This team’s got balls...
Liege star Cops a sore one but Gers show they are the Standard bearers after surviving poor first half to win RaNgeRS. STaNDaRD liege.
ANOTHER Thursday night. Another impressive Europa Leagu scalp. And another crack at the knockout rounds to look forward forwa to.
But this time there was nothing even remotely Standard about the mannmanner in which Rangers went about getting the job done.
SlacSlack at the back, disjointed going forwaforward and oddly lacklustre by their own high-tempo standards, SteveSteven Gerrard’s side were behind twice in the first half .
TheThey somehow found the resolve and theth wherewithal to level up with a ConnorCon Goldson header and a James Tavernier penalty.
TheThen, when they finally found their rhythm for the first time, late in the second half they blew Liege away to romp through Group D with a gamegam to spare. ScScott Arfield scored the winner bubut they could have helped ththemselves to three or four more in the closing stages so dominant had they become.
It was a tactical triumph too for Gerrard who changed his system at half-time to switch to a 4-4-2 and ended up with the result and the performance he was after.
If it’s getting harder and harder to tell what Gerrard’s strongest starting XI looks like these days, given the interchangeable talent at his disposal, then this one looked quite like it.
With a midfield trio of Steven Davis, Arfield and Glen Kamara, this was a side built on a foundation of craft, industry and composure, backed up by a familiar back four and spearheaded by the combined attacking threats of Kemar Roofe, Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent. The
Rangers boss may have had room to spare in this group but he was holding nothing back against the Belgians, who had arrived in Glasgow having taken just three points from a possible 12.
Nothing but a win would do for the visitors and their urgency showed in the opening minutes.
By comparison, Rangers looked unusually sloppy and sluggish and so, when the opening goal arrived with less than six minutes on the clock, it came as no great surprise.
A darting raid from Croatian winger Duje Cop down the left flank, a whipped cross in behind the Rangers defence and an easy finish for Maxime Lastienne, who got on the blind side of Borna Barisic to open up his body and slot home
from five yards out. This was a goal created and conceded with ease but one which had been coming almost straight from kick-off.
Rangers were rattled out of their stride by the ferocity of this early pounding and unable to clear their own heads.
This mental fog would not clear any time soon. Instead, Gerrard’s players took it in turns to misplace passes and give up possession.
It took them half an hour to put a meaningful attack together when Barisic fizzed in a cross from the left and Roofe and Tavernier came charging on to it at the back post.
The skipper’s shot was charged down and when it broke to the edge of the box Kent’s curling effort crashed wide of the target.
Still, a sign of life at least. All of a sudden Arfield was beginning to function in dangerous areas and when his delicious reverse pass sent Morelos in behind, Liege were unlocked once again. This time they survived but conceded a corner and when Barisic delivered it into the danger area Goldson rose above everyone to power a header home.
That should have settled their nerves. It did not.
Less than two minutes later they were behind again when Cop sneaked in round the back of a flatfooted Rangers defence to connect with a cross from Collins Fai which had caught them all napping and bundle home from a yard out.
In the process, Cop also connected with the back post in the most eye-watering manner imaginable.
He was probably still counting them when Rangers stormed up the other end to win a penalty and complete a unexpectedly dramatic finale to the first half.
Swedish ref Bojan Pandzic appeared at first to point for a corner after Roofe’s shot was charged down by Lastienne but, on the advice of one of his helpers who had spotted a hand ball, he then pointed to the spot.
Tavernier needed no second invitation, drilling the penalty into the roof of the net to level it up at the break.
The unfortunate Cop did not recover and was replaced at halftime by William Balikwisha .
Even though Liege had lost their main danger man they started the second half as they had began the first, on the front foot, hustling Rangers into errors.
In 55 minutes record breaking Allan McGregor – making his 83rd European appearance for the club – had to come to the rescue of his side with a smart save to shut down Abdoul Topsoba and smother the striker’s shot at his near post.
McGregor’s contribution set Rangers up for a storming finish as, finally, they found their incisive attacking edge to cut through Liege and take the lead for the first time. It was created by Kamara and Kent who combined down the left.
When the winger made it inside the box he looked up to pick out Arfield with a precision cut-back which was despatched into the bottom corner of Arnaud Bodart’s net with an assured first-time finish.
This was the Rangers the Belgians would have expected but they were powerless to stop them.
With 10 minutes to go Barisic almost came up with something even more special with a free-kick which seemed destined for Bodart’s top corner until the keeper clawed it on to his own crossbar with the tips of his fingers.
Bodart then pulled off two more fine saves, first to keep out another Goldson header and then to deny Roofe one on one as Rangers moved up through the gears and motored into the last 32. They might just take some stopping.