RANGERS SUFFERED A second hammering in five days with a comprehensive 4-0 defeat by Ajax in their Champions League Group A opener.
The Light Blues were thrashed 4-0 by Old Firm rivals Celtic on Saturday and in the Johan Cruyff Arena they again found themselves effectively out of the game by the interval and hoping to avoid embarrassment.
Midfielder Edson Alvarez headed in from a corner in the 17th minute before Gers defender James Sands redirected a Steven Berghuis shot into his own net after 32 minutes, with Mohammed Kudus thundering in a drive a minute later.
It was a nightmare for the Ibrox side who were playing Champions League football for the first time in 12 years, with Steven Bergwijn adding a fourth with 10 minutes remaining.
Rangers travel to Aberdeen on Saturday under pressure and the spotlight will be on Giovanni van Bronckhorst and how he intends to restore confidence and try to recover the five-point gap behind Celtic at the top of the table.
It was always going to be a difficult game for Rangers, regardless of the weekend’s woes.
Van Bronckhorst stuck with keeper Jon McLaughlin who had his poorest performance for Rangers at Celtic Park with the only change being winger Scott Wright coming in for veteran midfielder Steven Davis.
Calvin Bassey, who made the switch from Rangers to Ajax in the summer, was at centre-back with striker Kudus and midfielder Kenneth Taylor replacing Davy Klaassen and Brian Brobbey who dropped to the bench.
The first corner came for Ajax in the 10th minute and defender Jurrien Timber headed Bergwijn’s delivery from the left over from eight yards, unchallenged.
The Govan side failed to heed the warning.
When Berghuis swung his corner over from the right, Alvarez also rose unchallenged to head in from six yards.
Confidence seemed to drain from Rangers and McLaughlin had to save at his near post from defender Devyne Rensch’s angled drive.
The home side swarmed around the Gers penalty area and, in the 28th minute, Rensch only had McLaughlin to beat after taking a pass from Taylor but somehow missed the target.
However, in the space of a minute, things went from bad to worse for Van Bronckhorst’s side.
Sands tried to block a Berghuis shot from 16 yards but succeeded in wrong-footing McLaughlin and, as Rangers appeared in as much disarray as they did in the first half at Celtic Park, Kudus easily brushed off the attention of Gers skipper James Tavernier and drove an unstoppable shot high past McLaughlin and in off the far post.
The Ibrox keeper saved long-distance efforts from Taylor and captain Dusan Tadic before the break as Ajax threatened time and again to increase their lead further.
In a move that reeked of desperation and the need for damage limitation, Tavernier, Wright and Malik Tillman came off for Ryan Jack, Rabbi Matondo and Leon King, with a tactical reshuffle.
But it made no difference.
Ajax kept the ball – Kudus was always a danger – and Rangers chased.
In a rare Gers attack in the 67th minute attacker Ryan Kent knocked a Matondo cross wide and then, moments later, he set up left-back Borna Barisic to curl the ball past under-employed goalkeeper Remko Pasveer from the edge of the box, the VAR check cancelling out the goal for Kent being offside in the build-up.
Davis replaced Glen Kamara in the 78th minute and two minutes later Bergwijn accepted an errant pass from Jack, rounded McLaughlin at the edge of the box and rolled into the empty net.
Kent’s shot in added time hit Timber and came off the post, denying the Ibrox men a consolation.
So soon after the Celtic Park calamity, Rangers again have to regroup to stop the season, at home and abroad, spiralling away from them.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
For James Ryan to come in like that on his European debut, just off an injury… My God, he’s only 21. So excited to see where his career goes. Henshaw was fantastic at outside centre aswell. Barry Daly has been such a welcome surprise, really balanced player.
And Carbery. Kid oozes class. Playing at 15 for the next couple of years will do him no harm, look at Beauden Barrett.
@4OYards: haha great second row. Beirne coming back next year and Treadwell in Ulster – some fine young locks and Dilliane is only 24 too
@4OYards:
I feel not playing Carbery at 10 when Sexton is out is wasting vital development time. One of the hottest prospects at out-half in World Rugby. Leinster has an embarrassment of riches.
Perhaps it would be best for everyone if of the exiting 10s was given a chance to lead another province in need of a player of such quality
@Gavin Healy: He is very effective coming into the line from No. 15. I wonder how his place kicking is coming along. He is the real deal. So is James Ryan
Henshaw was savage in Defence today, made some great carries too. Lots of young talent in that team.
