But could our obsession with a traditional 4-4-2 be holding us back on football's biggest stage? A glance at those sides still involved in the knock-out stages of the Champions League sees the 4-4-2 alive but not quite as we'd recognise it. Traditional wingers, long since deemed risky and unfashionable by many in the game, make sides like Bayern Munich (Ribery and Schweinsteiger), Porto (Rodriguez and Lisandro Lopez), Villareal (Cazorla and Pires) and Manchester United (Giggs and Ronaldo) tick. Their probing runs, rampaging down each flank with drive and purpose, drag defenders wide and create the kind of space normally denied to strikers in increasingly congested penalty areas. A surging run from a winger in full flight brings scores of adoring fans to their feet and provides the kind of excitement that made us all fall for the beautiful game.
A poorly balanced 4-4-2 is just as likely to be costly as a well-balanced one is to be successful. Arsenal may have Samir Nasri providing an attacking option on the left but with Walcott missing, Eboue has provided no real substitute. Florent Malouda on Chelsea's left is hardly balanced by a lightweight Deco on the right and Wesley Schneider is never going to beat his man and deliver the telling cross that his Real Madrid strikers need to pounce on. Without balance, these sides become predictable and easy to bully - put pressure on the threatening wide man whilst keeping the middle of the park congested and you'll reduce these sides to mere bit-part players. Their domestic league form highlights the drawbacks of a side lacking balance as all 3 teams are well off the pace behind those with attacking drive and verve right across the park.
No club embodies flair and attacking brilliance more than Barcelona. Europe's leading goal scorers and on course to set all kinds of new records, Barcelona under ambitious young coach Pep Guardiola play the kind of football that kids all over the world imitate in parks and playgrounds. Nobody grows up dreaming of being a keeper - its the position you stick the fat kid in to stop him huffing and puffing round the school yard - and my generation spent as much time recreating the wonderful delivery of vintage 90's Alessandro Del Piero as the next generation spends pretending they're Cristiano Ronaldo or Leo Messi. Their success is built on playing a modern 4-3-3. A solid back four provide defensive cover with attacking fullbacks Abidal and Dani Alves given license to work their flanks. YaYa Toure doing the dirty holding work gives his midfield partners Xavi and Iniesta the freedom to drive forward in support of Samuel E'to with Henry and Messi equally comfortable working the opposition fullbacks or coming inside and striking fear into the hearts of their centre-halfs. It's difficult to mark players who move with such dynamism and its hardly luck that Barcelona are the most successful attacking side this season in any of Europe's top leagues, averaging 3.09 goals per game. Barcelona play a fluid system with players equally adept at using the ball or moving off of it - every player is allowed to express themselves, safe in the knowledge that their team-mates are in a position to offer them any support they need. There's always an out ball for Xabi and Iniesta - forward to E'to, Henry or Messi or backwards to Toure, Abidal or Alves and this allows them to dictate what happens on the park rather than simply hoping to react to it.
Rangers have a tradition of playing great wingers. From Willie Henderson to Brian Laudrup by way of my first footballing hero Davie Cooper, Rangers could always rely on production from the flanks - much to the delight of the Ibrox faithful. In recent years however we've moved away from balance towards sheer effort. The Rangers of 2008/2009 lack proper fullbacks and rarely play one natural wide-man never mind two. Kirk Broadfoot's honest effort is no replacement for Alan Hutton's rampaging runs down the right flank and young John Fleck has only recently been allowed to show the benefits of being a proper wide boy. Steven Davis often fades from games and Barry Ferguson is caught between the ugly defensive and eye-catching attacking midfield roles, instead finding himself in a no-mans land of limited options and sideways passes. Kenny Miller may chase every lost cause and Kris Boyd has proven to be lethal against the smaller sides but ask either to perform an unfamiliar role and you'll witness a striker impressively fail to trouble the opposition keeper whilst a 6ft Scotsman performs the greatest disappearing act since Houdini.
Rangers were criticised from every corner last season for playing "anti-football". Whilst the term itself is vulgar, the sentiments can certainly be applied to our efforts. Gone was the attacking verve, replaced by discipline and work-rate. The greater whole may have achieved more than the sum of it's parts but at the cost of entertainment. Obviously we all want a successful Rangers but is it too much to ask for an entertaining one too? David Villa drops deep and feeds his Valencia team-mates with pass after pinpoint pass but as soon as he releases the ball he's getting himself back in the box. The saddest and yet most hopeful thing is that it doesn't have to be that way. We have a squad featuring a ball-playing centre-half (Bougherra); a fullback who, when high on confidence, can hurt teams with his runs (Whittaker); a midfield combining work rate (Thomson & Edu) with attacking drive (Mendes & Davis) and a striker comfortable with the ball at his feet (Lafferty) fed by wide players who offer both a threat to both opposing fullbacks and keepers (Fleck, Aaron, Naismith & Novo). We have the building blocks to entertain AND secure success. It should never be a case that we sacrifice style for substance or that we justify ugly football with unimpressive results. Tactically we've already been outshone by Gus MacPherson who saw that our midfield was unbalanced and all too often static. Stop Smith's Rangers playing through the middle of the park and you're likely to see us resort to long balls and lost cause chases. Thats not the football of champions nor is it the football that Ibrox and it's packed stands deserves.
I regularly talk about changing the way we do business as a club and we cant ignore that we need to change on the park as much as we do off of it. A capacity crowd of genuine 90-minute bluenoses can make Ibrox the fortress it once was with the names of our players striking fear into every defence in the land. The basic raw materials are there - we need a manager willing to take the risks in using them and a support ready to applaud the forward who tries to beat his man rather than deride the one who may sometimes fail to do so.
Its time for Rangers to fall in love with the beautiful game again.