Crisis clubs battle for also-rans title

WHAT is this, then? The battle of the also-rans? The meeting of the malcontents? Hearts entertain Rangers at Tynecastle this afternoon and, really, with the championship long gone for the pair of them, this fixture has a grimness about it, a dark side. You know that the winners will be relieved more than overjoyed, like men who have escaped the gallows. The losers? Lord help them. New levels of despair and recrimination will be discovered by the defeated.

This is car crash football we're talking about. On Friday, when asked for his thoughts on the bizarre goings-on at Tynecastle these past weeks Paul le Guen responded with a little wry smile, a smile that said "do you seriously think I'm going to get involved in that?" "My job is to watch games," he said. "Not the other stuff. I watched them last Monday [in the 1-1 with Falkirk] but their problems in the last period, well, I had problems enough with my own team."

More problems than he can handle? Today will be a reasonable indicator. It's hard to know how somebody like Le Guen would begin to prepare his tactics against a club as addicted to turbulence as Vladimir Romanov's Hearts, but he seemed content enough the other day. "It was good to have eight days to work together," he said, "because we played four games in 12 days before that and it was good to have a rest. I am confident. I know the team can do well. We've had a real week of work. It could be important for us."

We've heard this before of course. The high-class win over Livorno in the UEFA Cup was supposed to be the catalyst for change in their SPL fortunes. The victory over Maccabi Haifa might have sparked a revival but we're still getting the same uncertainty from Rangers, a team that is bewildered by pace and aggression, that lacks any kind of dominance at the back and has a desperate shortage of goal threat at the other end.

Their shortcomings have been analysed to death. It's time some sign of life emerged among the Ibrox men. This is a chunky week for them. Hearts today and Auxerre on Thursday. Le Guen, and his midfielder Jeremy Clement, make no bones about where the priorities lie. "Auxerre is an important game but perhaps less important than the game against Hearts and Kilmarnock [on Saturday]. We need one more point to qualify for the next stage of the UEFA Cup and so we'll try to get a result. We will be ambitious, but the focus is on Hearts."

Clement, the one new recruit whose impact has registered at Ibrox, echoed his manager's words. "The SPL is more important because it lasts the whole year," he said. Well, it should. After their awful beginning, the title has already gone. Domestically, all Rangers can do now is save face. If there is glory to be had then the only place they'll find it is in Europe.

Le Guen and Clement have happy memories of Auxerre. They talk about what a good club it is, what fine players they have, but in nine visits as manager and player with Lyon, they came away with nine victories. Those days of plenty must seem like an age ago, though. Auxerre were cannon-fodder to Lyon but, it has to be said, Rangers are no Lyon.

A draw will do Rangers nicely and the good news is that Auxerre are languishing in the French league. The troubled club is having a particularly difficult time at l'Abbe Deschamps stadium, where they will face Rangers midweek. They've played seven times at home and won just twice. Out of the 20 teams in the division they lie in 14th position, 20 points behind leaders Lyon. They're having as miserable a time of it in France as Rangers are here.

"It's been a difficult season for Auxerre," said Le Guen, "and that surprises me because they have a good squad, a good coach but they've been unlucky with many injuries. [As manager of Lyon] I've played against all their players and it's good mix between experience and young ones. Younes Kaboul, for example, is a good defender. Benoit Cheyrou, the captain, is good. Benoit Pedretti as well. I feel well about this game, but I am aware of the threat. We must be very careful because they are skilful. I repeat, Pedretti, Cheyrou, Kanga Akale even Luigi Pieroni in attack, good players."

Clement is integrating well at Ibrox. He's had his frustrations through injury but he's the one who has looked like the soundest of Le Guen's investments, albeit without much competition from the rest. "The football's different here," he says. "It's different from France, I'll give you that. The game in France, its more built-up, you work the ball more. Here there's more aerial combat. Teams here just never give up. In Scotland it's more physical. Teams fight hard."

Thrown the hypothetical scenario of Rangers playing in the French league, he was asked how they would survive. "They'd present some problems," he replied. "If Rangers played like they did against Hearts [the 2-0 victory at Ibrox earlier in the season] that would be a real test for French teams. They'd have a real hard time playing against that type of play, against that rhythm." The fact Clement had to go back so far to find a domestic Rangers performance that was actually worth talking about tells much about how their season has been going. Has he been taken aback by the ferocity of the criticism? "It's normal. I've come to a big club with high expectations. The fans always expect to win. I knew what I was coming into. I hope the fans stay behind us, but it's been frustrating."

Perhaps it was Clement's novice command of the language that made him interpret David Murray's words of warning a few weeks ago as "encouragement from our president who told us we have the quality to achieve great things".

What Murray actually said was that if his failing team didn't start living up to their responsibilities then he'd sell them all to Bristol Rovers - which is still a possibility. Today and on Thursday the main prize on offer is that of self-survival.

Taken from the Scotsman