The Scotsman Football Show - Club Brugge v Rangers preview - video Dailymotion

The Scotsman

Mark Atkinson and Graham Falk discuss Rangers' Champions League trip to Club Brugge.

Transcript

00:00Hello, and welcome to the Scotsman Football Show. I'm your host, Graeme Falk. I'm joined

00:07today by Mark Atkinson. Mark, how are you doing? Are you all right?

00:10Good, Graeme. How are you?

00:12Yes, not too bad. Big week of football, as it always is. I think we say that every single

00:16week, but it's not a bad thing. But look, we're here to discuss Rangers' chances of

00:21getting into the Champions League after last week's, can we say disastrous, first leg against

00:26Club Rouge? I think disastrous would have been the right term had they not scored. I think

00:33that goal they got in the second half, having trailed 3-0, means that they have a slither

00:38of hope because it's only two, the deficit. But let's be honest, it's a really tough ask

00:45because Club Rouge in the first half showed that they are several levels above Rangers

00:51when they play at their best. And it does leave them with a really tough ask. It would be

00:56some performance if Rangers could claw back the deficit. But you never know. It's football.

01:02But as we're going to discuss, I'm sure, it's not all rosy in the Rangers' garden right

01:07now. And that means that their task is made even tougher.

01:11I think if it wasn't tough enough for Russell Martin after those, I think the worst start

01:16since 1989 is now the worst start since 1985, I believe. So I think he said the worst start

01:23of any permanent Rangers manager. There's loads of poor stats flying around. And he'll want

01:28to have taken Sunday's game, kind of digest it as best he can. And then you find out there's

01:34certain players that, according to himself, are refusing to play. That's not a good sign.

01:38Rangers didn't even start with a striker and the one on the bench apparently refused to

01:42play. What do you make of that?

01:43Yeah, the Hamza-Igaman situation is a real problem for Rangers. As you alluded to, they

01:48didn't have a number nine on the pitch against Sid Mirren. They ended up joining that game

01:521-0. Telo Asgard, who's an attacking midfielder, was playing as a false nine. Danilo was left

01:58on the bench. Martin asked Igaman to come on with half an hour to go. And the head coach

02:04claims that Igaman told him he couldn't because he was injured. And that's led to a breakdown

02:08in the relationship between the player and the manager. I think with Igaman, we've known

02:13for some time that he wants to leave Rangers. He had a good season last year, I think a good

02:19half season where he showed us what he's got. I think he's one of these players that's probably

02:23been told what could lie ahead for him in the future. Lille in France have been heavily

02:27linked with him. They can pay a lot of money. They're a big club themselves. And it's clear

02:32that his future is not at Ibrox. But what it means is that Russell Martin is deprived of

02:36one of the few strikers who can actually score a goal at nothing for Rangers. And it just

02:42doesn't help the atmosphere around the club. It doesn't help Martin as he tries to win the

02:47trust of the players that are currently there and win the trust of the fans. As you said,

02:521985, that's the last time the Rangers were in such a mess domestically, having not won

02:57their opening three matches. They found some sanctuary in Europe, obviously, because they

03:01beaten Parathinaikos and Victoria Pilsen to get this far. But we all felt, and I'm sure

03:06Graeme, you and I have discussed this before, that once they came up against a pretty good

03:10Champions League team in the qualifiers, they'd come unstuck. And that's what happened last

03:14week.

03:15I think when you look at Bruges, they've obviously lost players during the summer because

03:19a lot of good young players that came to fruition last year in the Champions League, but they've

03:23replaced really well. And I think, to be honest, you looked at those first three goals in

03:28the first 20 minutes and a lot of it will be down to, you know, from a Rangers perspective,

03:32you look at the mistakes, but by God, like Club Rouge were clinical and realistically could

03:37have maybe even had more, I think, if they'd kind of pushed it.

03:41Yeah, for sure. It was quite telling after the match, Graeme, when Nicky Hyen, the Club

03:45Rouge head coach, was interviewed afterwards. And he said, we knew where the space was.

