THE second proper match of the season for Rangers will be competitive in name only this evening as St Joseph’s make the trip to Ibrox.
In truth, it will be more along the lines of the friendly fixtures that Steven Gerrard’s side have played already this summer.
The 39-year-old won’t allow his players to operate at bounce game pace, though, as Rangers look to win even more emphatically than they did in Gibraltar last Tuesday night.
That victory came in between 5-0 and 4-0 wins against Oxford United and Marseille on successive Sundays in front of the Ibrox crowd.
Rangers will cruise into the second qualifying round of the Europa League but Gerrard will still have demands on his players.
READ MORE: Rangers' Scott Arfield looking to pick up where he left off
Gerrard said: “We have started pre-season pretty well.
“We put in a positive performance away from home against St Joseph’s and I was really pleased with how we played against Marseille.
“There will be changes [tonight], but I expect the same outcome. I am looking for a strong performance from the players.
“I’m told the stadium will be full. In front of a packed Ibrox and on a European night I expect a high level of performance. The support we get doesn’t surprise me. We had two friendly matches there in the middle of summer and we still had 25,000 punters coming to watch. The fans are magnificent.
“There will be no sympathy shown. The scoreline from the first game has gone. We start 0-0. We want to win the game and we want to win it comfortably.
“We want to entertain the fans. There has been that level of intensity so far and I want to see it continue.
“We want to push the fitness levels and the standards in every department. We have stronger players coming in with stronger profiles.”
It took until the opening minutes of the second half for the St Joseph’s resistance to be broken last week.
In the end, goals from Ryan Jack, Sheyi Ojo, Borna Barisic and Alfredo Morelos were more than enough.
And Gerrard reckons the defensive setup of St Joseph’s could be an early sign of things to come this term.
“I think we will definitely use it as a good test and I expect it will depend on how we play,” he said.
“We don’t focus too much on the opposition. It is always an 80/20 scenario and we focus on ourselves and how we want to play. If we play how we want to play then we force them into a block and it will be up to us to try and solve the puzzle.
“We will have enough talent and ability on the pitch to go and cause them problems.
“What I will say is that it should be better for us because we are on a better pitch, the surface is perfect. It should be greasy so we can move the ball nice and quick and we don’t have to face 30 degree temperatures and a sticky, slow Astroturf pitch.
“So St Joseph’s have got a bigger problem than they had last week and I am hoping that the players show no mercy and go and put in a strong performance.”
This time last year, Rangers progressed to the second round with a goalless draw away to Shkupi.
Fans are encouraged by what they have seen this term, while Gerrard is satisfied at Rangers’ direction.
“We won’t get carried away with that,” Gerrard said of a record that shows 13 goals scored and none conceded so far this summer.
“You’ve got to take into consideration the opposition. Obviously Marseille was a fantastic performance and that gives a true reflection of where we are at the minute and we are looking really good.
“We certainly won’t be getting carried away but we are happy with the players being ruthless in front of goal, taking their opportunities and entertaining the fans.
“It is critical that we defend better this year. We conceded too many goals last year and that’s one area where we are trying to improve on.
“So far so good but the challenges and the tests are going to get tougher as we go along.
“It’s difficult to gauge that [if we are better than one year ago] but I’m more confident sitting here now than I was last year.
“There were a lot of new things happening last year – my first job, meeting a group of new players, having to make so many signings, getting used to the league, individuals players and managers, the different environments we had to travel to.
“There were a lot of eye-opening things last year. This year I’m quite content where we are.
“I’m confident we can put a better challenge up this year. Having said that, there’s a lot of work ahead and still some improving to do so we’ll keep pushing in every area we can.”
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