Gerrard needs new faces for a fight on two fronts

ITUNED in to a lot of games from different countries before I came to Scotland and what always came across when I watched Rangers in the Champions League was the passion of the 50,000 fans at Ibrox.

Richard Gough would be bleeding from his forehead and it was always pouring down with rain as the supporters roared their team on.

Those ingredients made watching Rangers on European nights incredible and I got to experience it for myself.

We played exceptional teams like Juventus, who had Alessandro Del Piero. What a player he was. We were beaten comfortably but sometimes you just have to admit you were beaten by an incredible team.

We also played a fantastic Ajax side with Marc Overmars and the De Boer brothers, Ronald and Frank. But two games that really stick out in my memory were against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in 1995-96.

Having played in Germany, I knew Dortmund were a fantastic team and we drew 2-2 with them home and away.

By comparison, the Europa League is not quite as glamorous, but Rangers can’t afford to slip up against Lincoln Red Imps on Thursday.

The one-off format will create some random results and shocks. You just have to look at Celtic losing to Lincoln Red Imps in the past and Rangers to Progres Niederkorn.

Not that I see it happening this time.

Steven Gerrard’s side really surprised a few people in Europe last season, going to places like Porto and really performing.

I read Ryan Kent saying he believes they can be even better in Europe this time round. But can they afford to go on a long European run as well as trying to win the title?

We all know what’s at stake. For some it is ten, for others the number 55. Nobody needs to be reminded about that.

But to play in Europe is financially important and also a good way of developing players at a higher level and seeing how good new signings can become.

Playing in Europe is a privilege but it can also be a burden. Especially when Rangers got four injuries on Saturday against Dundee United. That was quite devastating.

Rangers look to have more strength in depth now but the management team will be a little concerned about losing so many players in just one game. Hamstring injuries don’t normally happen until later in the campaign and that was a wee bit worrying.

If Rangers get into the group stage and pick up injuries, it’s going to be very hard, especially with coronavirus, the short pre-season and an already congested fixture list. So I can understand why Gerrard (left) was talking about new signings. They have to fight in so many competitions and we have seen before Rangers coming back from a good European night only to struggle in the league. That can’t happen this season with all that is at stake.

Finally, Alfredo Morelos’ agent is in Glasgow this week. That situation has been ongoing for weeks, so his arrival must be for some kind of crunch talks.

Morelos has been on the bench recently because he was not performing in training and not looking like he was interested.

I said recently that I thought his time at the club was up. It’s one of those situations that can take weeks to be resolved and transfer deadline day is still some time away. But now it’s enough.

For everyone involved, the best thing is to decide whether Morelos is staying or going and get it sorted as soon as possible.