By Duncan Wright
Although only two games into his tenure as Rangers manager, Giovanni van Bronckhurst must be extremely pleased with how his return to Ibrox has gone so far. Progression to the last 32 of the Europa League was secured with a game to spare and was followed up on Sunday with a comprehensive victory away to Livingston. Given the circumstances around Sunday’s fixture; a 12:00 pm kick off on the notorious Almondvale surface, following a momentous European night, it’s been an extremely positive week for van Bronckhurst and his newly appointed backroom staff.
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However we will perhaps be given a clearer indication of the impact the Dutchman has had on this Rangers team when they take on Hibs at Easter Road on Wednesday night. It was of course only 9 days ago that these two teams met in the League Cup semi-final with Hibs running out 3-1 winners following a sensational first half that saw them lead Rangers 3-0 before forty minutes had been played. In his post match interview following the semi-final vice-captain Connor Goldson didn’t shy away from how poor Rangers had been in the game and indeed he questioned the hunger of the squad to go and win trophies.
The embarrassing semi-final defeat followed on from the sudden departure of manager Steven Gerrard and the squad of players van Bronckhurst addressed in those first few days were likely feeling battered, both physically and egotistically, and more than one or two were perhaps even nervous of what the future may hold. This was a precarious situation and one that van Bronckhurst and his team had very little time to address with Rangers Europa League tie vs Sparta Prague coming just four days after the Hibs defeat.
Despite the lack of time he was afforded with the players, both to speak with and to work with on the training ground, van Bronckhurst guided his new side to a 2-0 victory against Sparta Prague to secure European football at Ibrox beyond Christmas for another year. Although the team that took the field on Thursday was familiar in personnel, there was evidence of changes in formation and approach alongside individual players being asked to take up different positions on the pitch. He may not have had long but van Bronckhurst was obviously keen to get to work as soon as possible.
Against Sparta Prague, Rangers formation was tweaked to 4-2-3-1 with an attacking three of Aribo, Kent, and Hagi. Kent and Hagi had clearly been instructed to stay much wider than in previous games whilst Alfredo Morelos played noticeably further up the park. Van Bronckhurst himself commented after the game that he wanted his striker to play ‘in the box’. In defence, so often the cause of angst for Rangers this season, the ball was moved quicker and fullbacks Barasic and Tavernier were less mauraduing than previously seen under Steven Gerrard.
At Livingston on Sunday there was a further tweak of formation as Rangers moved back to a more regular 4-3-3 but with a subtle difference of only one holding style midfielder, Kamara, and two midfielders, Aribo and Arfield, who were willing to run beyond the front three. This was of course best demonstrated with the opening goal when Arfield’s run from deep, and his exquisite finish, allowed Rangers to open the scoring early on Sunday. The other main talking point from Rangers two games under van Bronckhurst has been the use of Nathan Patterson on the right wing, providing additional cover to Tavernier later in games, whilst also acknowledging Patterson’s attacking threat.
Hibs, who go into Wednesday’s game with only one league win in their last 6 matches, are likely to line up with a team similar to that who faced Rangers at Hampden. The obvious threat of Martin Boyle, scorer of a hat-trick in the semi-final will need to be considered whilst the hold up play of Kevin Nisbet was also instrumental in allowing Hibs to get a foothold in the game when the sides last met. Calvin Bassey, who is likely to continue at centre half, has given the Rangers defence some much needed physicality in the previous two games and this will be required to combat Nisbet on Wednesday. Dealing with the raw pace of Martin Boyle is less easy to address and it may that van Bronckhurst decides to concentrate on stopping the supply at source in order to combat his threat.
In terms of how Rangers line up, van Bronckhurst may be tempted to revert back to the 4-2-3-1 system deployed against Sparta Prague. This would allow Joe Aribo to play in his best position, the central ten and allow Rangers to have pace and energy on the flanks. In the two games van Bronckhurst has been in charge so far he has clearly asked Kent and Hagi to play much wider than previously. With his additional pace, and his goal threat, Fashion Sakala may get the nod ahead of Hagi on the right side of the three. There is also the possibility that Nathan Patterson starts on the right of the three but it’s more likely he would be brought on in this position later in the game should Rangers be looking to tighten up the game.
The squad of players van Bronckhurst inherited failed their audition for him miserably when they played Hibs nine days ago. Due to issues around his work permit he was watching from the stand that afternoon and had no input into team selection or tactics on the day and was unable to address the players pre-match or at half time. Wednesday however is different; van Bronckhurst will pick the team, has analysed the opporents and will ask the players to execute a game plan. He has only been working with the players for nine days but he will be expecting a reaction from each and every one of them. The reaction he gets (or doesn’t get) will help to formulate his and his team’s thinking over the coming months. The previous encounter against Hibs was the end of the Steven Gerrard era at Rangers. Victory tonight at Easter Road will see the Giovanni van Bronckhurst era firmly bursting into life.