Rangers against Manchester United isn’t quite the Battle of Britain as it once was when Sir Alex Ferguson and Walter Smith were in charge.
A trip to Old Trafford is always an exciting proposition though and Philippe Clement has written off any suggestion that his squad are crossing the border as underdogs.
Since appointing Ruben Amorim, there have been flashes of what Man Utd could look like in the future, however, there is an obvious weakness that Rangers will be looking to exploit, if the manager has been paying attention.
Rangers have nothing to fear against Man Utd
Setting up in a 3-4-3 formation, the former Sporting Lisbon boss is adamant that time and training will see it pay off in the long run, even if he might not have the players to do it perfectly just yet.
It has been a similar story for Clement, who has frequently had to put square pegs in round holes.
With no John Souttar, Danilo, Ianis Hagi, Oscar Cortes or Mohamed Diomande, he will have to be creative again.
What he won’t have to do, is adapt his game plan.
A club record is in his sights in terms of European away form having been unbeaten since arriving at Rangers.
The aggressive tactics that worked so well against Malmo, Olympiacos and Nice should be deployed again with one particular aspect of play, potentially, causing Man Utd problems.
The one weakness Rangers can target in Man Utd’s defence
Rangers centre-halves love nothing better than to pick out either the wingers or full-backs – if the wingers have tucked in – with a raking diagonal ball.
As seen against Brighton, and other Premier League games, Utd are vulnerable to attacks in this space in the channels behind their wing-backs.
It also drags their centre-halves out of position and creates space centrally.
Robin Propper is capable of pinging long balls in behind, but they have to be towards the touchline and behind the Utd defence, not in a straight-line down Harry Maguire’s throat.
With the right mentality, anything is possible, and Rangers shouldn’t have any fear about going to a ground where the home side have struggled.
