THROUGHOUT LAST season I consistently warned that Rangers fans would only put up with their team's negative tactics so long as they were winning. It was clear that large numbers who pay fortunes for season tickets would turn on the manager at the moment of failure. That moment arrived in the 86th minute on Tuesday night.
It was never a case of if, but rather when. The rope-a-dope tactic of soaking up attacks only to break when the opposition let their collective guard down always leaves you open to a sucker punch, or even just a lucky one. In Kaunas, Nerijus Radzius'
haymaker followed by Linas Pilibaitis' knockout blow left everyone asking the same question; why didn't the coaching staff realise this was an opponent who would almost certainly have keeled over had Rangers come out fighting from the start with two or more strikers?
Well, Walter Smith had watched these tactics work time and again last season in Europe and even on the road in the SPL, so history was on his side. He also knew that his team was in less than top form going into this vital game, so expansive football might have been seen as the more risky strategy. Remember, when visiting Dundee United late last season he adopted a 4-4-2 and in no time the previously impregnable defence had leaked three goals and it should have been more.
Confidence and energy levels were low in the camp, maybe because of the combined draining effects of losing the league, losing the UEFA Cup final and playing 68 games. Pre-season had been less than glorious with the 4-0 home defeat by Liverpool only adding to the deflation.
On top of this, with injuries to Carlos Cuellar and Barry Ferguson, he knew that his two best players were unavailable. The loss of the captain was the more important because apart from being the driving force he is also the most creative player. Anyone who watches football could see that they lacked any worthwhile intelligent invention in midfield against Kaunas. Walter might have thought, why start with a bunch of strikers if I have no one capable of supplying them?
A perfect example was apparent in the first half when Nacho Novo on the right wing tore past his marker three times in the first 15 minutes. It was patently clear that he should have been given the ball at every opportunity; instead it rarely arrived for the rest of the half. In fact his only other meaningful contribution was setting up the goal from the opposite wing where he had been forced to go in search of the ball.
Time and again he was alone, wide on the touchline, with space behind the defender and yet no midfielder seemed capable of getting their head up and playing him in. It wasn't as if it needed an incisive Glenn Hoddle 60-yarder with the outside of the foot. A lump vaguely into the right area would have done the trick. Ferguson would have picked it out and maybe even Steve Davis would have spotted it too, but this inability only served to bring Rangers' current deficiencies clearly into focus.
On the odd occasion when the ball did eventually reach Novo after half a dozen unnecessary passes, he was by then marked by two or three players who effortlessly shepherded him inside were he was ineffective.
Maybe the Spaniard by then just wanted to link up with Kenny Miller who must feel as popular with the Rangers players as he does with a section of the support. For large periods of the game not one of the five midfielders seemed willing or able to get up and support him as he struggled to lead the line on his own. Once again this is a job that Ferguson takes on board when things aren't going well.
This could be the crux of the problem; there is no one at the club who can do the various jobs that the skipper does. Last season he had his critics even among his own supporters but as is often the case certain players' importance only becomes apparent when they are not in the side.
Smith rarely uses injured players as an excuse, in fact he doesn't tend to use any legitimate reasons for failure as excuses because he knows these are problems managers simply have to overcome. It is the job, so why whinge? With ridiculous calls for his sacking already, I would suggest that the mediocre performance during the week served to underline just how good a job he did tactically last season to ensure they overachieved all the way to Manchester.
The inclusion of new signing Madjid Bougherra and the return of Cuellar and Ferguson should be enough to ensure Rangers are there or thereabouts in the league come the end of the season. The biggest worry is that Celtic could be out of sight by Christmas if Barry doesn't return very soon and the midfield is left to its own devices.
Last week I couldn't see how Rangers were going to produce a new creative genius considering their budget. It is an even taller order now that the Champions League money has disappeared and the lure of the competition itself can't be used. The domestic season has only just begun so a bit of perspective is needed but you sense there is already precious little room for further error at Ibrox. Certainly the need for painstaking preparation before every match will be crucial.
Even in the build up to the Kaunas trip I wasn't convinced that facing Liverpool four days before a must-win game was a great idea. There was always the possibility of a confidence-bursting thrashing and Liverpool are such an accomplished passing side there was also the danger of having to chase shadows for 90 minutes, the most tiring and soul destroying thing in the game.
Even the flight over to Lithuania was questionable. The BBC let me out of the studio for once to co-commentate and I was booked on the Rangers team plane. The honour was slightly diminished when I realised we had to be at the airport at 6am on the Monday, which meant getting up at 4.30. It was while driving bleary-eyed over the Kingston Bridge that it hit me that the players were doing the same and they had a game that could shape their entire season the next afternoon.
Maybe this is common practice these days, but I know I still didn't feel quite right by the time the game started. The only chance for training was on that afternoon and it was all but washed out in a torrential thunderstorm. As a player I would prefer to have travelled on the Sunday, allowing time to recover from the journey. I just hope that it was a mistake in the planning and not a cost-cutting exercise demanded from above to save on hotel bills. If that was the case then the Rangers fans shouldn't hold their breath for the arrival of a much-needed creative midfielder, they'll need a creative accountant first.
WHO CAN FILL THE CREATIVE VOID AT IBROX?
STEVEN NAISMITHSigned from Kilmarnock for £1m on transfer deadline day last August, Naismith's first season at Rangers was blighted by injury. He started just 12 league games and has not had the chance to reproduce the goals and assists that helped make his name at Rugby Park. Adept at playing in wide positions or just off the front two. Still recovering from a serious knee injury sustained in last season's Scottish Cup semi-final.
CHRIS BURKEBack in light training following a serious ankle injury, Burke is an orthodox winger with an impressive array of tricks in his armoury. An old-fashioned dribbler, his crossing is not always on the button. Used sparingly by Walter Smith last season, Burke suffers from the winger's curse – inconsistency.
DAMARCUS BEASLEYThe American winger is back in training and will return to the first-team squad next week after recovering from a hamstring strain. Fast and direct with an eye for goal, Beasley missed much of last season with a knee injury but returned for the Scottish Cup final, scoring in the 3-2 win over Queen of the South.
STEVEN LENNONA hat-trick in the 2007 Scottish Youth Cup final win over Celtic made supporters sit up and take notice and the striker made three substitute appearances for the first team that season. Now 20, he was confined to the reserve team last season but did win a call-up to the Scotland Under-21 side.
JOHN FLECKThe nephew of former Rangers striker Robert Fleck has long been groomed for great things at Ibrox. Can play in midfield or attack and was in the squad for the 2007 pre-season tour of Germany. Still only 16, Fleck, right, made his competitive debut last season and won a Scottish Cup medal as a late substitute against Queen of the South.
The full article contains 1540 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
