Rangers can finish on a high note if they upset the Ajax tempo
IT’S nothing personal, of course, but Rangers must try and make Calvin Bassey’s return to Ibrox as difficult as possible. If Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side are going to finish a miserable Champions League campaign on a high, they need to get on the front foot, show aggression and test the Ajax defence. They cannot stand off them again.
Bassey and the rest of his defensive colleagues barely had to break sweat when winning 4-0 in Amsterdam on matchday one. It was all too easy. Rangers offered nothing.
Since then, Ajax have had plenty of their own difficulties in the section. Ten goals were conceded in two games against Napoli. Five against Liverpool. After so many changes in the summer, the Dutch champions have found Europe’s elite competition to be only slightly less of a bruising experience than Rangers.
To me, they seem like a team that can struggle if something goes against them in a game. Rangers need to try and claim the initiative and disrupt their rhythm.
Since that first match, Ajax’s Champions League efforts have brought a lot of criticism back home. Bassey, Jurrien Timber and Daley Blind have all been in the crosshairs of some of the pundits assessing their defence.
I sympathise with Bassey here, having played a year for Ajax at the end of my own career. You can compare elements of the attitude in Holland to what I encountered in Germany with Bayern Munich. Basically, it’s a very critical environment.
If you score a hat-trick as a new player, they say: “Oh, he did okay”. That’s the mentality.
Some former players are very hard on those transferred to the big Dutch teams. And, at Ajax, they have always carried a trademark of the finest football in Holland. Four European Cup or Champions League titles provide a huge legacy for future generations to live up to.
When players arrive from certain countries where they don’t think football is as beautiful on the eye as it is in Holland, supporters can start to pick faults immediately if things don’t go to plan.
I’m not totally surprised that
Bassey has come under some pressure early on. But he can handle it. Given a little time, I’m convinced he will settle because he’s an excellent defender.
He has to get used to another dimension in terms of how Ajax want to play and control games. Even more so than Rangers.
The way Ajax operates means they are actually quite open. If you can find the moments of transition and get in between the lines, there are spaces to exploit. You just need the awareness and intelligence to find them.
Rangers showed Ajax too much respect in the first game. And if you give them that amount of time on the ball, they will always outplay you. The Ibrox men need to get the tempo up tonight to try and unsettle their visitors, because it can be done.
Bassey will expect a completely different game in Glasgow. And the Ajax coach, Alfred Schreuder, has already been stressing that point in the Dutch media. He’s keen to root out any suggestion of complacency.
It will be really interesting to see how Van Bronckhorst approaches this one. He doesn’t have many options defensively, which perhaps makes being on the front foot even more important.
Malik Tillman was one of several positives from Saturday’s 4-1 win over Aberdeen and could provide an important creative link. Collectively, Rangers are going to have hit a peak in performance to finally get points on the board.
Ajax are leagues above Aberdeen in terms of quality but many of the same principles seen at the weekend will apply again tonight. Intensity must be there.
We have spoken so much in recent times about needing to see a reaction from this Rangers team. Not just in terms of a result but also a performance.
Finally, one arrived. Coming back to win so convincingly against Aberdeen was precisely what Van Bronckhorst needed. Lots of energy in the team. Lively individual contributions.
I think you saw that the players really wanted to give something back to the fans as well. It was a job well done.
Now it’s time for another one to build a little momentum and further reduce the strain on the manager.
To be honest, I’m sure Rangers will be happy to see the end of the Champions League. But you always want to finish on a positive note if possible.
Motivation shouldn’t be an issue. All this talk that they could — statistically — become the worst group-stage team of all-time is clearly not what anyone wants to see associated with their name.
With a five-goal defeat needed to shift them from third place,
Ajax are more or less assured of a place in the Europa League. But they, too, will want to end the group with a little more success — and some confidence to take with them into European football after Christmas.
If you had said to me at full-time on matchday one that Schreuder’s team wouldn’t get another point before going to Ibrox, I’d have thought you were crazy. They looked phenomenal then.
It must be said it was against a very weak Rangers performance but there was conviction and control in their play. Since then, though, they have really been struggling. To me, it just shows you the level of quality in Group A. It’s been fearsome.
Rangers have suffered because of that. But joining Ajax on three points would make everyone feel an awful lot better about themselves before all attention turns back to domestic football.