Young Boys vs Glasgow Rangers - Gerrard wants Rangers to build on winning start
Posted Thursday, October 03, 2019 by PA
Steven Gerrard has urged Rangers to build on their winning start to Europa League Group G with another positive result at Young Boys on Thursday.
The Light Blues visit the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf looking to pick up where they left off in Europe after opening their group campaign with a 1-0 home win against Feyenoord a fortnight ago.
The task facing Rangers is an entirely different one this time around, though, as they take on the Swiss champions in Bern without their usual away following after announcing in August that they would not request a ticket allocation for this game after receiving two UEFA charges.
Gerrard knows exactly what Rangers are up against but has underlined the importance of taking something from the game as they look to rack up valuable points.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference in Switzerland, he said: “It’s always important to try and get off to a positive start. Especially if your first game is at home.
“I thought the performance was very strong against Feyenoord, especially in the first hour or so of the game. Obviously they put us under a bit of pressure at the end of the game, which is quite normal because they were pushing for an equaliser.
“A clean sheet and a win against a good team was the perfect start for us but it’s important we try and build on all that hard work.
“Now we’re away from home, it’ll be a different atmosphere, a different environment with no fans here and on a difficult pitch.
“The challenge is different this time around so we are coming here to try and win the game and do everything we can to do that, but it is important that we take something away from this fixture and try and build on the three points we started with.
“This will look different but in terms of the principles and what we want from the boys, it’ll be very similar in terms of effort and desire and what we have to do and the work we have to put into the 90 minutes to get the same outcome.”
Young Boys boss Gerardo Seoane is wary of the counter-attacking threat posed by Rangers and hopes to starve them of chances to break quickly.
Home manager Seoane sees counter-attacking as one of Rangers’ strengths and is determined to hold onto the ball in a bid to prevent rapid breaks from their visitors.
Speaking via a translator at a pre-match press conference streamed on the club’s YouTube channel, Seoane said: “Rangers are very good at counter-attacking.
“We will have to keep the ball well not to give the Rangers strikers the opportunity to counter-attack as fast as they can.”
Rangers will play on an artificial surface in Bern, and while Seoane believes being at home is an advantage, he does not think that factor alone is enough for them to win the game.
He added: “Of course it is usually an advantage to play at home, and Rangers are not that accustomed to playing on artificial pitches.
“And for Young Boys it’s certainly not a disadvantage to play on artificial turf tomorrow.
“But there are other things tomorrow that will be important to win the game. One of them is attitude, with what attitude you come to the field.
“I was impressed by both teams in Rangers versus Feyenoord.
“I saw high intensity, a lot of tackling, but I think it will be different tomorrow since Rangers are playing away.
“We want to play our game and don’t want Rangers to be able to play their game and this will be important tomorrow.”
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