Last night marked Steven Gerrard’s second competitive match in charge of Rangers as the Ibrox faithful travelled to Macedonia to face FK Shkupi in their Europa league 1st round qualifier second-leg. The Glasgow club were successful in the first-leg, putting their Macedonian opposition to the sword with a 2-0 win at Ibrox last Thursday.
Your #RangersFC team for tonight’s @EuropaLeague match. pic.twitter.com/8I2jTliLBU
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) 17 July 2018
Stevie G has obviously done his homework as the club avoided embarrassment suffered last year, when they lost at this stage of the competition to progress Niederkorn.
The only issue that the fans had with the starting eleven is the lack of Glenn Middleton’s inclusion. The fans have taken a real shine to Middleton and would have loved to have seen the star thrown a chance on the continent. At the age of just 18, there’s plenty of time for Middleton to show what he’s capable of at Rangers and it will be up to Gerrard to manage his game time to get the most out of him and help him progress.
You can read the Gers’ verdict on their eleven here:
@Glenn_M22 needs to start
— jake (@JAndrewwatt) July 17, 2018
Would have liked to see Middleton start today
— Kieren (@RonTLC) July 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/a22an/status/1019235014058414081
I agree Middleton does deserve a start he has been very impressive but he will come on hopefully he will get his game don’t worry
— Daniel Woodward (@Dwoodward2442) 17 July 2018
How do you inspire players like Middleton to win their place if he plays well then doesnt start. Got to have competition to improve standards
— stuart ednie (@Skednie) July 17, 2018
I would have started Middleton over windass but let’s get the job done #Rangers #Letsgo
— kevin mcmahon (@mcmahon_84) July 17, 2018
Whilst the Bluenoses are happy with progression, they’re all a bit gutted that Middleton hasn’t been thrown a start against Shkupi tonight.
