Champions League third qualifying round, second leg: Rangers v Union Saint-Gilloise (0-2) |
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Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Date: Tuesday, 9 August Kick-off: 19:45 BST |
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra/DAB/810MW, live text coverage on the BBC Sport website & app |
Rangers trail Union Saint-Gilloise 2-0 going into the second leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie at Ibrox on Tuesday.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side have won their opening two Scottish Premiership matches against Livingston and Kilmarnock and former Rangers striker Kenny Miller gives BBC Scotland his thoughts on their Euro rescue mission...
The important thing at this stage of the season is to just win games.
Against Union Saint-Gilloise, Rangers didn't do that, so there needs to be a reaction on Tuesday night.
It's been three games for Rangers now that have been pretty similar in the respect that teams are defending against them and, in the Livingston and Union games, their opponents were actually getting a goal start and could then defend a lead.
Against Kilmarnock on Saturday, it took a while to break them down but they got there in the end.
Rangers are trying to incorporate new players into the team. It does take a bit of time. You're looking at five new players that could be in the starting line-up any given week. It's going to take a bit of time for these lads to get used to the club, get used to their team-mates.
Domestically, the positive thing is it's six points out of six. I would fully expect the performances to get a lot better - I think they need to get a lot better.
'Rangers need Colak and Morelos firing'
There's been a lot of talk about Antonio Colak not having too much involvement. It's always a weight off your shoulders when you get your opening goal for a new club as a striker - Saturday's performance from Colak was better.
He was more involved in Saturday's game than he was in the previous two and that's important for him. You need to feel involved. He rounded it off with a good goal. Your team-mates need to know where your strengths lie as well and these connections will get stronger as games pass.
What Rangers need is Alfredo Morelos and Colak competing with each other, pushing each other on.
Last season, Rangers were going into big cup finals and semi-finals where they did not have a recognised striker. It's important that these two lads are at the top of their game and competing for that slot.
Antonio Colak netted before replacement Alfredo Morelos also scored against Kilmarnock
'Aggressive start is crucial'
Based on the European run last season all the way to the Europa League final, you saw the impact the crowd have when Rangers start fast and aggressive. The longest it went at one of the home games I think was 15 minutes and then the goal came. In the other games, it was three or four minutes.
That energises the crowd. It gets Rangers on the front foot and has a negative effect on the opposition. It really spooks them and puts them under a little bit of pressure that maybe they've not been used to.
Everybody wants to start fast and start well but, for Rangers, they are at their best when they are on the front foot, when they are aggressive, when they are getting in the opposition's face, making them turn the ball over, getting the ball back and then playing quickly and attacking their goal.
I wouldn't expect anything else than a real solid defensive unit from Union. They have a two-goal lead to protect and Rangers are going to have to work for it.
With the greatest of respect to Union, Rangers were 1-0 down against Sporting Braga, 1-0 down against RB Leipzig - a Champions League team - and overturned it. There's no reason why they can't get it back. Within that Leipzig game, it should have been 3-0 within 25 minutes and game over.
Union are a good team but they're not Leipzig's level. If Rangers can get their level of performance to what they are capable of then, absolutely, they can turn it around.
