Davis determined to down Los Che

19 October 2010 15:47
Steven Davis believes Rangers' European future this season will be shaped by Wednesday night's Champions League clash with Valencia at Ibrox.[LNB] Walter Smith's side have four points from their first two Group C games against Manchester United at Old Trafford and Bursaspor in Govan and now face back-to-back games against the highly-rated Spanish club.[LNB]Davis stressed the importance of taking points from a talented team who most people favour to challenge United for top spot.[LNB]"Your home games are the games which will get you through and we have managed to beat Bursaspor," he said.[LNB]"So this game is a massive one in terms of where we are going to go in this group.[LNB]"You want to get as many points on board as soon as possible and so far we have done well but that will mean nothing unless we build on that, and so it is important to get a result tomorrow night."[LNB]Davis added: "European nights are great to be involved in. There is usually a great atmosphere, and on the back of a couple of good results to start with, tomorrow night will be a great game and a great atmosphere.[LNB]"But we know what we are up against and we will have to be at our best."[LNB]The Northern Ireland international hopes the Rangers players have discarded the naivety which he believes cost them so dearly in last season's Champions League campaign.[LNB]The Light Blues lost all three group matches at Ibrox, including an embarrassing 4-1 defeat by Romanian champions Unirea Urziceni, and finished bottom with two points.[LNB]However, the Scottish champions have looked more solid in their first two European games this season with a more defensive-minded formation.[LNB]"It has been a learning curve for many of us," added Davies.[LNB]"Last year was the first Champions League experience for many of us and we were probably naive in the way we went about it.[LNB]"We seen the group and we were optimistic to begin with but we were probably naive and we were punished for the mistakes that we made.[LNB]"This year the manager has set us up in a different formation to make us harder to beat and within that we have players capable of getting us goals and so far it has worked quite well.[LNB]"Last year we probably tried to do too much (attacking) and we got punished for it.[LNB]"So far we have learned from that but it remains to be seen if we can continue that and get a good result tomorrow night."[LNB]Smith, who is sweating on the fitness of defender Kirk Broadfoot, believes his side will go in to the game with a confidence that was missing in last season's Euro campaign.[LNB]"After our first defeat at home last year there was a bit of trepidation," he said.[LNB]"But we are in the position where we have a bit more confidence.[LNB]"We have managed to get off to a good start, better than last year, and we have had to work extremely hard to get the four points.[LNB]"We are delighted to have them but the next three games are against the two favoured teams (Valencia and Manchester United).[LNB]"Two of those games are at home and last season we found it difficult to get points at home.[LNB]"But we managed to get three points at home to Bursaspor and hopefully, with added confidence from doing that, we can do that against the two favoured teams."[LNB]The Rangers boss, however, is aware of the threat Valencia will bring to Ibrox.[LNB]He said: "We have to retain a good edge on our game, and we know we have to overcome an extremely good side if we are to get a win.[LNB]"They have an excellent quality throughout the team. We played Sevilla last year and they finished below Valencia.[LNB]"Sevilla gave us two difficult games so we know we will have to match, if not better, our performance so far in the Champions League."[LNB]Smith also accepts he will have a problem reining in his players after eight successive wins in the SPL.[LNB]"It is a little bit of a problem," Smith added. "I don't think there is any doubt about that.[LNB]"We have to play in a manner that is not our normal way of playing but we have had to do that on a number of occasions and we have managed to handle that okay.[LNB]"I think the players appreciate that there has to be a change of emphasis in these games and they have all done that very well so far this season.[LNB]"Last season, we struggled to handle the balance between attacking and defending but we have been a bit better this season and hopefully it will lead to better results."

Source: Team_Talk