A coach as smart and as detailed-obsessed as Mick Beale is bound to see Rangers’ disastrous Champions League campaign under Giovanni van Bronckhorst – one that made history for all the wrong reasons – as a lesson to be learned from. Wrongs to be righted.
No team in the history of the competition has ever conceded more goals in the group-stage than Rangers’ 22. A staggering average of 3.6 goals per game.
But while Beale may have made a name for himself as a coach with a preference for free-flowing attacking football, the vast defensive improvements Rangers have made since Steven Gerrard’s former assistant replaced Van Bronckhorst at Ibrox should not be underestimated.
Rangers are far from perfect defensively. Individual errors are never too far away. But it’s hard to imagine Beale’s Rangers collapsing so spectacularly – even against the likes of Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli – as Van Bronckhorst’s did; the 42-year-old instilling a greater sense of discipline and organisation into his charges.
“There have been some really good defensive performances,” Beale said last week, via Rangers Review.
Ben Davies and Conor Goldson have struck up an impressive partnership at centre-half. When a new goalkeeper arrives to replace the 41-year-old Allan McGregor, Rangers should improve further in the defensive third.
Rangers like Nottingham Forest defender Jonathan Panzo
Reports linking the Gers with Nottingham Forest’s Coventry City loanee Jonathan Panzo, meanwhile, may indicate Beale’s desire to make Rangers a more flexible, tactically-versatile outfit. England U21 international Panzo, who Beale knows from his time in Chelsea’s academy, is a left-footed centre-half who has made most of his recent appearances on the left of a three-man backline (Daily Record).
A role he has taken to like the proverbial duck to water.
“I thought Panzo was outstanding,” Coventry boss Mark Robins said following November’s 1-0 win over promotion-chasing Blackburn Rovers (Mirror).
Panzo is an integral part of a Coventry side conceding less than a goal a game on average. Sky Blues shot-stopper Ben Wilson, meanwhile, has the most clean sheets in the Championship.
Steve Cooper, coach of Panzo’s parent club Nottingham Forest, also utilised the London-born 22-year-old in a back three with impressive results.
“I thought he did well,” Cooper said following one particularly impressive display last spring (Nottingham Post). “He did well. He showed some good bits and grew into the game, he should be satisfied with how he did.”
Rangers have seldom deployed a back-three at any point in recent years. Beale, per Football Critic, has used a back-four in every single game since taking over.
The reported interest in Panzo, however, may be an indication that something a little different is required. A little bit more pragmatism. A dash more flexibility. Particularly if Rangers are to avoid a repeat of the defensive capitulations that marred their long-awaited Champions League return.
