Livingston boss David Martindale reckons Gio van Bronckhorst made Rangers "easier" to play agains than during Steven Gerrard and Michael Beale's time in charge.
The Dutchman ushered in a new era to Ibrox following the departure of Gerrard his assistant Beale for Aston Villa last year, leading the club to the Europa League final and Scottish Cup victory during his first season at the club. However, they lost out on the Scottish Premiership crown to Celtic and Van Bronckhorst was axed this term with Rangers trailing their Glasgow rivals by nine points.
Beale has now returned to the club after leaving Queens Park Rangers for the top job at Ibrox and will quickly look to put his own stamp on the first-team. The the fans set to catch their first glimpse of the new style the boss has been putting in place during the friendly showdown with Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Martindale reckons the Lions were happier to face off against Van Bronckhorst's side that Beale and Gerrard. He has pinpointed the key role of Ryan Kent in the system deployed under the previous management team.
The Livingston gaffer told Open Goal : "Gio, you look at what he done, he took them to a European cup final. But, you look at his style of play (compared with) when it was Steven and Mick, and I found it easier to play against Gio. I mean that in the nicest possible way.
"Kent had a lot more freedom under Mick and Steven, and he was difficult. Whereas Gio was probably more the Dutch model with out and out wingers. I'm not sure Rangers had out and out wingers that could play that system. Whereas under Steven and Mick, they were playing with inverted wingers, they had (Ianis) Hagi coming in and Kent coming in. Kent could on the right, he could be through the middle. He was a lot more effective. When the ball is played out there (to the wing) we can go an engage with our full back."
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