Rangers’ massive 2017/2018 season gets underway on Thursday night with the visit of Progres Niedercorn to Ibrox on Thursday night in UEFA Europa League qualifying.
For most other teams in Europe pre-season will not have even begun but the Light Blues have been hard at work for weeks now preparing for tomorrow’s fixture and for the European campaign ahead.
Supporters have dreams of making the group stage of the competition, though that will be hard as an unseeded outfit in the later rounds of qualifying.
Progres are not exactly household names and while on paper it may look like an easy task, Pedro Caixinha and his team can’t take anything for granted.
Full application and attitude is needed, though we reckon there won’t be much motivation for the starting eleven with plenty of new faces likely looking to impress their manager and supporters alike.
This is what we reckon Rangers need to do in order to secure their first big result of the season…
Don’t panic
Progres Niedercorn may be an unknown, tiny outfit for Luxembourg but as we saw last summer with Celtic and Lincoln Red Imps, anything can happen in the early stages of European qualifying no matter the gulf in quality between the two sides on paper.
If things aren’t going Rangers’ way in the match, the worst thing that could happen would be for them to be fearful of a shock result and panic.
If the Light Blues play to the best of their ability and remain patient and calm then we have no doubts that they’ll pick up the victory they need to take into the away leg next Tuesday.
Relying on the likes of Niko Krancjar to guide some of the younger members of the squad through the match could be key. Krancjar has returned from injury and has been named in the UEFA squad list. With close to 40 UEFA appearances to his name in his career then he may play a massive part.
Unleash Morelos
Alfredo Morelos’ scoring record for HJK Helsinki is quite ridiculous. In terms of fitness he should be at his peak given the fact that Helsinki were mid-season when he made the move to Rangers.
With 16 goals in his last 19 matches for the Finnish outfit before transferring to Glasgow he is also in peak form and could be the weapon Rangers need to make significant progress in qualifying.
With most of the rest of the squad still getting up to full fitness with the season only finishing last month, Pedro Caixinha should unleash Morelos and play the game through him.
There’s a tendency from managers to play a more reserved style of football in Europe and as such he may go for the more pragmatic Eduardo Herrera in attack, but for us it’s all about the Colombian and giving him a chance to show what he can do in front of what should be a big crowd at Ibrox.
Be ambitious and make a statement
If Rangers are to do anything next season then they need to bring the good vibes to supporters early on. Tomorrow is a massive chance to make a real statement about the coming campaign and we reckon Pedro Caixinha should put out an attacking, ambitious team that can really bring the game to Progres.
We saw the effect that European qualifying had on Celtic last season, after the initial bump in the road against Lincoln Red Imps. Brendan Rodgers had his team winning consistently very early on and it transferred itself into the opening of the Scottish Premiership season.
Caixinha now has his own players and has been working with his team in pre-season for weeks now, it’s time for him to show fans what he’s truly all about rather than the fire fighting he had to do when he arrived at the club in the wake of Mark Warburton’s departure.
A big win on Thursday night would be a massive first step on the road to greatness.