ALLY McCOIST insists that Rangers must take the gloves off and go on the offensive against Liverpool on Wednesday night if Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his players want to keep alive any prospect of European football after Christmas.
The Govan outfit sit bottom of Group A after chalking up defeats in each of their three Champions League group stage fixtures thus far – all without scoring a goal – leaving the Glasgow giants with a mountain to climb at the midway point of the European campaign.
Liverpool strolled to a 2-0 win at Anfield last week where the visitors struggled to truly threaten their opponents and McCoist is adamant that the team cannot make the same mistake at Ibrox when Jurgen Klopp’s side come to town.
“It was a bit of a non-event at Anfield last week,” said McCoist. “Like every other Rangers fan I was disappointed after it. In the cold light of day looking at the result it wasn’t that bad.
“I know Liverpool haven’t been on top form but you know they are capable of winning heavily. The goalie was out of this world and we didn’t do ourselves justice. Then you think where we were ten years ago and you have a reality check.
“It will be interesting to see what Giovanni does because if they have any hopes of finishing third, they have to take something from the game.
“The result in Amsterdam [Ajax won 4-0], due to the head-to-head, they will struggle so they need a point from somewhere. That’s assuming they can beat Ajax at home and strange as it seems, the best chance is a point against Liverpool rather than away to Napoli.
“They have to play more on the front foot against Liverpool but it won’t be easy as they have quality all over the place. Gio might be thinking mentally you don’t want a going-over as it could impact you longer term.
“If we have any thoughts of finishing third they have to take something from the game. It’s okay to say they are at the top table, but you need to have a go. They don’t want to leave the group stages with regrets and not laying a glove on anyone.
“There’s no disgrace losing a game but when you don’t have a go and throw a few punches it’s hard and we haven’t done that yet.
“Against Napoli until the sending off they did well but it killed the game. I expect Wednesday to be different to last week.”
Ally McCoist was speaking at the launch of William Hill’s newly transformed, state-of-the-art shop on Gordon Street, Glasgow.
