Rangers’ 4-1 Europa League crushing of Nice may have surprised many, but not St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari.
Ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Premiership meeting at McDiarmid Park, the man who arrived at The Saints from Latvian football at the start of October insists that he always felt this sort of result was coming for Philippe Clement’s team.
Frustrated by their draw with Dundee United a few days earlier, Rangers ripped into Nice from the off. By the time the hour mark arrived, the Glasgow giants were four goals to the good as Hamza Igamane bullied the Ligue 1 outfit into submission.
Now, Rangers’ best performances this season have largely been restricted to continental action.
While putting ten goals past FCSB, Malmo and Nice, Clement’s oh-so inconsistent outfit have also dropped points domestically against Hearts, Kilmarnock and the aforementioned Dundee United.
So, would it really be that much of a surprise if Rangers were brought back down to earth with an almighty crash at St Johnstone?
St Johnstone boss explains plan to shock Rangers on Sunday
“What I saw from the first minute from Rangers [against Nice] was a very determined team,” Valakari said during his pre-match press conference. “[A team] who has been hurting because maybe they have not got the [domestic] results.
“They wanted to show they are a good team, they are good players and they put a performance on. But Sunday is a new game.
“For me to see them play and score those goals, it was not a surprise because you see the quality of the players and it has been maybe just a matter of time before they start collecting these goals.”
Rangers could fall 14 points adrift of Old Firm rivals Celtic if they lose to struggling St Johnstone.
Valakari, meanwhile, believes that his team will need to execute his game plan perfectly if they are to pile further pressure on opposite number Clement. The Finn warns his St Johnstone outfit against sitting too deep while also posing a threat on the counter attack.
“We cannot let opponents have big pressure on us all the time. We need to defend these moments but, at the same time, we need to take that pressure off,” former Derby County and Motherwell midfielder Valakari explains.
“Is it keeping the ball a little better? Or putting doubt in the opponent’s head that St Johnstone can really hurt you with fast guys? We need to be proactive and hurt the opponents. It was top-class defending from us [in last week’s 1-0 win over Kilmarnock] and we need to do it again.”
Former Rangers stalwart Jason Holt will have a big role to play
Jason Holt, the hard-working ball-winner who played over 100 games for Rangers between 2015 and 2020, is likely to have a big role to play as St Johnstone look to keep Vaclav Cerny, Nedim Bajrami and co at arms’ length.
Mohamed Diomande is back in form at Rangers, too, stepping up belatedly in the number ten role as he found the net against Nice.
“It wasn’t just the back line [that helped us beat Kilmarnock,” Valakari adds. “It was how Makenzie [Kirk] and Benji [Kimpioka] were pressing their centre-backs, and how Sven [Sprangler] and Holty collected those second balls.
“So, basically, what happened in Rangers’ last match doesn’t make any difference to us. Now, they play against us and we start from zero.”
