THE bottom line about the game on Thursday night is that Rangers have come away from a difficult fixture with a 1-0 win.

But there is more than that for Steven Gerrard to be pleased about as he reflects on the victory over Osijek and looks ahead to the second leg at Ibrox.

The one thing that stood out for me is that the players look like they know what they are doing, both individually and collectively, and that is impressive when there are so many new faces in the side.

It is difficult to get several players, including two – Lassana Coulibaly and Ryan Kent – making their debuts, to be cohesive, especially this early in the season.

There is a physical presence about Rangers now and there is that bit of strength and dig that they haven’t had for a long time. That will certainly please the supporters.

After we got the goal, we managed the game well and looked pretty solid but we know they are still not the finished article, not by a long shot.

They had the mentality that they had to get the win, though, and that is what they did. Once you have that, you can look to improve the performances.

The two centre-backs – Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic – still haven’t really been tested and there were times on Thursday where they didn’t clear some of the balls that were played into the box.

I would like to see them attack it a wee bit more at times but that understanding will come and that partnership will only continue to improve as their communication gets better and they settle into playing alongside each other.

In midfield, Coulibaly looks to be a box-to-box player and he was maybe fortunate not to pick up a yellow card because he was getting in and about players and never gave them a minutes peace. Alongside him, Ryan Jack worked his socks off and his closing down was good.

Osijek did have a couple of chances, to be fair to them, and there were times where we were maybe not tight enough and we needed Allan McGregor to make some good saves.

But for a team that went out there with that many new players, against a decent side, it was a really encouraging performance and it all bodes well.

No matter who you play in Europe, if you get a win and a clean sheet then the manager will be delighted but Steven will be pleased with the structure of the side and a lot of different aspects of the performance.

Rangers looked like a solid unit and when they had the ball you could see the pattern of the play and see what they wanted to do. The message from the manager is getting through.

It wasn’t perfect, we are all aware of that, but we coped well and we were able to see the game out and that is something Rangers didn’t do last season.

One of the other positives, for me, came before the game even began and the starting line-up showed that there is now far more competition for a starting place in the side.

If you get that shirt, it is up to you to play well and keep it. If you don’t there are plenty of others waiting to come in and take it from you.

Gone are the days where you can have three or four bad games and still be in the team. If do that now, you will be out, it is as simple as that.

There will still be players coming in to add further strength in certain positions but the manager has options now and he is not afraid to use them and use the squad.

There is a base in place now. Rangers were well organised and they are clearly listening to what the manager and Gary McAllister are trying to implement this season.

The standard of player we have got looks to be better than we have had for several years.

Results will prove whether they are going to be good enough or not but it has certainly been a good start for them, that is for sure.