Michael Beale reckons Rangers crashed and burned in the Champions League because many of the players who’d been so successful in Europe in previous seasons were shunted on to the sidelines.
The Ibrox boss watched from a distance as Gio van Bronckhorst’s team lost all six matches in a strong group featuring Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax - including a 7-1 hammering from the English giants that was the worst home result in the club’s history. Rangers sold Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo from the team that reached the Europa League Final and allowed Leon Balogun - who ended up with Beale at QPR - to leave at the end of his contract.
Kemar Roofe was injured throughout and Connor Goldson picked up a serious knock in that game against Liverpool, while at various times van Bronckhorst left out goalkeeper Allan McGregor, striker Alfredo Morelos and seasoned campaigners like Scott Arfield, Glen Kamara and Steven Davis. And while the new boss wasn’t directly critical of the Dutchman, he believes sidelining the core of a team that gained so much experience in reaching Seville and getting to the knockout stages regularly under Steven Gerrard and Beale, contributed heavily to this season’s European horror show.
He said: “When you look at the group that went on the long journey through Europe these past few years and you see that the vast majority of them didn’t play in the Champions League this season then it’s not really a surprise to me that the group struggled. The team had built up huge confidence over a number of years in the Europa League.
“If you start taking four or five of those out of the team because of injury and different circumstances then the new boys coming in didn’t live that journey.
“So it’s important we remember and respect what we did and cleverly evolve. It’s not rapid. You don’t go out with the old and in with the new. It doesn’t work. I think you have to phase it in and at the right time.
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