Smith draws inspiration from Europe

18 September 2009 15:55
Despite wins over Falkirk, Hearts and Hamilton before last week's goalless draw at Motherwell, Ibrox boss Smith believes his side have not yet reached the level of form which saw them claim a domestic double last season. The Scottish champions endured a torrid 45 minutes at the hands of Stuttgart on Wednesday night before producing a more inspirational performance in the second half to claim a point from the Group G opener. Smith now wants to see that standard of play replicated in Saturday's early kick-off at Kilmarnock. "I feel we have been a little bit slow to start this season and hopefully the game we had on Wednesday night will kick-start us a little bit," he said. "We've managed to win a few games this season, the Motherwell game aside, but I don't feel we've started greatly. Hopefully, we can do that on Saturday. "Sometimes you need a game of importance to kick-start your season and the Champions League for us was something that would maybe kick-start our season and bring a little bit of edge to our group of players and I'm hoping that will be the case. "We have to lift our games in a domestic sense and try to get to the level we were playing at the other night in the Champions League. "We haven't reached the levels of the second half of last season so far." Smith admits he is not a fan of lunchtime kick-offs and is hoping for an improvement from his players following a disappointing showing at Motherwell, with goalkeeper Allan McGregor salvaging a point with a late penalty save. "The early kick-offs are part and parcel of what we have to do these days," Smith said. "I can't say I'm a great lover of them but it's what we have to do. "I think anyone, if they had a choice, would like to see the old 3pm kick-off but it's not possible so we have to get on with it. "We kicked off early last week and never really started until well into the game, so hopefully we can start a bit earlier in this match than we did last week." Smith expects fit-again Kevin Kyle to pose the biggest threat for Killie, despite Rangers boasting a decent record against Jim Jefferies' men. He said: "Kevin looks as though he has had a good start to the season, and the latter part of last season as well. "He is a player who is capable of causing any team problems and, by all accounts, when he came on as a substitute the other night, he played very well. "We'll have to handle that situation tomorrow." Madjid Bougherra's two yellow cards for dissent against Motherwell means he is suspended for the visit to Rugby Park but Smith is optimistic about having one of his centre-halves available. David Weir missed the clash in Stuttgart with an ankle injury but is expected to make the trip to Ayrshire, where he is likely to partner Lee McCulloch, who played alongside Bougherra in Germany. "We've no further injury problems from the game in Stuttgart," said Smith. "Davie Weir trained on Friday morning and hopefully, if there's no reaction to the training, he will be okay for the game on Saturday. "We won't push him. If Davie feels okay, he will play. We've got a few options. We can bring in one or two others who play in that position. "But it looks as though Davie will make it. He had a full training session without any great problem." Rangers 4/9, Draw 16/5, Kilmarnock 7/1  

Source: Team_Talk