Barcelona is expecting anti-football. Yesterday it got Uncle Walter. The hype and hullabaloo that surrounds a Champions League never seems to discomfit the Rangers manager. He was in avuncular mood as his team faced what he described as their biggest test.
Smith, approaching 60, has spent 30 years in coaching and his relaxed manner in public disguises an intense thinker about the game. The Rangers manager, for all his bonhomie, knows that it is never a productive policy to offer too much information about one's intentions.
Precious little of substance was prised from three interviews with Smith yesterday. The certainty is that anti-football will be brushed down for a visit to the Camp Nou. "Most teams who come to play against Barcelona pay attention to the defensive aspect of the game and we will do that," he said. He added, as if further emphasis were needed: "For our part, the game will be much the same as the one in Scotland."
Rangers will therefore line up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Brahim Hemdani in the holding role. "We are trying to get better at retaining possession. We must improve on it. Brahim helps us in that respect. He has a calmness in possession of the ball," said Smith.
The certainty ends about there. Smith admitted yesterday afternoon he had not yet picked his side though the formation would be "roughly the same" as in previous European away ties.
The major questions centre on who will play the lone role up front and who will fit into the midfield role vacated by the suspended Kevin Thomson.
The striker's role is a straight choice between Daniel Cousin and Jean-Claude Darcheville. Smith seems to have a preference for the latter, though he cautioned that the Frenchman "had still a bit to go in terms of overall fitness."
However, Smith has been enthusiastic in his praise of Darcheville who has performed well in his limited career at Rangers, particularly against Vfb Stuttgart at home.
The other area of uncertainty is who will complete the midfield four in front of Hemdani. Barry Ferguson and Lee McCulloch seem certain to be joined by Charlie Adam, who has recovered from a virus. This leaves a place for Nacho Novo, DaMarcus Beasley or, more unlikely, Darcheville, whose pace would cause problems wide right.
Novo was yesterday talking like a man who expected a strip. Beasley may have to wait until the latter stages to come on.
By then, of course, matters may be beyond Rangers. Smith is aware of the size of the challenge.
"They have strikers who are the best in the world," he said, "but the midfield - Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Deco when he's fit - are vital components. We have to be careful not too allow too much possession in an area where Barcelona can pass through you."
This, of course, is the nub of Rangers' difficulty in what will be a vibrant Camp Nou invaded by 20,000 Scottish supporters. "It's about how well we handle the situation," said Smith, placing the onus on a side inexperienced at Champions League level.
He knows Barca will not be confounded simply by putting men behind the ball. "It's not the first time Barcelona will have encountered a team that has come to defend," he answered dryly as anti-football raised its head again. "They know what they are up against," he said, as if anyone had missed the point.
He would not take the easy option of believing that Rangers could relax because this was a game they were expected to lose. "I don't think anybody who is in competitive sport looks at it like that," he said. "It would be very dangerous to be relaxed."
Uncle Walter was in danger of becoming somewhat crotchety before he remembered where he was.
He then shared a comforting thought. "We have shown a determination to defend well," he reminisced of visits to Montenegro, Belgrade and Lyon which ended with the Rangers' goal intact.
Rangers will need that and more if Uncle Walter is to add another story with a happy ending to his already impressive repertoire of European tales.
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