New Rangers enforcer Connor Goldson has insisted that all of the Gers players, old and new, need to fully focus ahead to avoid another Europa League banana skin.
Goldson, 25, was not part of the Rangers unit that suffered sheer embarrassment at the hands of Luxembourg’s Progres Niederkorn last season, who dumped the Gers out of the Europa League at the qualification stages.
However, Steven Gerrard’s new signing has stated that there is no point in dwelling on failures past, and that the team must rally to avoid another potential embarrassment.
“All the new players have heard what happened last year and that has been spoken about, but at the end of the day that’s the past and we can only look forward,” Goldson said when asked about last year’s humiliation, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“We have an exciting draw and an exciting first game at home at Ibrox in front of our own fans, so we must be ready, be positive and there’s no point in looking back on last season.”
OPINION
Goldson is absolutely right, and the Gers must completely forget about the embarrassing fixture of last year if they are to progress this time around. Although Gerrard is a debutant manager, I think that he has Rangers in a much better position to succeed as did Pedro Caixinha last season, and that was evident from his subsequent sacking. Gerrard’s first full 90 minutes ended in success, as the Gers beat The New Saints 3-1, and if the team can carry this form into their next pre-season friendly versus Bury on Friday night, they will be in a very good position to perform well versus Shkupi next week. For the players present amongst the ranks who played in last seasons dire fixture, there must be a monkey on their back, and the only way they can shake it is to own up to it, and prove that you can succeed. What a confidence boost it would be if Gerrard’s squad could come out and blow Shkupi out of the Ibrox, before their visit to Macedonia the following week. This would really captivate the aspirations of the fans, who could be needed during the fixture to uplift the players.