@Batster: an immense warrior and absolute gent on and off the pitch
Only saw the game just now but James Ryan was incredible. For a guy so young, he easily looked like an international quality lock today. Carried the ball excellently, showed great tackle technique, wasn’t afraid to get involved in a bit of niggle at the ruck, called line-outs to himself. Just class.
While he still has to be physically eased into pro rugby and managed like those before him, today was a top class performance from the young man.
It’s poor reasoning to say Henshaw is wasted at 12. The guys is superb at 13 and more exciting to watch. Hopefully he gets a run out at 13 in November. But the fact that he is brilliant at 13 doesn’t equate to him being wasted at 13. He’s immense there as well.
@Paul K Murphy: the rational side to the argumemt you’re making is fair. The other side is silly and is just used as a Schmidt dig.
@Conor Paddington: Henshaw is wasted at 12.
There’s a changing of the guard afoot. Carberry was outstanding as was Conan, the young guys coming through have the ability. Henshaw is next level. World class 13. Outstanding
The Article says Montpelier will be a different beast at home, Leinster with Sexton, O’Brien,Fardy, Heaslip, Kearney and Ringrose could be a very different beast too
Hey Ryan, you mention the amount of yards henshaw made, leinster tries scored, nabolos weight, etc. Any chance you could mention the actual score? It would be helpful.
@Brother Sylvest: you have several options there. You could have watched the match, one. You could google it, two. You could check innumerable social media sources, three. You could have checked the articles which were match reports as opposed to commentary, four. The list actually goes on.
@Conor Paddington: All true Conor but it’s a fair point to suggest including the score in an article about the match is not asking for too much given that other stats were mentioned
@Brother Sylvest: leinster won but Montpellier secured a losing bonus point .. I Google it
Aki 12 and Henshaw 13 for Ireland. Like how they played for connacht.
Great strength in depth,fingers crossed exciting year ahead
From an Irish perspective a McCloskey 12 and Henshaw 13 looks mouthwatering.
Should always be at 13 a natural
Yes Leinster got the win but to be fair it was more like Montpellier let them win! That overlap at the end! Since under 8s the whole idea is to suck them into the middle then go wide around the outside! How that pass wasn’t giving I’ll never know!
@mb: that’s unfair . They earned that win today
Bit of a Pedantic Pat post but Henshaw didn’t come through the system at Leinster.
I’ll get me coat….
@Rosco Bosco: bit of a blind Barry more like….it mentions that in the article!
@Marc Richardson: It got edited after I mentioned it Marco
The real talking point should be how amazing it is that a backline with an average age of 22/23 once Nacewa went off managed to outperform (based on skill, not just energy) a very expensively assembled Montpellier backline. Incredible.
Bodes very, very well for Ireland in the years to come.
Thought Henshaw and Carberry were sensational, and in the forwards, Ryan was outstanding, what a player we have in the making. Ireland might need him from next year as we really only have 3 locks of international stature with Ryan out of the loop.
In Leinster supporters opinion is Henshaw a better 13 than Ringrose?
@Conor Greham: To be honest, I don’t know. That remains to be seen.
@Conor Greham: Maybe. But Leinster don’t have a 12 that’s better than Henshaw and Ringrose is fantastic.
@Conor Greham: ringrose is a very good 13, we don’t have a natural 12 so unless one comes along while ringrose is fit Robbie switches to 12.
Reid at 12 and henshaw at 13 or henshaw at 12 and ringrose at 13 not a coach on the planet is going to pick the first one.
@Conor Greham: Ringrose performaed brilliantly at 12 against Australia. Anything to be said for GR@12, RH@13?
Also, strange no mention of Leinster achieved this victory with Sexton, O’Brien, Heaslip, Fardy, Rob Kearney, Dan Leavy (even if the latter two wouldn’t / shouldn’t have played) – incredible squad depth.
Leinster flattered.montpelier much better team but didn’t have luck referee or anything on their side
Very sloppy performance. If Leinster are to progress this year we need to see the basics done well and let the attractive rugby look after itself.
I know it is a team full of young guns which is great to see, but this is the 3rd or 4th year like this and the team needs to kick on.
Also, Ringrose is a class 12 too, great at offloads and a very strong straight up defender. The 2 lads could interchange no worries and that’s this Lions 12/13 in S.A.