Rangers 0-4

Aug 3 2008 Mark Guidi At Ibrox

MORE technical ability, awareness and power. Better movement off the ball, greater athleticism and a finer first touch.

And that was just the Liverpool second string.

Rafa Benitez's men humiliated Rangers and could easily have won by more. As it was strikes from Fernando Torres, David Ngog, Yossi Benayoun and a Xabi Alonso penalty gave the Premiership side a comfortable victory.

Sure, this was just a pre-season friendly and Liverpool are far superior to the FBK Kaunas side Gers will face on Tuesday.

But there are worrying signs for Walter Smith as he heads out to Lithuania tomorrow morning for the crunch Champions League qualifier.

The Rangers boss will know he MUST play Carlos Cuellar against Kaunas - even if the Spaniard isn't 100-per-cent fit.

And after yesterday's humbling he will realise there's no one in his squad capable of coming anywhere near the standard of crocked Barry Ferguson.

Kevin Thomson was meant to fill in the role vacated by the skipper after his ankle injury. But he's a poor imitation.

The former Hibs star never got a grip of the game and his distribution left a lot to be desired. At least Brahim Hemdani didn't look out of place.

Yet Rangers started brightly and Lee McCulloch and Kenny Miller both came close with efforts from outside the box.

Reds boss Benitez started with his £45million strikeforce of Torres and Robbie Keane. Predictably, the Republic of Ireland star was constantly booed.

But it was his Spanish strike pal who opened the scoring in 23 minutes with a goal Allan McGregor will want to forget.

Damien Plessis let rip with a powerful 25-yard strike but it should have been a comfortable save.

However, McGregor neither held it nor parried it out of play and Torres pounced when the ball fell nicely for him.

Liverpool dominated for a spell after that and Davie Weir was lucky to avoid a booking after hauling down Torres.

Rangers forced Diego Cavalieri into his first save after 33 minutes when an excellent 22-yard chip from Sasa Papac was finger-tipped away. And Nacho Novo then missed one of the all-time sitters just before the break.

The Spaniard played a neat one-two with Miller then nutmegged Cavalieri to leave himself less than two yards from the goal-line. He tried to stroke the ball home but his effortwas cleared off the line by Andrea Dossena.

It's still hard to believe how Novo failed to score.

Smith made five changes at the break with Weir, Papac, Thomson, McCulloch and Miller being replaced by Charlie Adam, Jean-Claude Darcheville, Dean Furman, Andy Webster and Christian Dailly.

Gers still lacked cohesion though and sub Webster looked a shadow of the player he used to be.

Liverpool also made a raft of changes at the break but grabbed their second in 56 minutes. And this time it was a nightmare for Ibrox defender Kirk Broadfoot.

The former St Mirren man has had a steady pre-season but tried a needless 30-yard crossfield pass that was intercepted by Ngog. The Frenchman surged forward then stroked home a left-foot shot Rangers lost another goal four minutes later as Liverpool turned up the heat.

McGregor was at full stretch to parry a Christian Nemeth shot but Yossi Benayoun reacted to poke home the rebound from six yards.

Gers then brought on Kris Boyd for Novo and the Scotland striker got the loudest cheer of the day.

But the punters were on a downer again in 70 minutes when Broadfoot tripped Nemeth in the box and Alonso fired the penalty past sub-goalie Neil Alexander.

The Rangers fans made themselves heard at full-time and booed the team. They also booed Adamduring the entire second half and that was totally unfair.

But the abuse will seem like nothing if it doesn't go to plan on Tuesday in Kaunas.

Team sheet

RANGERS: McGregor, Whittaker, Broadfoot, Weir, Papac, Hemdani, Thomson, Novo, McCulloch, Lafferty, Miller. Subs: Boyd, Adam, Darcheville, Webster, Dailly, Bougherra, Velicka, Furman, Alexander.

LIVERPOOL: Cavalieri, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Dossena, Plessis,Gerrard, Kuyt, Benayoun, Keane, Torres. Subs: Hyypia, Agger,Darby, Alonso, Pennant, Spearing, Meneth, Ngog, Insua, Reina.