everyone is now thrown into one, large super league. Each team gets to play 8 times and at the end of the 8th match the clubs ranked one to eight will qualify directly for the round of 16. Then to make up the other 8 teams the clubs ranked 9th to 24th will qualify for the knockout phase play-offs. And the clubs ranked from 25 to 36 are eliminated.

Our first match in this new league is against Malmo, and on paper Malmo look like they should be a tough team.

Against Scottish teams they have a record of 6 wins 1 draw and 3 losses with 21 goals for and 16 goals against, but nine of these goals came against Hibs.

They have also played frequently in Europe, with 3 appearances in the Champions League group stage since 2010; and they have also got the better of us every time we have crossed paths. So, why do I feel this time will be very different?

The difference is twofold. The first is they are managed by Henrik Rydstrom, and the second is that just like us, they no longer have Antonio Čolak as their primary goal threat, and they have never found anyone to really replace him.

To be blunt, I really have not been impressed by Malmo. Though they now try to play with a flexible structure, with their players constantly changing positions to confuse their opponents, this is a style that we are very used to, and it requires years for players in a team to master it properly; and just now their current ability to use it is far below Rangers.

For some perspective, they are way slower than Celtic in their build-up, and I would say their speed on the ball and their ability to manage the game is about 50% of that required.

They are also not comfortable when playing out from back.

They are far too slow and also far too methodical in attack, and they always appear to be trying to create that Michael Beale perfect goal, but they do not have the players to do it.

And another problem with their team is when they are out of possession their primary tactic is to jog slowly around, which makes their press ineffective.

So, they only play at their best when other teams stand back and allow them to play. When they come up against strong teams that are fast and aggressive, you will often see massive Beale-like gaps developing between their players

And this is also when their biggest weakness appears. Under pressure, their defenders will often resort to grabbing the shirts of their opponents in the penalty box. It seems this is something they routinely do in their league games and they get away with it, but this is something we should take full advantage of, and I believe we will. So, do not be surprised if we get a penalty or two.

But what about Rangers?

Here I could go into detail about how we are not yet working fully as a team. About how we are slowly getting there, and with just a few tweaks we should become a much more efficient team… but that I believe misses our biggest problem.

Because we decided we had to save one hundred thousand pounds per year, the ones who run our club decided we could never play Hagi again – So, yes, in order to save one hundred thousand pounds we now pay the same player over one million per year, to play on the B-team. Now that is smart.

Just now we badly need a player of Hagi’s skill, who can pass and shoot with both his left and right feet and has a tactical brain in his head. All these things could make a huge difference to our team. Hagi was never fast, we all knew that, but he was and still is a player whose off the ball movements cause massive huge problems within the defensive line. These movements created the gaps for others to score goals. The problem is some people do not realise how important that illusive skill is.

But now we are faced with a massive problem.

…the problem is because we have treated Hagi (and some others such as Katic) so badly, it is likely that the best players (who just might have given Rangers a try), now think twice and then choose to go elsewhere…

And that is what I believe happened to us this summer. We heard so many interesting names but many chose to look elsewhere….

In Europe goals mean money, and to get a player who can stick that round ball of air in the back of the net means we have to compete with every other club in Europe.

Our problem is they all want a part of that massive Champions League pie, and they are fully willing to pay very good money for the right player.

Turning to our team, just now Clement wants to play modern attractive football, with players who are not afraid to get their hair messy by actually turning their heads to look around them. With doing this one small thing, he has improved Rangers, and our players appear to finally be more tactically aware, just because of this one small difference.

But we also now play the suicidal high line, which we used to routinely destroy a few short years ago, and that really is a concern. So, my hope is Clement learns and he tries to mix the best of Beales Tactics (yes, some of his tactics actually did work) with the very best tactics he has at his disposal.

However there is also strategic tactics and away from home (with the Europa League now being totally so different in structure), playing defensive in the away game is not going to work. Teams are going to soon find out that goal difference is going to become very important. So, this Europa League should be treated more like a Scottish league, where winning by massive goal differences is a must. So, my hope is we will play very aggressively on Thursday, and we do not take the foot off, even if we are two or three goals up.

So, game on, and it’s time that we finally defeat the mighty Malmo in Europe.