Great article justifying Walter's tactics from Thrusday night

[J_RFC87 762]

I know we're passed this, but I thought this was a worthwhile read.

FOUR games, four draws, four goals. For neutral TV viewers at least, this week's semi-finals in the Champions League and Uefa Cup have proven the desirability of sitting out the first leg and waiting patiently for the action to begin in the return fixture.

There were only two memorably dramatic moments, and even then one of them – Cristiano Ronaldo's missed penalty for Manchester United at Barcelona – was anticlimactic. Only John Arne Riise's own goal at Anfield was a genuine plot-twister, giving Chelsea a last-gasp 1-1 draw to take back to London after being largely outplayed by Liverpool.

But, while the standard of all four games was disappointing, you couldn't call it unexpected. At this stage of the season, with big matches looming up every few days and fatigue setting in, no team is going to burst a gut in a match which is only the first half of a tie. You might just try that if you were up against considerably weaker opponents and reckoned you could kill off the contest with a flurry of first-leg goals, but by the semi-finals you know the opposition are made of sterner stuff.

Hence the caution, the caginess, and the catatonia. First legs are essentially about the avoidance of mistakes. Unless you are Lionel Messi making a captivating return from injury, you concern yourself less with creativity, and more with shutting down your opposite number.

The 0-0 draw may be a bore for many spectators, but for most teams it is more than acceptable. For one side, it means they have not conceded at home, and therefore have two means of going through from the return leg – by winning, or by achieving a score draw. For the visitors, it can provide the morale boost of having achieved parity on the road: if you draw with a team on their ground, you generally fancy your chances of beating them at your place.

Even the 1-1 draw is more acceptable to many teams than the adoption of a high-risk strategy. One team has a valuable away goal, and the other is at least still very much in the tie.

In cycling, you don't go for broke on the first lap of a sprint. In a 1,500 metres race on the track, you don't go all out over the first lap or so and hope you have enough left in the tank to sustain your lead. And in football, you don't blitz the first leg then spend the second in the sporting equivalent of an underground shelter.

Given the way their Uefa Cup campaign has gone, Rangers were perhaps happier than any of the other seven teams with their draw. True, they had again failed to score at Ibrox, but so had the opposition. And, as the least technically gifted of the four sides left in the competition, it made perfect sense for them to play a constricting game.

For lavishly gifted purists such as Messi, this approach may constitute "anti-football". For ordinary mortals, it's called common sense. What is the likes of Kirk Broadfoot, for example, meant to do when confronted by the likes of Adrian Mutu – blind him with an even higher level of footballing artistry?

Of course not. You play to your strengths. And if those strengths are less glamorous than those of the opposition, so be it.

In any case, since returning to Ibrox, and previously in his stint as Scotland manager, Walter Smith has turned pragmatism into something approaching an art form. Individual play by play, Rangers may be something less than a delight to watch, but overall their battle on four fronts this season has provided a fascinating example of a team making the most of itself.

The atmosphere at full-time at Ibrox was notably different from that at the Nou Camp or Anfield or in Munich, where Bayern drew 1-1 with Zenit St Petersburg. The other three grounds were, if not suddenly hushed, at least quickly transformed, becoming mundane and businesslike. In Glasgow, the mood was one of pride, defiance, and unshaken belief: Rangers were still very much in the tie, and the dream remained alive.

This style of play is second nature to Smith's team now, and they are unlikely to change if they reach the final. Their long march in search of four trophies has already become a feat of endurance, and stoics do not turn into epicureans overnight.

http://sport.scotsman.com/football?articleid=4023558

[Hoff 7]

Totally agree with that J, excellent read and some great points!! I don't give a monkeys about what the purists think of our play, this is our "transitional" season and we are going for 4 trophies!!

I am more than happy with us so far I jsut hope we can close it out like we deserve to!!

[shnollyRFC 0]

Very good article indeed. I was pretty happy at full-time on Thursday TBH.

[deviltrout 1]

Walter Smith has turned pragmatism into something approaching an art form.

lol damn right