Halliday: We owe gaffer a big result
ANDY Halliday has admitted the Rangers players owe their manager Steven Gerrard a victory in their final Europa League group game against Rapid Vienna in Austria tonight after poor displays against Aberdeen and Dundee.
But Halliday is confident the Ibrox club can respond positively to being deposed as Ladbrokes Premiership leaders by beating their hosts and securing a place in the last 32.
The versatile player was involved in wins over Shkupi, Osijek, Maribor and Ufa in the qualifying rounds as well as in the draw with Villarreal away and triumph over Rapid at home in the group stages.
He is confident the Glasgow club can progress to the knockout rounds if they match their performances in those matches.
“We owe the manager a performance after the last two,” he said. “To put ourselves in the position we did after the Hearts game and to now be in the position we’re in shows how quickly football can change.
“But as quickly as it can change for the worse, it can just as quickly change again for the better. We know we’re 90 minutes away from achieving something very special. We owe the manager that because the last two performances haven’t been good enough.
“We’re frustrated that the standards have dropped in the last two games. Because we’ve shown how good we can be. But we’ve also shown an ugly side in terms of how poor we can be too.
“That’s disappointing because chances don’t come along too often when you’re going for titles. So we’ve got to realise that it’ll take even more hard work to put ourselves back in the position we were in. If we get that chance again, we have to try and stay there.”
Halliday added: “The home game against Rapid, especially in the second half, was as good as we’ve played. You’ve seen the best of us and also the worst. If we give our worst, we’ve no given right to turn up anywhere and get three points. But at our best we know we’re a very hard team to beat.
“The European games have given us belief, only losing one in 13. We were the underdogs in this group. But we’ve went into every game believing we can get a result. We have to take another big step forward now.”
Meanwhile, lifelong Rangers fan Halliday has revealed he has been inundated with requests for tickets from fellow supporters, around 10,000 of whom are expected in Vienna, ahead of the game in the Allianz Stadium.
“If you’re a player who doesn’t realise how big this club and how important success is – you pick