Blimey, who'd have thunk it? Werder Bremen, second in the Bundesliga, well known now throughout European football for playing outstanding, open attacking stuff, turn up at Ibrox and look about as dangerous as the MMR vaccine. (For all you non-medical folk out there, trust me, the MMR vaccine is NOT dangerous)
One shot on target in 90 minutes for the visitors, then. Rangers were hardly all-action and free-flowing, but they deserved the luck they got. Note to Tim Wiese - spreading Lurpak on your gloves before a game is not a very good idea. If McCulloch had scored at the end, I'd have said the tie was over already. As it is, Watty's boys go over there next week with a good head start and a single away goal probably kills it. Freaking sweet.
So, in honour of this excellent result, I'm going to eat some humble pie. I unreservedly support all Scottish teams playing in Europe, as because of UEFA co-efficients it's to everybody's benefit that they do well, but being highly complimentary of an Old Firm team does comes about as easily to me as good pop songs come to Scouting For Girls. I feel so dirty about this. Okay, deep breath, here goes.
Firstly, the tactics were outstanding. That was the narrowest five man midfield I have ever seen, but the whole point to it was to complete remove Diego's influence from the game. The guy was crowded faster than the Beatles at an airport. It meant that Cousin was pretty isolated, but he put in a shift and worked hard, and more importantly had support from the excellent Charlie Adam on one side and, incredibly, Kirk Broadfoot on the other.
And seamlessly we move onto our second point. The phrases "Kirk Broadfoot" and "Man of the match" will not be heard often in European circles, but last night the boy was outstanding. He is as graceful as a lemming and has the subtlety of a brick, but he put in an absolutely herculean effort to get up and down the right flank that should be enough to keep Whittaker on the bench for a wee bit longer. Good for him. Alan who?
Thanks to Rangers' efforts last night, currently Scotland's clubs are joint sixth on co-efficients this season, ahead of the likes of France, Ukraine, Holland and Portugal. Not freaking bad. For the UEFA Cup expands in two years and as it stands Scotland gets one more extra team, but if Rangers push on it could be two!
So if Rangers do well, you could see Caley Thistle in Europe! That's right, I'll just keep thinking that, and singing the praises of the Great Unwashed causes slightly less nausea for me...
By the way, how long do you think I'll last before ranting about Gretna-gate? Yeah, I give it till about Sunday...
L.
1 comment:
Great win. I'd have Whittaker back in at left-back. Thought Papac was the only player who looked a bit shakey and would rather see a natural full-back in there.
Cousin was played the kind of game that would make Rangers fans love him if he did more than every five games, if he's on a hot streak.
It's been a while since Rangers had such strength in depth. I reckon Walter has already made more clever signings than he did in his whole first spell as boss. If you put Webster and Smith back in the team we've got a pretty decent 2nd XI.
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