New recruits waste little time in making their mark against Moyes’ superstars
Substitutes Lawrence and Matondo score on home debut as Van Bronckhorst’s team turn on the style
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HE recruits who Giovanni van Bronckhorst has brought to Rangers this summer will need time to settle in to their new surroundings, adapt to their manager’s tactics and system and justify the faith which has been shown in them.
Neither Joe Aribo nor Calvin Bassey, the key first-team players who Van Bronckhorst is hoping they can replace, made an immediate impact after arriving at Ibrox.
Yet, the bright performances of Antonio Colak, John Souttar, Tom Lawrence and Rabbi Matondo in the pre-season friendly against West Ham at Ibrox last night augur well for the forthcoming campaign; they impressed as their team recorded a comfortable victory against top-class opposition.
With a cinch Premiership opener against Livingston at Almondvale looming on Saturday week and the first leg of a Champions League qualifying double header against Union Saint-Gilloise coming in Belgium three days later, Van Bronckhorst will have been heartened greatly by what he witnessed.
Lawrence, Matondo and Souttar all made their debuts in the 2-1 triumph over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Saturday while Colak featured in both that run-out and the abandoned encounter with Sunderland in Portugal last week.
But this was the first time they had donned light blue jerseys at home. They rose to the occasion and then some. Lawrence and Matondo both netted in the second half and with Ryan Kent also getting in on the act Rangers ran out deserved winners.
Neither Ben Davies, the centre-half whose £4 million capture from Liverpool was confirmed ahead of kick-off, or Malik Tillman, the attacking midfielder who joined on a season-long loan from Bayern Munich last week, featured.
They received a warm reception from the Rangers supporters who flocked to Ibrox in their tens of thousands on a balmy July evening when they took to the field before proceedings got underway and will certainly know the level they have to reach when they do get involved.
This meeting with West Ham, the seventh-placed side in the Premier League last season and Europa League semi-finalists to boot, was the most demanding the Scottish Cup winners had faced since returning to training last month.
Davie Moyes’ men had won all four of the warm-up matches they had played before heading back to their manager’s home town.
The Mark Warburton effect? The former Rangers manager has been appointed a firstteam coach at the London Stadium and returned to the ground where he spent two turbulent years in the dugout. But it was not to be his evening.
Colak and Souttar started at striker and centre-half respectively. The former is physical presence in the final third. He is, though, industrious as well. He dropped deep and helped to win back the wall when play demanded it. His use of the ball in possession was also decent.
But there were once again no goals for the Croatian, a £1.8m signing from PAOK in Greece, last night. He had an opportunity to break the deadlock in the first half, but Nayef Aguerd made a perfectly-timed sliding tackle to dispossess him just as he was poised to shoot. The Moroccan injured himself in the process and was helped off and replaced by Issa Diop.
Souttar and Connor Goldson were caught out by a fine
through ball from Pablo Fornals to Michail Antonio shortly after that and had
Jon Mclaughlin, preferred in goal to Allan McGregor, to thank for keeping the scoreline level. The keeper raced off his line quickly and blocked the forward’s attempt well.
Souttar recovered from that lapse in concentration. He is composed in possession and will have no difficulties playing out from the back. He is also, as Dundee United, Hearts and Scotland fans will testify, excellent in the air. He got his head to a Declan Rice cross just before half time to ensure the match was level at the break.
He failed to reappear for the second half along with his compatriots Ryan Jack and Scott Wright. They were replaced by James Sands, Lawrence and Matondo. The replacements made their
presence felt straight away. The home team forged ahead with two goals in the space of three minutes.
James Tavernier sent Matondo racing down the right past Aaron Cresswell in the 49th minute and the winger cut inside and then laid the ball off for Lawrence who rifled a first-time shot beyond the exposed Lucasz Fabianski.
Scorer turned provider shortly afterwards. Tavernier made a powerful run through the centre of the park before squaring to Lawrence. His new team-mate, operating in the playmaker role just behind Colak in a 4-2-3-1 formation, stroked the ball into the path of Kent. The wide man made no mistake.
Matondo got in on the act before an hour had elapsed. Tavernier broke forward and picked out Lawrence who supplied the winger just ahead of him. The £2.5m acquisition from Schalke took a touch and then fired coolly into the roof of the net despite the close attentions of Cresswell.
The goal and the assists will boost the confidence of Lawrence, the Welsh internationalist who was a free signing from Derby County, no end. But the experienced and rangy forward does not seem as if he is lacking in selfbelief. Matondo, too, looks to be money very well spent. His explosive breaks drew excited applause from the crowd.
Fashion Sakala, who has been linked with a move to Auxerre in France in recent days, came on for Colak after Rangers had forged three clear. But it was West Ham who had all the opportunities up front after he got involved. Jarrod Bowen had an effort blocked by Goldson and McLaughlin saved well from Fornals.
Tomas Soucek, who Moyes sent on to try to salvage the game, bundled one in at a Bowen corner. But the visitors had an uphill task to restore parity and it proved beyond them.
Van Bronckhorst made a triple substitution with just under 20 minutes remaining to give his team an injection of energy. Scott Arfield, Adam Devine and Charlie McCann took over from Kent, Borna Barisic and Glen Kamara. Rangers saw out a moraleboosting triumph and will go into their encounter with Spurs on Saturday hopeful of claiming another significant scalp.