Rangers returned to Europa League action hoping to build on their win over Hibernian at the weekend. Instead, Thursday night at Ibrox was a lesson in how not to set up a team in Europe. Genk tore through Rangers with alarming ease, exposing massive gaps in midfield and a defence that looked disjointed.
Russell Martin has serious questions to answer once again.
Only one change from the weekend saw Yousef Chermiti come in for Bojan Miovski. Mikey Moore kept his place despite a poor run of form, and
Nicolas Raskin remained in midfield after his man-of-the-match return to the team against Hibs. Fans hoped the old “Thursday night Europa magic” would appear, but it never did.
From the off, Rangers were cut open with simple long passes. Genk found acres of space and should have been 1–0 up within six minutes. The midfield offered no cohesion, leaving the defence exposed. Former Celtic forward Oh Hyeon-gyu alone missed at least three golden chances, including a late first-half penalty saved by Jack Butland, but even that stop could not hide the tactical failures.
Rangers rarely created anything from open play. Chermiti and Djeidi Gassama showed bursts of direct play, with the latter having a decent long range effort go just wide, but the attack overall was toothless.
The red card for Mohammed Diomande late in the opening half made an uphill task almost impossible. Martin shuffled into a back five, but the team looked more reactive than organised.
Genk punished Rangers’ high line and gaps, with Oh scoring the opener in the 55th minute after a defence splitting pass exposed Derek Cornelius who had left the Korean forward free to stride in and beat Butland.
Substitutions and positional tweaks followed, Miovski, Joe Rothwell and Connor Barron on, Tavernier at centre back, Antman at right back, but there was no cohesion, no identity, and no plan. Rangers looked devoid of confidence and ideas.
This was more than a red card or refereeing errors. It was a systemic failure: midfield non-existent, defence naive, attack sterile. Genk, in poor form and struggling domestically themselves, didn’t need ingenuity, they exploited basic tactical mistakes. Rangers’ shape, identity, and tactical intelligence under Martin are simply not up to European standard.
The longer this continues, the more damage is done, not just to results, but to confidence and the relationship with fans. Thursday nights were meant to inspire belief; under Martin, they expose the cracks. Change is urgently needed, this is NOT getting any better and is only going to get worse.