Michael Beale has spoken to the media after Rangers recorded a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in a friendly at Ibrox today, where he made a comment which reflects badly on Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
What’s the story?
Well, the 42-year-old took charge of his first game since replacing the Dutchman last month – albeit an unofficial one – and he surely enjoyed himself as Rangers embarrassed Xabi Alonso in Glasgow.
We would have thought so, at least.
Beale chose to pinpoint one area Rangers need to improve after the 3-0 win, highlighting his side’s poor pressing ability and subpar fitness levels.
Steven Gerrard’s old assistant said: “We want to press and be more aggressive, and that takes a different type of fitness than what we have right now.”
Now – in our view at least – that suggests Van Bronckhorst did not ensure his Rangers squad remained fit enough to be competitive.
For many, many months now, Rangers fans have lambasted their side’s lack of pressing.
There have been a number of lethargic performances, in which there seems to be no cohesion whatsoever in regards to any press that does come from the Rangers players.
Hopefully, that will start to change under Beale, although fitness levels cannot be improved overnight, so the Ibrox faithful may have to be patient.
Rangers made statement vs Bayer Leverkusen
It may have just been a friendly, but Rangers still made a statement against a very strong Bayer Leverkusen side with their 3-0 win.
Alonso was without the likes of Jeremie Frimpong – formerly of Celtic – as well as Piero Hincapie after their World Cup exploits.
However, the Spaniard was still able to field stars such as Moussa Diaby – wanted by Newcastle – as well as gems like Amine Adli, Adam Hlozek and Edmond Tapsoba.
As aforesaid, Beale clearly feels there is still much room for improvement in the pressing department, although there are certainly plenty of positives to be taken from today’s 3-0 win over the German outfit.
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