03:50And I thought that was such a damning indictment of the Rangers system that Club Rouge knew exactly

03:56how to hurt this Rangers team. Club Rouge are probably what Rangers and to a lesser extent

04:02Celtic should aspire to. A club that's selling players for a lot of money, but also recruiting

04:07really well. And we saw them play Rangers in pre-season in July. I think everyone in that match

04:13went, they're a good team, even though it was a two-all draw. And yeah, they just look at better

04:19side than Rangers. But of course, football is a strange beast. Potentially, Rangers could score early.

04:24And put some doubt into Club Rouge. At least in that second half at Ibrox, Rangers got at them.

04:31You've got to hope that guys like Jeddy Gassama, Oliver Antman on the wings can get some joy.

04:38I've been really impressed with Gassama. He seems their only tangible outlet right now.

04:45But I just worry, this Rangers team's too open for an away game in the Champions League.

04:48And it's hard to see them getting a result, but you never know.

04:53When we're discussing sort of what hope they have, how important in terms of qualification

05:00is that first goal? Because if Bruce score, it's game done, isn't it?

05:05Oh yeah, I think the first goal is key in this tie. Bruce score, I think that will deflate Rangers.

05:11Jan Bredelstadion is quite a compact ground. It gets pretty raucous. They've got a good record there.

05:17They beat Aston Villa last season in the Champions League. And I think there's a feeling among the Bruges players,

05:23when you watch them celebrate after the match in front of the pocket of travelling support at Ibrox,

05:29they know they're in a really strong position here. They know they're one punch away from knocking Rangers out.

05:35And yeah, that first goal was going to be crucial.

05:37I think Rangers, what we've not seen from Rangers is any sort of sense of water tightness

05:43in the opening stages of Champions League matches under Russell Martin.

05:48They have to keep the door shut for the first half hour in this game and just try and not allow

05:53this tie to completely run away from them.

05:56I think the key thing, and you see with a few Rangers fans as well, just to kind of end here

06:01on the preview of the game, I suppose, there's a worry that even if Rangers do the unthinkable

06:07and have a famous European night, yes, it'll feel fantastic for the time being,

06:11but they're struggling to beat anyone domestically.

06:14They've not looked that convincing in Europe outside of maybe the games against Panath and Icos

06:18and that, especially the home game, I suppose, against Pilsen.

06:22But if they qualify for the Champions League, we've seen what happened a few years ago

06:25when they clearly just weren't good enough under Giovanni Van Bronkos.

06:29They're a far worse side than that now, in many people's opinion.

06:33Is the Europa League a better place for them anyway?

06:36I think the Europa League is the natural habitat for this Rangers team.

06:39I'd actually say right now, watching Rangers, they look like a Conference League team to me.

06:44I think they could obviously become a Europa League team.

06:47The one benefit of getting into the Champions League is that you unlock the £40 million cash pot

06:51and that would allow Rangers to probably give Russell Martin a little bit more money

06:55between now and then and the transfer window.

06:58And they could, in theory, get some more players that can help them domestically.

07:02But to use a buzzword from Russell Martin, they would experience a lot of pain in the Champions League.

07:08There are teams that could put six or seven past Rangers in their current guys.

07:13But I fear that even in the Europa League, they might have some difficulties.

07:17But that does feel like the right place for them.

07:19Financially, yeah, Champions League would be huge for this new ownership group

07:23and the rebuild that Russell Martin is undertaking.

07:26But in reality, if Martin wants to try and build some momentum

07:30and try and avoid some of the horrific and damaging results

07:34that Van Bronkos suffered in the Champions League against teams like Liverpool,

07:37then really the best place for them is the second tier of European football.

07:44I think privately they'll be able to accept from Rangers that that's probably what should happen.

07:50But finance talks in football.

07:52And if they were to win, if they were to turn this tie over,

07:55what a shot in the arm that would give the Russell Martin regime.

07:58It would help convince a lot of doubters that he's got the minerals

08:04to get this Rangers team performing in some of the toughest environments.

08:08And clearly a very big boost ahead of arguably almost a must-win

08:12or must-not-lose on Sunday, I suppose, as it always is in many ways.

08:16But, Mark, it's a big game, a big week,

08:19as it has been for numerous couple of weeks now with many Scottish clubs.

08:23And football is a funny old game, so let's not make any predictions.

08:26Indeed, Graeme. Thank you.

The Scotsman Football Show - Club Brugge v Rangers preview

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