TURNING around the tanker at Rangers may take Russell Martin longer than salvage crews needed to move the container ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal and caused world trade to grind to a standstill a few years ago on this evidence.
Martin had used a nautical analogy to describe the difficult rebuilding job which he has embarked upon at Ibrox ahead of the Champions League play-off first leg game against Club Brugge last night.
But the Belgians quickly located gaping holes in their hosts’ defence and effectively sunk their hosts’ hopes of making it through to the league phase of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time ever when they went 3-0 ahead within just 20 minutes.
Rangers were booed off the park by their own supporters – those of them, that is, who hadn’t stormed out of the ground in disgust at what they were witnessing – at half-time and again at full-time even though Danilo had pulled one back for them.
Read more:
-
Rangers 1 Club Brugge 3: First-half errors prove costly in UCL play-off
-
Brendan Rodgers quizzed on Jamie Vardy to Celtic free transfer link
They were bullied off the ball by more physical, technical and intelligent footballers and were fortunate the scoreline at the end of the 90 minutes wasn’t even more humiliating – their goalkeeper Jack Butland produced four outstanding saves.
Their hopes of staging a fightback in the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges next week and progressing are, despite their improved second-half showing against a side protecting a comfortable lead, slender. It looks very much like they will once again miss out on a £40m pay day and have to content themselves with the Europa League this season.
Martin, the former MK Dons, Swansea City and Southampton manager, was not a particularly popular choice to replace Philippe Clement this summer. He has brought in a raft of signings and needs time to integrate them into their new surroundings and implement his ideas.
However, if there are many more games like this one going forward then he will not remain at the helm for long. Here are five talking points from another desperately disappointing night for the Glasgow giants.
Tavernier dropped
This was not the first occasion that James Tavernier has been left out on a big European night – he missed the Europa League match against Olympiacos last term and was omitted from the home leg of the Viktoria Plzen double header in the last round of Champions League qualifying this month.
But not featuring in a play-off game? It didn’t reflect well on the Rangers captain. Martin preferred Bournemouth loanee Max Aarons at right-back and pitched new recruit Jayden Meghoma straight in on the left of the back four.
Aarons offered next to nothing going forward and was nowhere to be seen at the Brugge goals. He very nearly gifted Nicky Hayen’s men a fourth in added on time at the end of the first-half when he switched off and allowed Christos Tzolis to pinch the ball off him and get a shot away.
There was a half-hearted cheer from the crowd when Tavernier came on for Aarons and also when Martin threw on Thelo Aasgaard, Hamza Igamane and Mikey Moore. But the man who has now made 101 continental appearances was unable to make a significant impact during his time on the park.
Meghoma bow
Talk about a baptism of fire for Rangers’ new recruit. The teenage defender only completed his loan move from Brentford on Sunday and had just taken part in two training sessions with his new team-mates. But he was drafted straight into the starting line-up at left-back.
It was his first competitive runout since a Championship encounter for Preston North End against Hull City away back in April. It was the biggest match of the former England youth internationalist’s fledgling career by far. Would he rise to the occasion and justify his selection? Or would he be found wanting. He produced an underwhelming display.
Read more:
-
Motherwell are quids in - but Scotland's pro youth set-up can't just cash in on kids
-
Champions League riches are within touch for Rangers - so why do concerns remain?
-
Football Italia icon reveals why Scotland midfielder Lennon Miller has chosen Udinese
It was maybe understandable that Martin, with both Ridvan Yilmaz and Jefte on the verge of exits and Aarons not really looking comfortable out of position on the left flank, thrust the youngster into the fray. What other option did he have?
Defensive disasters
Ibrox was stunned in just the third minute when Nasser Djiga, for reasons best known to the Wolves loanee, decided to stop running and allow Romeo Vermant to advance unchallenged on the Rangers goal. The forward did superbly to chip over the cruelly exposed Butland. Still, what on earth was Djiga doing?
Cooking on Gassama
There were precious few if any positives for Martin to take from the Rangers display. But the way that his charges fought back in the second half was something. As was the individual showing of Djeidi Gassama.
The former Paris Saint-Germain kid, a £2.2m signing from Sheffield Wednesday last month, was a handful for Brugge down the left wing, did well to supply Danilo and went close with a powerful attempt and had late strike chalked off after a VAR check. But he was perhaps the only man in a light blue jersey to receive pass marks.
Apathy in the stands
The empty spaces in the Ibrox stands told a story. This was one of the biggest games of Rangers’ season and the home team needed every one of their followers roaring them on to get the result they needed. But just 43,731 people filed through the turnstiles on the night.
The optimism which abounded in Govan when the new owners took over in May has gone. Now there is widespread disillusionment with what they are witnessing. They need to see signs there is hope for the future soon – starting in the Premiership meeting with St Mirren in Paisley on Sunday.
