Nicolas Raskin has gone from one of the new faces to one of the most established players at Ibrox. In time, he is sure others will follow his lead.
The Belgian made an instant impression when he made the move from Standard Liege during the January transfer window. Alongside Todd Cantwell, he provided a much-needed lift in the changing room and in the stands before the individual positives were enveloped by the collective failings at the end of the season.
In some regards, Raskin is now an inspiration for those that have signed up this summer. If Michael Beale’s recruits can settle as quickly and get up to speed as quickly as the midfielder, Rangers’ fortunes in the short and long term look more promising.
Victory over Servette on Wednesday night was a step in the right direction and saw Rangers recover from their Premiership false start against Kilmarnock. Now the job must be completed on the continent as Rangers eye Champions League progression.
Each match played is beneficial right now. Friendships are being made off the park and the relationships established on it will stand Beale’s side in good stead as the newly assembled squad try to become a team as quickly as possible.
“The group is very good for receiving new players and giving advice,” Raskin said. “I was welcomed very well and I think we are doing the same thing with the new boys.
“Todd knew Kieran (Dowell) before; I knew Cyriel (Dessers) and I speak French so we try and help them a lot.
“Danilo is very good in the team, Dujon (Sterling) is very good in the team too. I think everyone tries to be all in and looking in the same direction.
“I am confident in the future. I wouldn’t say that I feel like an experienced player because there are people who play much more games than me.
“But I do try to help the new boys with everything I have. Like Cyriel, I know him from Belgium.
“I can tell you he’s a goal scorer. He’s going to score a lot of goals. I think he had a huge period at Feyenoord scoring a lot of goals and I think he’s going to do the same here.
“I think we try to make connections between everyone in the team. We’re working a lot on this right now and trying to score more goals.
“In European games, you don’t have so many chances every game so we need to try to be efficient.
“If we can achieve that, then we will be really good. If we keep our heads and our feet on the ground then we have a good chance to qualify.”
The goal that Dessers scored to open his account for Rangers could prove crucial in the tie. It is that effort that has given them a narrow lead heading to Geneva.
Rangers looked to be cruising when James Tavernier’s penalty was followed by the Nigerian’s first strike in blue but a handful of missed opportunities plagued the remainder of the fixture. A Chris Bedia spot-kick gave Servette hope that even a second half dismissal could not dampen.
“I think we need to reset,” Raskin said as he looked forward to the second leg of the third qualifying round clash. “We need to win over there. We cannot go over there thinking we are the best; we need to win.
“We need to score more goals. We had some very good chances and we should have more goals.
“That is something we need to continue to work on. I think we should’ve given ourselves more comfort for the second leg by scoring more goals.
“But you can see that some of the connections within the team are coming.
“We are starting to play good together, passing and running. It looks good for the future.
“Especially the front three, we have changed a lot. We need to start building new connections and we are working hard with the staff on training.
“But it’s different in a game so we are trying to do our best. I think you can see it is coming and we just need to continue improving and it will be good.”
Rangers should be an improved outfit by the time their Servette rematch comes around. The worry is, though, that the Swiss will also move it up a level.
Their victory over Genk to reach this round of the competition was hard fought but well earned and Raskin is full of respect for Rene Weiler’s side after seeing one of the biggest sides in his homeland overcome.
Raskin said: “I watched both legs of Genk against Servette. We need to be clear; we need to go and win the game.
“Because Genk told me they were better. They were better actually, but at the end Servette went through.
“So we just need to go there and do the job, win the game then look forward.
“I don’t think we will go and underestimate them. We know we are going to have to give everything to qualify.
“It’s result first, performance second. It’s always good to add both together.
“And I think if we scored from our chances in the first leg, we would be thinking of it as a very good game.
“Because we had some great chances and we didn’t concede a lot of chances. It’s good to look forward.”
