Rangers’ conservative tactics against players more gifted than themselves have earned the Ibrox side a reputation that precedes them.
In Holland, where PSV Eindhoven await them in the last 16 of the Europa League, they are already talking about the contrasting styles of the two teams who will meet in Thursday’s first leg. They are comparing the Dutch club’s quality going forward with their opponents’ stubborn refusal to open out, and predicting that only the Eredivisie leaders can expect to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Arthur Numan, the former PSV and Rangers player, said as much at the weekend. His view was echoed yesterday by Edwin de Graaf, the Hibernian midfield player on loan to Excelsior Rotterdam, who encountered PSV on Saturday night.
De Graaf believes that, while Rangers’ midfield players — such as Steven Davis and Steven Whittaker — can be a match for their opposite numbers, the Dutch club will progress because they are much more likely to score goals.
If they cannot do it at the Philips Stadion this week, they will do it at Ibrox seven days later, says the Dutchman, who has played in three matches against Rangers this season.
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“It will be difficult for PSV on Thursday because Rangers will only be there for a draw, but over the two games, I think PSV will go through to the next round. They are more of a football team than Rangers,” De Graaf said.
Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, has long since given up being offended by remarks such as those, but there is little doubt that his notorious 5-4-1 formation is about to undergo another stern test.
Balazs Dzsudzsak, PSV’s Hungary left winger, appears to be the pick of a crowd-pleasing bunch, with his speed of thought and feet said to be luring scouts from England’s Premier League. Much is also expected of Ola Toivonen, the Sweden striker who scored against Scotland last August. He is serving a four-game domestic ban but is eligible for Europe.
“Their strikers are really clever, really fast, on the left and right,” De Graaf said. “And Dzsudzsak’s shooting is a real weapon. His free kicks are unbelievable. On the right, Jeremaine Lens is very quick, and very dangerous when he is one against one, even one against two. It doesn’t seem to matter to him.
“They are just a really good football team who don’t like to hit long balls. They like to play it through the midfield.”
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Central to that strategy is Orlando Engelaar, a 6ft 5in playmaker who is strong in possession, if a little slow for the fans’ liking. He and one or two of his team-mates might just be unsettled by the commitment and sheer cussedness that took Rangers all the way to the 2008 Uefa Cup final, in which they lost 2-0 to Zenit St Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Not for the first time, the Scottish champions will need plenty of pride and passion, just as Excelsior did on Saturday night. The Eredivisie’s third-bottom club, for whom De Graaf scored a penalty, were beaten only by a last-minute winner on their artificial surface.
PSV are not without flaws. Andreas Isaksson, their Sweden goalkeeper, was a little suspect at the weekend, and there are suggestions that a big, powerful striker would upset their defence.
Vladimir Weiss, meanwhile, could have the pace to test what De Graaf describes as their main weakness. “The right back, [Stanislav] Manolev, is a good player but he’s always running forward,” the Dutchman said.
“I don’t know who Rangers will have on the left wing, but if it’s someone fast, someone like Weiss, they have a chance.”
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Rangers’ biggest challenge could be at Ibrox a week later. No side in the Dutch League have scored more, or conceded fewer, than PSV on their travels. In the group stages of the Europa League, they won all of their away games — against Metalist, Debrecen and Sampdoria — scoring six times in the process.
De Graaf believes that, by the time his loan deal has expired at the end of this season, PSV will be back in the Champions League that has eluded them in the past couple of years.
De Graaf, whose short-term deal was arranged in January by Colin Calderwood, the Hibernian manager, plans to return to Scotland next season, although his present team’s battle against relegation has its attractions.
“Until now, it’s been OK,” De Graaf said. “It’s a good club, a small club, and nobody in Holland expects anything from them.” Rangers must hope that they too are underestimated.