Rangers should switch attention to Europa League qualification after Ajax thrashing
Rangers made it to the Champions League group stages for the first time in ten years last month, but were brought crashing to reality by Ajax last week.
After dispatching of PSV Eindhoven over two legs to qualify for the tournament proper, their Dutch rivals Ajax got one back on the scoreboard for the Netherlands with a thumping 4-0 win in Amsterdam.
The other two teams in the group, Napoli and Liverpool, clashed in a spectacular game too later that night with the Italians claiming a shock but deserved 4-1 win to really open the group up.
With the tournament format changing slightly this season due to the winter World Cup, Rangers don’t have to wait long for their next game when they take on Napoli at Ibrox this week.
But after the nature of the opening day defeat, mixed in with the result of the other game in the group and the strength of the squad they have in comparison to their rivals, the plan may just have changed dramatically.
Rangers would have been hopeful of getting big results at Ibrox against the other teams in the group, while keeping it tight away from home and possibly sneaking points.
However after getting slaughtered away from home against arguably the weakest of the other three teams, the chances of that happening are now even slimmer than even the most optimistic Rangers fan would have thought originally.
After performing so well in the Europa League last season, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst won’t want to be completely eliminated from European competition so early on in the season.
A change of tact to targeting Europa League qualification by finishing third in the group could be the new main goal, which could arguably be seen as successful.
Not many Rangers fans would have expected to get out of the group, and even fewer would expect anything after the 4-0 loss on the opening day. But third place would represent progress.
They’d have rebuilt, reset and restructured as well as been able to grind out positive results. At this point, there isn’t much more you could have asked for.
It will take some people swallowing their pride to accept it, but it will take pressure off the players and potentially allow them to play with more freedom.
After back to back humblings, a change in direction and targets could be exactly what’s needed and this would be a good way of introducing it.
In other Rangers news, Brighton could be about to give the club a huge boost after a crazy week