Rangers 2-2 PSV: New recruits given induction to remember at rocking Ibrox

Abdalla Sima’s goal sparked Ibrox into life on Tuesday night

The new recruits in this Rangers team couldn’t have known the reality of a big European night at Ibrox before this. The joy, the fury, the incessant racket that sweeps about the place whether the home team is under pressure, as they were in the opening half, or pushing hard for a winner, as they were during those late and deafening minutes.

They didn’t know what it was like when they joined, but they know it now. This pulsating night against a slick and dangerous PSV Eindhoven didn’t have the untrammelled mayhem of some of those Houdini jobs that Rangers pulled off on their road to the Europa League final, but it was terrific all the same.

Rangers fans will have been exhausted by it, their emotions surely switching madly as the game wore on. They’d have been anxious and then elated, then anxious, then elated again.

At 2-2, Rangers found it within themselves to mount a big finish. Second best for the entirety of the first half, they might not have had the crispness of PSV but they had heart and stomach for the fight and, with a touch more accuracy, they’d have had a 3-2 lead heading to the Netherlands to boot.

We expected PSV to be impressive, and they were. We expected one-touch elegance and comfort on the ball and they showed enough of it to mark them out as a fine side in the making.

In truth, given their tidal wave of possession, we expected them to take the lead, too, but they didn’t. Rangers scrambled excellently in defence. They battled to stay in the fight. Michael Beale will be thrilled by the work-rate of most of his players. Todd Cantwell is a ball player, but his best efforts against PSV came in his chasing and his desire to make life as difficult as he could for the visitors. It was a a scrap for him and the other leaders in this team.

Their concentration levels were sky high. They had to be. It was stressful at times. You could hear it. You could feel it. Some players could feel it more than others, no doubt. Rangers fans possibly know the secret to Cyriel Dessers now, they know that the big man might benefit from a touch of tough love at times, a healthy dose of stick, liberally applied, just to keep him on his toes.

Dessers was getting some justified stick in the seconds leading up to assisting in Abdallah Sima’s stunning opener, and was getting it in the neck again when he curled the most sumptuous pass into the path of the on-rushing Rabbi Matondo for Rangers’ second. Another beauty, a rapid-fire counter-attack that did as much to stun PSV as did their first goal.

That was when Ibrox erupted, from anxiety in the face of a survival mission and a fear of seeing the Champions League recede into the distance to hope.

Rangers manager Michael Beale applauds the Rangers crowd after an enthralling second half

Dessers wasn’t having the best night of his life at that point, and he’s still to hit his straps as a convincing centre-forward. Maybe he’ll get there. Maybe the other attackers brought in for decent money will settle and impress, but it’s difficult for them right now. Dessers did have his moments, though.

He didn’t get much in the way of service, no chances, lots of uncertainty in his game, just a bit of a joyless grind against a backdrop of an impatient stadium. Just before the Sima goal, Dessers was rounded on by the home support for what they felt was his lack of effort in front of PSV’s goal, a lacklustre attempt to reach a cross.

Maybe that was the volley he needed. Maybe the disapproving bellows of 50,000 folk sends a clearer message than the frantic waving of his manager on the touchline.

Within seconds, Dessers had morphed into a harrier and a hustler, arriving in support of Nicolas Raskin to hound Ibrahim Sangare out of possession. Sangare would have his revenge soon enough, but his befuddlement and Sima’s scorching finish energised Ibrox in a way you couldn’t foresee.

Can Rangers handle heat against warm favourites next week?

The sprinklers came on at the break and the temptation was to go and stand in front of them to make sure that the surreal nature of a Rangers lead wasn’t a dream.

Sangare levelled it and it was deserved, but that Rangers will, that defiance against a superior team, came out again when Cantwell and Dessers were the key men in the creation of the goal for Matondo.

The lead lasted mere minutes, of course. Will Rangers rue that equaliser? Will they regret the missed chances for Danilo and Matondo in the dying seconds? You listened to PSV manager, Peter Bosz, and you got a sense of a man who was more than happy with the 2-2 and more than confident that his side will progress. If they can stop giving away silly goals, as he put it, and then score a higher percentage of their chances.

He could well be right. PSV are warm favourites. They didn’t get the best out of Noa Lang on one wing or Johan Bakayoko, the 20-year-old flying machine, on the other, but Bosz sounded like a man who felt that better things were coming from his boys. Home advantage and the tie locked in stalemate – he’ll be content with the bottom line.

Beale continues to oversee a work-in-progress. Dessers, Sima, Danilo, Sam Lammers – none of them have emerged as undroppable, none of them have made a compelling case for inclusion. Eindhoven wouldn’t be a bad place to start. They need heroes next week.

2023-08-22 22:32:59
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