Alan Rough: Rangers are weaker than when they ended the 2021/22 season
Alan Rough believes that Rangers aren’t as strong as they were when they ended the 2021/22 campaign as the Gers look to qualify for the Champions League group stage next week.
Rough was talking after Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side were held to a 2-2 draw at home to PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier at Ibrox.
The former Scotland goalkeeper believes that the Gers are now big underdogs for the return leg in Eindhoven next week.
Talking on the PLZ Football Show (13:55, 17 August), Rough said: “PSV have now assessed Rangers and are now at home so they have to fancy themselves strongly.
“Are Rangers as strong as they were last year in the Europa League and unfortunately I don’t think they are.
“Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey were massive for Rangers last season and the players who have replaced them aren’t as good as them.
“I don’t think the boy Sands is a centre half.”
Huge performance required
It’s fair to say that Rangers are very much underdogs for the return leg in the Netherlands, with the Eredivisie side a strong outfit on their home patch.
Rough isn’t wrong in his assessment of how Rangers compare to when they finished the 2021/22 season.
Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey were always going to be hard to replace for Rangers and patience is required for the Ibrox faithful.
It was never going to be realistic for van Bronckhorst’s summer additions to come in and hit the ground running straight away and emulate Bassey and Aribo.
Despite this, the Rangers boss simply has to find a combination of in-form players that will get the Gers over the line against PSV next Tuesday (24 August).
Rangers showed they are more than capable of hurting the Dutch side and they must try and replicate the good attacking positions they got into on Tuesday evening.
Potentially playing on the counter-attack could be a good ploy for the Gers to adopt, with PSV likely to dominate the ball.
The likes of Ryan Kent and Malik Tillman could be explosive on the break for van Bronckhorst’s side.
In other Rangers news, Ross Wilson now has names lined up just in case Alfredo Morelos seals his exit this summer