Pundits voice Plzen concerns as Rangers told Champions League dream would be over against classier opposition
It was a nervy night against the Czech side before reaching the play-off with a 4-2 aggregate victory
Rangers defeated Viktoria Plzen 4-2 on aggerate to reach the Champions League playoff round last night -but it proved far from straightforward for Russell Martin’s side.
Carrying a three-goal advantage into the second leg, the hosts passed up a number of chance as they dominated back on home turf, but Lyall Cameron's goal in a 2-1 defeat proved decisive by putting the game beyond the Czechs.
A nervy night now lies in store against Club Brugge of Belgium with the £40 million jackpot and a spot in the competition’s league phase up for grabs.
But legendary former Ibrox striker Kris Boyd has expressed his concerns about the defensive issues that continues to rear it’s head.
He told Sky Sports: “I think when you get to this stage, the main thing is just to get through, but once again it's a worry for me - and it will be a worry for Russell Martin - the two goals are really poor defensively.
“Jefte for the first one, and it looks like they got off the back of Joe Rothwell for the second. The work was done in the first leg, they managed to get that away goal and settle themselves down again.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Thompson is convinced that a better team than the Czechs would have sent the Martin’s side out of the Europe’s top tier competition.
“The performance wasn’t good,” he admitted on BBC Sportsound. “What he (Russell Martin) will be satisfied with is the job that they did at Ibrox, but the performance just wasn’t there tonight.
“If they were playing against a better quality of team they could have lost this game, it could have gone to extra-time with the chances they missed.
“Credit (Jack) Butland with one incredible save, but they can’t afford to play like that against whoever comes through into the playoff game. You guarantee they won’t pass up those kinds of gifts. I don’t think the performance was good, but the job was done at Ibrox.”
Ian McCall voiced his concerns surrounding Martin’s style of play and the ongoing defensive struggles, adding: “I think it's really important to have principles, but for me you have got to be flexible.
“But when you have got principles you don't have to rip everything up. You can tweak it a little bit just to get through a game, but Russell Martin appears to not want to do that.