Europe after Xmas.
Progression. Advancement. Qualification.
All achieved thanks to a positive result against the French side Auxerre, in which a point was required to confirm a minimum of finishing third in our group and thus ensuring safe passage to the next round. In the end, a 2-2 scoreline was achieved thanks to goals from Novo and Boyd, but while the final consequences of the result were positive, they failed to hide the glaring poverty of the defence.
Starting with the same back four to begin the previous two matches, Rangers set out with a pretty stable lineup, and in fact opted to deploy the same formation and personnel who won at Tynecastle, advocating the sense of continuity.
Unfortunately the defensive display was one of the worst Scottish efforts of a backline seen in Europe. Celtic’s capitulation at the hands of Portuguese cracks Benfica was pretty shambolic too, but Rangers’ pathetic showing took incompetence to new levels, seemingly flying in the face of keeping a settled unit.
Initially it was fairly untested, and actually possessed a touch of balance with the full backs bombing up the flanks, but Auxerre’s Polish striker Jelen managed to penetrate once or twice and indeed forced an early save from McGregor. However, when Smith had to go off injured, it forced Le Guen’s hand and saw the introduction of Rodriguez into the unfamiliar left back slot. It made a massive difference to the entire defence.
The centre backs started to make elementary errors, truly schoolboy stuff, never more so than when a crude punt down the middle of the park evaded both and went through to Jelen who slotted past the committed McGregor. More and more problems creeped in, such as a total lack of marking, which was highlighted when Hemdani lost his man completely and the Auxerre player missed his header when scoring was easier.
Then both Rodriguez and Svensson insisted on appalling losses of possession which seemed to indicate an alarming lack of concentration – totally unacceptable at this (Or any) level. There was also the problem of Rodriguez’ presence completely ruining the left channel – he was not willing to get forward except on a single occasion, and it forced Prso to track back to fill that midfield flank and therefore removed Prso’s presence as the left winger. Then was Rodriguez’ desire to go to his natural habitat of the penalty box, which left the left channel horrendously exposed before Hemdani would try to cover the wayward movement. This doesn’t even begin to explore Rodriguez’ pretty horrendous positioning when trying to close down wingers; they threw crosses in with ease and gusto.
He was the only option to put there, but his presence completely unsettled the defence and led to a tragic display of incompetence by all 4.
However, thanks to a couple of opportunistic goals Rangers did manage to escape this match with a draw and qualification. Unfortunately, all too often that hideous defence made Auxerre, a truly woeful and mediocre team, look world class.
Le Guen can just be glad to come out of this one intact – but there can be no doubt the scoreline did not completely paper over the cracks of this match.
All achieved thanks to a positive result against the French side Auxerre, in which a point was required to confirm a minimum of finishing third in our group and thus ensuring safe passage to the next round. In the end, a 2-2 scoreline was achieved thanks to goals from Novo and Boyd, but while the final consequences of the result were positive, they failed to hide the glaring poverty of the defence.
Starting with the same back four to begin the previous two matches, Rangers set out with a pretty stable lineup, and in fact opted to deploy the same formation and personnel who won at Tynecastle, advocating the sense of continuity.
Unfortunately the defensive display was one of the worst Scottish efforts of a backline seen in Europe. Celtic’s capitulation at the hands of Portuguese cracks Benfica was pretty shambolic too, but Rangers’ pathetic showing took incompetence to new levels, seemingly flying in the face of keeping a settled unit.
Initially it was fairly untested, and actually possessed a touch of balance with the full backs bombing up the flanks, but Auxerre’s Polish striker Jelen managed to penetrate once or twice and indeed forced an early save from McGregor. However, when Smith had to go off injured, it forced Le Guen’s hand and saw the introduction of Rodriguez into the unfamiliar left back slot. It made a massive difference to the entire defence.
The centre backs started to make elementary errors, truly schoolboy stuff, never more so than when a crude punt down the middle of the park evaded both and went through to Jelen who slotted past the committed McGregor. More and more problems creeped in, such as a total lack of marking, which was highlighted when Hemdani lost his man completely and the Auxerre player missed his header when scoring was easier.
Then both Rodriguez and Svensson insisted on appalling losses of possession which seemed to indicate an alarming lack of concentration – totally unacceptable at this (Or any) level. There was also the problem of Rodriguez’ presence completely ruining the left channel – he was not willing to get forward except on a single occasion, and it forced Prso to track back to fill that midfield flank and therefore removed Prso’s presence as the left winger. Then was Rodriguez’ desire to go to his natural habitat of the penalty box, which left the left channel horrendously exposed before Hemdani would try to cover the wayward movement. This doesn’t even begin to explore Rodriguez’ pretty horrendous positioning when trying to close down wingers; they threw crosses in with ease and gusto.
He was the only option to put there, but his presence completely unsettled the defence and led to a tragic display of incompetence by all 4.
However, thanks to a couple of opportunistic goals Rangers did manage to escape this match with a draw and qualification. Unfortunately, all too often that hideous defence made Auxerre, a truly woeful and mediocre team, look world class.
Le Guen can just be glad to come out of this one intact – but there can be no doubt the scoreline did not completely paper over the cracks of this match.
posted by RangersMedia @ 1:04 AM
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