I will point put another factor of the Steven Gerrard at Rangers adventure. Now I know you guys think well it's Scottish league and that's not on a level with the EPL, and I would agree with that. For obvious financial reasons it's not.
But believe me it's still not as easy as many of you may think it is to achieve what he has done in such a relatively short period of time. The average SPL player isn't of the same technical quality as that of the EPL. But they're still full time professional footballers trained to a high degree of fitness and coached in a manner designed to help overcome their technical limitations.
Consider that Rangers put 9 goals past Antwerp in the last 32 of the Europa league, then consider that it was an almighty struggle to get an 87th minute goal at Livingston to take away a 1-0 win. These sides despite their technical deficiencies can make it very difficult indeed to score.
It's their major objective. If they can stop you scoring well the worst that's going to happen is a draw and maybe even nick a breakaway goal as Rangers push for the winner. They're well coached in this strategy and they're far more physical than EPL football. There are tackles flying in and being allowed by referees which simply wouldn't be tolerated in the EPL.
That's just another factor that makes it very difficult indeed. They're making it hard to create a tempo, get some momentum going. Constantly breaking up the play with non stop fouling. Stevie took some time to adapt to this but he has done it. This season a 100% home record with 16 wins from 16 home games. Away from home 12 wins and 4 draws in 16 games to currently at least be unbeaten the entire season.
Then step outside the Scottish setup to look at the far more technical sides they face in Europe. Steven Gerrard took Rangers to the top of their Europa league group this season. A group which contained a Benfica side who were the second highest spenders in Europe during last Summers window. They spent around £80 million in a single window which is over double what Stevie has had to spend in all windows combined during his entire 3 seasons at Rangers.
And he's looking good to take them into the last 8 of the Europa league despite the massive financial discrepancies has has faced. If he can do that on a limited budget doesn't it then at least hint he could be even more successful with a budget on another level? To me it does.
But anyway, in the meantime, hands off.
