Rangers icon Barry Ferguson is convinced both Allan McGregor and Steven Davis still possess the qualities to reignite their side's flagging Euro dream.
But he admits manager Gio van Bronckhorst 's willingness to pull no punches in the wake of the nightmare 2-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise in Champions League qualifying caught his attention. Ferguson believes his old team-mates both possess the quality needed to still change games at age 40 and 37 respectively. The former Ibrox skipper remains a believer in Jon McLaughlin in wake of his error for the first goal but concedes McGregor would be his first choice.
He told Go Radio : “I’m not going to sit here and slate Jon McLaughlin. But if you’re putting big Jon and Allan together then it’s McGregor all day long for me. They struggled. I’m not going to paper over the cracks. There was enough experience. When you play these games, normally when you don’t play well you get three or four off the boil but what surprised me last night was there were 11.
“They were poor. It was one of they games where the beauty of football is there’s a game around the corner. They got away with one and they’ll be flying back last night thinking ‘it’s only 2-0’ and they’re lucky to get away with 2-0.
“Steven Davis? Yeah. I still think he’s got it in him. I don’t care what age he is, he’s got it in him and he’s an ultimate professional. For me, he could easily still play in the Rangers XI."
While it was a harrowing night in Leuven for those of a blue persuasion, Ferguson is certain Rangers have a manager of substance capable of producing a game plan that leaves USG something to think about in the second leg. The Dutchman made it clear he expects better after a night where everything went wrong.
Ferguson added: "What I liked about his interview, Gio, who I know pretty well, they'd asked them about new players coming in and he said 'no, there was enough experience on that pitch'. There was enough experience who were on that run (to Seville), he doesn't look for excuses and you can see, underneath, he was fizzing with that performance. He was shellshocked with it.
“I still believe Rangers have got enough quality in their squad. Ryan Kent was missing last night, Morelos has got to come back. Is Davis going to come in? Yilmaz impressed me with his 20 minutes so Gio has a lot of decisions to make."
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