Michael Beale risks being roasted alive if he takes his Galacticos into the group stage of the Champions League.
After watching Beale’s mob toil through their opening two matches of the season that is the view of Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail.
Last season Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked for a horrendous Champions League showing that took the Ibrox Tribute Act into the record books.
Van Bronckorst had the benefit of having previously managed Feyenoord in the Champions League and steered an unlikely group of players to the final of the Europa League.
In comparison Beale has five minutes of management experience with the match against Sevette his first ever European match.
Laying out the bibs and cones for Gary McAllister isn’t really preparation for squaring up to clubs from the top five European leagues when your team sheet includes the names of Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar and Barisic with three of them carrying the scars from last season.
In the Daily Mail, McGowan warns:
Defeat to Servette or PSV Eindhoven in the qualifiers would incur the wrath of disgruntled supporters.
Reaching the group stage with a half-cooked Rangers team would bring relief but also the very real risk of being roasted alive by the world’s best players.
Ask Gio van Bronckhorst how that ends.
The Champions League has never been noted for extending a helping hand to the needy.
Football’s biggest club competition would expose a new-look Rangers team to the kind of searing heat which sent Greek sunbathers running for cover.
hen a side struggle to hold off the likes of Kilmarnock or Servette, it’s asking a lot to send them over the top against £80million superstars with more tricks than the Harlem Globetrotters.
Surviving Tuesday night in Servette would be the first achievement on Beale’s limited managerial CV. Being the brains behind Steven Gerrard isn’t really anything to boast about.
After failing to persuade Alfredo Morelos, Scott Arfield, Ryan Kent and Malik Tillman to stay at Ibrox Beale was forced onto his travels where he signed three relegated strikers and spent £6m on a another that had been released by Ajax 12 months earlier.
At Kilmarnock the lack of width and pace in Beale’s side was easily countered by the home side with Derek McInnes outsmarting his opposite number.
Gifted an early 2-0 lead against Servette then faced with 10 minutes for the last half hour Beale substituted his three star strikers to finish the match with Scott Wright and Ianis Hagi on the park.
After six months being celebrated as a coaching genius while being beaten by Celtic in the matches that mattered there are increasing signs that Beale is feeling the pressure of proper management rather than hiding in the shadows.
If he fails to reach the group stage of the Champions League the sniping will start about his lack of experience, baffling tactics and failure to strengthen his defence while overloading in midfield and attack.
After the hype of the summer Beale knows that van Bronckhorst, Pedro Caixinha and Mark Warburton were binned in mid-season, this morning it looks a 50-50 call whether the former QPR boss will make it to his first anniversary at the end of November.
1 Comment
by Captain Swing
He’ll be gone before the clocks change. He’s a bigger imposter than Caixinha.