Alex McLeish guided a mix bag of rejects and free transfers to the knockout stages of the Champions League, the first Scottish side to do so in a feat that seems all the more incredible given the recent failures of Rangers sides that look a lot better on paper.
The task facing Giovanni van Bronckhorst is partially of his own making, a two goal deficit that will need an historic night at Ibrox caused by a combination of questionable tactics and the players failing to take individual responsibility to make something happen, a task that Big Eck reckons will need only one approach.
Speaking to Football Insider, McLeish has acknowledged how difficult it will be for Rangers to make it to the next round of Champions League qualification:
“It is a big ask to overturn that.
“One goal, you have a wee chance. Two goals obviously makes it more difficult. They need three to get through now so it was a very disappointing loss.
“A lot of people might have thought USG would have been an easy game but that was never the case.
“I was in Belgium for a year with Genk and I had never even heard of Union, they just came from nowhere.
“They have the same owner as Brighton, Tony Bloom. The way Tony works, it’s good football, playing from the back, it happens at the club he owns, Union are similar to Brighton like that.
“2-0 is a big deficit in a European game but they have nothing to lose now. They must go full-speed ahead at Ibrox to get through.”
McLeish is right, there is only one approach and playing with six or seven players behind the ball simply isn’t going to work against a team that will sit in and look to counter attack – we have to get the next goal and being cautious isn’t an option.
Last season proved that Giovanni knows what he is doing and that he can get it right, this only makes the 2-0 defeat to USG even more frustrating given how we have seen him make positive changes mid-game in the past.
We should have a few more players back to strengthen the line-up but this will be meaningless if Gio doesn’t get it right and only sets us up with one goal in mind – attack, attack, attack.