DJ GIVES VERDICT ON GERS’ EURO OPENER

Our resident Rangers legend on all the action from Govan

RANGERS within the space of a year have moved on from a humiliation at the hands of Progres to being at least a work in progress. You would have taken that last summer.

A 2-0 home win in European football is never a bad thing, and compared to 12 months ago, which I believe it’s important to do at this early stage, this Rangers team look in far better nick than the one defeated by a mid-table side from Luxembourg.

Before I talk about Steven Gerrard’s first game as manager, and it’s difficult to come to any great conclusion after 90 minutes, what must be said is that this tie is not dead. Not by a long shot. They have a bit of work to do yet.

Shkupi are a good team. Like so many European sides we have seen come to Scotland over the years, they were comfortable on the ball, liked to play in little triangles with their nice passes in midfield and utterly determined to keep possession.

They had absolutely nothing up front – that was their weakness – but they may well play differently on Tuesday and the heat won’t help Rangers. So it will be a test.

James Tavernier’s penalty was such a big moment. It’s bleeding obvious I know but 2-0 makes a huge difference. But here is a thing. Had Rangers lost 2-0 in Macedonia in the first leg, all of us would think they had a great chance of getting through. After all, there wasn’t a huge amount in it and the second goal

I can see there being three or four changes for the return leg depending on fitness

came from a penalty in injury time.

Gerrard will know a lot more about his team after this game. Not all of them played well, it has to be said, and I can see there being three or four changes for the return leg depending on fitness.

Rangers were okay on Thursday. Nothing more or less. Gerrard will have been pleased with the win, especially as it came with a clean sheet, but there was an awful lot to work on.

On another night they could have scored more. It is early days, the manager still doesn’t have everyone available and he doesn’t yet know his best team. Let’s look at some positives though.

James Tavernier was really good and got man of the match, however I thought Ross McCrorie was Rangers’ best player.

I have said it often enough in this column that the lad, as good as he is, was never a centre-half and it was interesting to see Gerrard saying that he felt the same thing. The lad is a midfielder and a very good one at that.

And we need to talk about Alfredo Morelos.

He’s taken a fair bit of stick after the game and it wasn’t his best night. But he is not being helped by how the team is lined up.

Morelos cannot play on his own up front. There were times at Ibrox when he had three defenders on him at the same time. He was feeding on scraps at best.

In saying that, Morelos, and he wasn’t the only one, was allowed clear headers on goal and he didn’t even hit the target. That is poor and won’t have been missed by the manager.

I believe we will see Rangers in a 3-5-2 – the fullbacks love getting forward – which would give Morelos someone to work off whether that is Umar Sadiq, with Jake Cooper bolstering the back line if they get him up from Millwall.

Rangers should have scored more. They need to be far more clinical.

Patience is an overused word in football and it’s rarely if ever welcome. Particularly in Glasgow.

The fact is that this brandnew management team and the new players need time – which you don’t get at Rangers – to gel together.

This was never going to happen overnight. However, a win in the first game is no bad thing. It’s a start.