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Walter Smith’s transforming job

May 10, 2008 | Author: Matchreporter | Filed under: Rangers

The third goal hammered into the net as Dunfermline took a 3-0 lead at home to Rangers in the Scottish Cup. With Rangers already out of the CIS Cup and they were too far behind Celtic in the league to mount any sort of a challenge. It’s just days after Paul Le Guen has left but things are getting no better for Rangers and in earlier January 2007 the club look dead. Despite two goals they are unable to pull it back and end up losing 3-2. Just a few days later Walter Smith arrivies and now almost 18 months on he’s on the verge of winning 4 trophies.

Tactical Mastermind or King of Boring Football?

Walter Smith began his job in January 2007 after that defeat by Dunfermline and led Rangers to second place in the league with a solid finish to the season. He steadied the defence by bringing in David Weir and Ugo Ehiogu while Barry Ferguson who had fallen out with Paul Le Guen (the former manager) was re-instated as captain a decision that in the next 14 months would prove to be the right one. Walter Smith had previously managed at Rangers joining in 1993 and winning 7 titles in a row at the club as well as a treble. However after failing to win ten titles in a row he parted company with Rangers, the club had won two titles in a row before he joined. Walter Smith would spend his next years at Everton and then later on as an assisstant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester Utd before restoring his reputation in Scotland by turning around the national team and then he joined Rangers.

In his first full season at the club he made numerous signings during the summer and got rid of a lot of Le Guen’s duds. Sionko, Letizi, Svensonn and Sebo all left although Sebo only on loan while in came Cuellar, McCulloch, Cousin, Darcheville, Whittaker and Broadfoot as Walter Smith looked to bring back the title and trophies to Ibrox. It had been a two full seasons since a trophy had arrivied. The Rangers team blossomed quickly and they looked impressive in the Champions League as in their first three games they beat the champions of Germany Stuggart at home and Lyon away while drawing at home to Barcelona. In the league they were challenging Celtic for the title. However in December things took a turn for the worse as a home defeat to Lyon in the Champions League meant Rangers were pushed into the Uefa Cup.

And that’s where we’ve been since then. Victories over Panathanikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Firoentina have pushed Rangers into a Uefa Cup Final. All of these victories have been based on a solid defence. In all the games we have played the first leg at home and Walter’s tactics have been simple “Do not concede a goal” this has led to three 0-0 draws at Ibrox as well as a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen at home. This defensive outlook and the fact that no side has got an away goal against Rangers is a big factor in the Gers reaching the final. David Weir, Carlos Cuellar, Sasa Papac and Kirk Broadfoot have formed a solid backline which even top teams in Europe have failed to pierce. Firoentina failed to score against Rangers in 210 minutes of football. Sporting Lisbon failed to score against the Gers in a 180. However this type of football has led to the Gers being criticised in Europe with both Lionel Messi and Adrian Mutu describing the Gers type of football as “Anti Football”

But in my view for a club like Rangers who spent far less in the summer than teams like Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen who have all been knocked out of the Uefa Cup to have reached this far is a fantastic achievement and praise must go to Walter Smith’s tactical nous. Away victories against Lyon and Sporting Lisbon in Europe have been fantastic and we triumphed over Firoentina on penalties. At home we’ve also dispatched Werder Bremen and Stuttgart while 0-0 draws have led us to getting to the final. It remains to be seen whether we’ll win the final but it’s all to play for. Add that to the fact that Walter Smith has won 4 out of 6 of his Old Firm derbies since returning. Won the CIS Cup, is in the final of the Scottish Cup and sits 4 points behind Celtic in the league but with two games in hand means that He has done a great job and deserves praise.

Dick Advocaat vs Walter Smith

Dick Advocaat is the current manager of Zenit St Petersburg. This is the team who will play Rangers in the final of the Uefa Cup next week. Advocaat has a proven managerial record having managed Holland, South Korea, Rangers and the Untied Arab Emirates to name but a few. Yes he was a former Rangers manager in fact he replaced Walter Smith and won two titles in his first two seasons before starting to fall after the return of Martin O’Neil. He was moved upstairs at Ibrox to director of football but as a Rangers fan I felt he was a very good manager and under him we played fantastic football. He however left for Holland. At Holland he reached the Semi-Final of Euro 2004 but left soon after following media pressure. Advocaat this week announced that he was sounded out about a return to Rangers in late 2005 for returning on a temporary basis but in the end the club decided on Paul Le Guen.

After leaving Holland Advocaat had a short spell at UAE before going to South Korea however things didn’t work out as well here as his team went out in the groups stages of the World Cup in 2006 and that prompted a change to Russian team Zenit St Petersburg where he transformed the club who had discipline problems and players that weren’t getting on. He won the Russian title last year and this was the first time the Russian league had been won by a team outside of Moscow. Not only that but he’s completed a fantastic run to the Uefa Cup Final which saw his team beat Bayern Munich 4-0 at home in the Semi-Fina. Advocaat’s teams play beautiful football and look dangerous. He’s sure to have his players up for what will be they’re biggest games of their lives. Advocaat was in town in midweek to watch Rangers play Motherwell and his team unlike Rangers have had matches called off to help them prepare for the final.

Both Walter Smith and Dick Advocaat have proven managerial reputations. Walter Smith’s first stint at Rangers manager was very succsessful on the domestic front but not so much so in Europe. This year he has shown that he’s a manager that can win games in Europe as he guided his team into the Champions League and then after that into the Uefa Cup Final. Walter Smith will be desperate for Rangers to win the Uefa Cup because that would make him a Rangers legend and the players but on the other hand Zenit have had to overcome some really tough oppossition in the Uefa Cup especially Bayern Munich who they thrashed at home. Zenit St Petersburg will be the favorites after defeating Bayern in that heavy way but Rangers have shown how secure their defence is and also that they can nick goals as they did in Lisbon. It’s going to be a really interesting tie and both teams will want the Uefa Cup.

Domestic Scene

Rangers aren’t just doing well on the European front. Rangers still have 4 games to play in the SPL as well as a Scottish Cup Final and a Uefa Cup Final and all this crammed into the next 17 days. Rangers have already won the CIS Cup but in the league they sit four points behind Celtic -albeit with two games in hand-. Should Rangers win their games in hand though they will leapfrog Celtic and go to the top of the table two points clear. Since the league title hasn’t been at Ibrox since 2005 I and countless other Rangers fans want that trophy as much as we want the Uefa Cup and we still have the Scottish Cup to look forward to where we are big favorites against Queen of the South. There are still two trophies to play for on the domestic front. I’m very confident that we’ll beat Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup while although we face tough games in the SPL I’m fairly confident we’ll get our title back. Walter Smith has a fantastic record domestically and hopefully that will be continued.

In the next six games we could win three trophies or end up losing all three and ending up with just the CIS Cup. However if we are to win all 3 trophies that we are still in the hunt for then the key man will be club captain Barry Ferguson. Ever since Walter Smith has arrivied he’s hit top form and this was shown in midweek when we were drawing at home to Motherwell with just 17 minutes to go. He was the man that kept his cool and scored a fantastic goal to keep us in the hunt  for the title race. A draw would have given Celtic the advantage. However we’ll need him at the top of his game in all of our remaning 6 fixtures if we are to defeat Zenit St Petersburg, wrestle the title of Celtic and defeat Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup. He’s a fantastic player and I have no doubt that he’ll rise to the challenge.

Matchreporter

My Prediction- Rangers to win the Scottish Cup and the League but lose out to Zenit in the final.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 and is filed under Rangers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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