GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst last night dismissed the significance of Rangers’ defeat in their final pre-season friendly – and insisted that playing against Spurs was the perfect preparation for the Champions League group stages.
A second-half double from England captain Harry Kane secured victory for Antonio Conte’s team, who finished fourth in the Premier League last term and will play in Europe’s premier club competition in the 2022/23 campaign, at Ibrox yesterday.
The Europa League finalists had taken the lead in the first-half through Antonio Colak, who netted for the first time since completing a £1.8m move from PAOK in Greece this month, but they were unable to get on the scoresheet again.
However, Van Bronckhorst, whose men play Livingston in their cinch Premiership opener at the Tony Macaroni Stadium on Saturday, was unconcerned by the final result and argued that squaring up to forwards like Kane and Heung Min Son was a beneficial exercise for his charges.
Rangers will play Royal Union Saint-Gilloise in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round double header in Belgium on Tuesday week and their Dutch coach is optimistic they will be ready for the fixture after the Spurs encounter.
"We want to make sure we develop ourselves in the way we want to press and attack, so we used this game against quality-wise a very good opponent,” he said.
“The result wasn't that important. We could have played very defensively, 5-4-1, and wait for the moment to attack, but I wanted to have the same movements we always have to attack against big opponents because that's how we will get stronger.
“You saw today as well you have less time on the ball because of the quality of the opposition, that's also a very good environment to develop as a player and as a team.
“It was good for my defence to play against these quality players because in August we will hopefully be in the group stages in the Champions League.
“Kane and Son? They are like in the top five, top six strikers in the world. Not only in attack, but in transition moments with the speed that they have. I think we cope really well in moments in the game, but at moments you also see their quality. Especially in the second half.
“You see the appreciation of the Rangers fans because they see the quality that they have and they applauded them as well.”
Van Bronckhorst added: "When I came in November I had to start against Sparta Prague after one training session. We have had the team together for a longer period to train more.
“I am really happy because we have played against good opposition, last Tuesday against West Ham and today against Spurs who are a top-four team. We all see the quality they have, you saw that on the pitch, but at moments in the game we played really well. Hopefully we will face other big teams in Europe this season.”
Van Bronckhorst is without both Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe, who are both out injured, and he was pleased that Croatian internationalist Colak opened his account for Rangers in the first-half.
“I think it is always important for strikers to score,” he said. “I think he had the most minutes in pre-season and also with PAOK. So he is very fit and ready for the start of next week. We are working hard to get the other strikers fit as well.
"We wanted a lot of players to have 90 minutes today to be ready for next week. Some players were a little behind so they played a little bit less, but tomorrow (Rangers play Queen’s Park in a bounce game today) is a chance for all the other players to get 90 minutes and almost everyone will be ready to start next week.”
Allan McGregor, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who signed a one year contract extension that keeps him at Ibrox until 2023 last month, produced a string of outstanding saves during the game to show he has no intention, as some Rangers fans have suggested, of playing understudy to Jon McLaughlin in the coming season.
Van Bronckhorst, who played Scotland internationalist McLaughlin in the 3-1 win over West Ham in Govan on Tuesday night, was guarded about who he will prefer between the sticks in the new season.
Asked if he had decided who his first choice keeper will be in the forthcoming campaign, he said: "No, not yet. We give the goalkeepers game time so they are physically ready for the season. This week the games will begin.”
