Over the years Walter Smith developed an interesting theory about competing in the Champions League.
More often than not, the sooner it was over and done with the better as far as the late, great pragmatist was concerned. His insatiable competitive streak, coupled with an instinctive understanding for reading the room, would never allow him to admit as much in public of course. Smith knew some things were better left unsaid.
But, even so, he’d have had no little sympathy for Giovanni van Bronckhorst when the Dutchman conceded that Rangers are simply not sufficiently equipped to trade blows at this level following an opening night evisceration in Amsterdam. Yes, Smith may have relished the tactical challenges which came with squaring up to Europe’s big boys - and he fully appreciated the huge financial windfalls involved. But his overriding concern was almost always centred around how the collateral damage might impact upon his side’s domestic ambitions in the shape of dented confidence and drained legs.
At times when his players were being made to suffer on some of the game’s greatest stages, it was Smith’s job to get them back home again and begin picking up the pieces. And there could be similar repair work urgently required on both sides of Glasgow’s divide before the week is out.
Tomorrow night, Smith’s beloved Rangers will be placed directly in harm’s way all over again when they take on a wounded Liverpool at Anfield. This one has the potential to be a bloody and messy affair.
In normal, less stressful circumstances, Jurgen Klopp might have felt able to keep one eye fixed on Sunday’s Premier League blockbuster at table topping Arsenal. But, on this occasion, Rangers will be given no such luck.
Klopp is currently experiencing the most flaky form of his entire time on Merseyside. A 3-3 draw at home to Brighton on Saturday left his side stranded in ninth place in England’s top flight and hopelessly detached from the top end of the division.
In other words, the heat is on the German like never before which is why he can afford no mercy when Van Bronckhorst and his players come to town. To compound matters - as if that was even required - Liverpool’s opening night thumping away to Napoli means the English side are currently engaged in a fight just to make it into the knock-out stages. Which is where they live.
So Klopp will be banking on big performances from key men such as Mohammed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, both of whom have been desperately short of their usual immaculate standards. When they might otherwise have been given the night off to rest their legs ahead of a road trip to north London, all of Klopp’s most talented operators will be out in full force again. And with a point to prove to their own public.
Put it this way, if Rangers had been hoping that some complacency might creep into the proceedings, Leandro Trossard relieved them of that notion the moment he wrapped his hat-trick goal into the roof of Liverpool’s net on Saturday afternoon. It’s just as well then for Van Bronckhorst that his own side has been busy rehabilitating since Group A got up and running in a bit of a blur at the start of last month.
Having been embarrassed away to Ajax - on the back of a humiliating Old Firm collapse - Rangers at least looked a little more steady on their feet for a combative hour or so against Napoli. In fact, despite eventually going down 3-0, there was enough grit and endeavour in that performance to spare Van Bronckhorst from the inigmony of being called upstairs for a difficult conversation.
This after all, is a beleaguered, accident prone regime which appears to have entered full blown self survival mode as it staggers from one catastrophic error of judgement to the next. Which is why Van Bronckhorst should keep his wits about him in exactly the manner Smith would have done had he ever been exposed to such dangerous levels of amateurism from above.
When a dysfunctional hierarchy believes it can spare itself from a sticky ending by throwing a manager to the mob gathering below then it’s an obvious sacrifice to make. So Van Bronckhorst has bought himself some badly needed breathing space with back-to-back wins in the league. Saturday’s impressive romp at Tynecastle will also have helped his players to feel a great deal better about themselves as they prepare to travel across the border.
They’ll need all the help they can get if they are to return home with pride intact. And the same goes for a Celtic side which takes on RB Leipzig in Germany 24 hours later, having shown signs of running out of steam recently after a turbo charged start to the campaign.
Much like Liverpool, Leipzig have endured an unsatisfactory start to their own league season. They may have thumped four past Bochum on Saturday but that win still leaves them sitting tenth in the Bundesliga. And they are anchored to the bottom of Group F after taking zero points from their first two matches against Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid.
All of which pretty much guarantees that they’ll come at Celtic with a sense or urgency and purpose on Wednesday night and with all guns blazing. They’ll also have been encouraged by the sloppy nature of Celtic’s last two league games against St Mirren and Motherwell because it does look as if Ange Postecoglou’s side has lost some of its early season momentum.
With the likes of Timo Werner and Christopher Nkunku waiting for them - both of whom bagged a double at the weekend - the Aussie’s players will have to rediscover their sparkle as a matter of genuine urgency. If not, then they too could be left feeling crestfallen and forlorn at a critical moment in the domestic campaign.
There is an art to carrying out these running repairs, especially during a hectic, jam packed schedule on the home front. Smith became a master at it. Now it’s the turn of Van Bronckhorst and Postecoglou to put his old theory to the test.
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