No ranting from Gio as he brings a calm to Gers while still getting best out of Ibrox old stagers
WHERE there was chaos and concern, there’s now calmness and confidence.
Steven Gerrard’s sudden departure from Ibrox, taking his entire backroom team with him on November 11 – only 26 days ago – left Rangers temporarily paralysed.
Their training centre at Auchenhowie was emptied of its management, coaching and sports science expertise – or certainly of those at the sharp end of it – in the blink of an eye.
As players returned from international duty at the start of the following week there was no guidance, no discernible game plan for them as they began to prepare for a Premier Sports Cup semi-final showdown with Hibs.
The reins had been thrust into the hands of B team coaches David McCallum and Brian Gilmour. But it was akin to applying a Band-Aid to an open wound and when Hibs ripped it off at Hampden, there was a real fear among the Rangers support that infection would set in.
There can be no doubt the players’ heads were all over the place but sitting in the stand that day, wrapped up in scarf and gloves to ward off the bitter cold, Giovanni van Bronckhorst displayed the ice in his veins that had nothing to do with the Glasgow weather.
With Rangers 3-0 down after 34 minutes, some managers-inwaiting – he had been appointed on the Friday but didn’t officially start until the day after that game – would have battered down the dressing-room door at the interval to deliver a rousing speech that in all probability wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference.
But van Brockhorst watched and waited. He may well have been squirming a little. But the Dutchman probably learned more about some of his players that day than if they’d won 3-0.
There were no histrionics and when he finally got to meet his squad the day after he’d been officially introduced as Rangers’ 17th permanent manager, he got down to work on the training pitch, already surrounded by his trusted lieutenants in the shape of Roy Maakay, Yori Bosschaart and Arno Phillps, later to be joined by Dave Vos from Ajax.
He had only two days to prepare for the first match, at home to Sparta Prague in the Europa League, where a two-goal win was needed to ensure qualification to the knockout stages.
There was a lot of noise, as there always is around Rangers. Alfredo Morelos had been rank rotten against Hibs.
James Tavernier didn’t play well. Allan McGregor, who had been rotated with Jon McLaughlin more often this season under Gerrard, was also being subjected to scrutiny.
There were calls for Morelos to be benched and for Nathan Patterson to be given his chance in Tavernier’s place after starring for Scotland but van Bronckhorst’s first team selection had the Colombian and the club captain in his lineup.
It was a show of faith in that duo and also a message that, in the face of stinging criticism, he had their backs. It was the kind of leadership that the dressing room needed and if Tavernier and Morelos had played as poorly against Sparta, the manager would have been hammered for not making the changes. But he backed his players and Morelos scored twice after being told to spend more time between the posts than in dropping deep to link the play. He got another one against Dundee on Saturday and has started each of van Bronckhorst’s four matches. Tavernier was involved in Morelos’ opener that night and followed it up with two assists in the 3-1 win over Livingston. Connor Goldson has been far more solid – he was superb in the 1-0 win over Hibs at Easter Road that followed the Livi victory – and has mentored young Calvin Bassey alongside him in each of the gaffer’s first four games. McGregor? The new manager has given a massive vote of confidence to the keeper by picking him for all four and has now had a run of eight straight games in the team. With it has come a string of saves that has resulted in only one goal being conceded. Considering that the back line was leaking like a sieve under Gerrard, van Bronckhorst has managed to stem the flow at one end while refusing to sacrifice Roofe can get some minutes attacking intent at the other. Clearly, coaches and players are working in training to adapt and tweak the system Gerrard employed. Two midfielders offer more protection to the back four while the use of Scott Arfield to burst beyond the striker has been used effectively.
The two attackers either side of Morelos are being used far wider but with licence to come inside and so far it has been successful.
And overseeing it from the sidelines, van Bronckhorst can be seen shouting his instructions but there’s no big show. Certainly no ranting.
When a goal is scored he celebrates with a handshake to each of his backroom team then it’s back to business.
That business will take him to Tynecastle on Sunday for the biggest test yet. Before then, he has a free hit at Lyon on Thursday and, with nothing at stake in terms of qualification, if ever there was a night to give the likes of McGregor, Tavernier and Morelos the night off, then this is it.
Get some minutes into McLaughlin, Patterson and Kemar Roofe and give the other trio a chance to put their feet up because he’ll need them for when it really matters in the six domestic games Rangers will play before the winter break.
When those fixtures have come and gone and Scottish football pauses for breath, we’ll have a better idea of where Rangers are at under van Bronckhorst.
But right now? He’s steered the ship into calmer waters and got his crew onside with his methods. That’s a big win for the new man at the helm.
It was a show of faith in his troops that he had their backs in the face of stinging criticism