Jelavic set to take on Terrors

16 September 2010 18:21
Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic will be unleashed against Dundee United on Saturday after sitting out the midweek Champions League action.[LNB] Jelavic is ineligible for the club's Champions League group campaign after helping Rapid Vienna reach the same stage of the Europa League.[LNB]Kenny Miller was given the unappealing task of chasing after Manchester United defenders as his other 10 team-mates sat behind the ball for much of the 90 minutes at Old Trafford.[LNB]So a fresh Jelavic, who netted his first Rangers goal in a 2-1 win at Hamilton last weekend, will be asked to liven up a battle-weary Rangers in the SPL clash against the Scottish Cup holders.[LNB]Walter Smith told the club's official website: "Nikica will be a lot fresher than a lot of people at the club so we'd hope we will get the best of him over the next few weeks.[LNB]"We'd have much rather had him available for the Champions League but sadly that's not possible. That's something we just have to accept and move on from.[LNB]"It does at least give us the benefit of having him available and ready to play when we come back from our European ties.[LNB]"I'm looking forward to seeing how Nikica does for us and in the next few games I'd expect to see him show why we have signed him."[LNB]The 25-year-old headed home confidently to give Rangers the lead at New Douglas Park last weekend but the home side made it difficult for the champions until Miller netted a last-minute winner.[LNB]And Smith expects Jelavic to be given more opportunities to prove why the Rangers manager persuaded the club's bankers to allow him to spend £4million on his services.[LNB]"He showed some good touches at the weekend but remember that was the type of game where we didn't have a lot of possession of the ball to bring our strikers into play," Smith said.[LNB]"Hamilton worked very hard to close us down and make sure we were having to work hard ourselves to get any sort of possession.[LNB]"After the first 15 or 20 minutes, we didn't get the ball up to our front players as much as we would have liked.[LNB]"I felt that was the biggest thing to take from the game and in other matches I'd hope we would be able to bring Nikica into things more."

Source: Team_Talk