There was a narrative being set already before the first whistle in last night’s Champions League tie with Napoli, the starting XI featured none of the summer signings and only two that Ross Wilson had brought in as sporting director – so?
After being asked in the post-match press conference if there was a reason for this, Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave a pretty straight forward and obvious answer, as reported by The Rangers Review:
“I always pick the team that I think will win the game. I’m not going to pick the team based on selecting three new signings and eight who have been here for ten years.
“It doesn’t work like that. I have two eyes. I can see how the performances are. I can see how they train.
“Eventually, I don’t look at new signings or players who have been here for many years, it’s just the best eleven for the game today and I think the starting eleven played really well.”
The modern game is no longer about picking the same XI players every week and, especially with a more pragmatic manager who has a tendency to change tactics, instead, it is more about picking the right players for the job.
Against PSV Eindhoven, we started with six signings made under Wilson and there weren’t many complaints then about recruitment after making the Champions League.
Few could argue – although I’m sure they did anyway – that Gio got his selection bang on last night, we could, and should, have been in front long before the ref started handing out penalties and Napoli took the lead against ten men.
There have been plenty of negatives in the last couple of weeks but you’re trying just a bit too hard to find them if you are checking to see who signed which players and when in every starting XI.