Ben Davies makes Rangers prediction and reflects on Liverpool lessons

The acquisition of Davies last summer looked like a shrewd, solid bit of business from Rangers as Giovanni van Bronckhorst sought to build a new partnership at the back following the departures of Calvin Bassey and Leon Balogun. That would prove to be easier said than done.

Van Bronckhorst would never see the best of Davies in a blue shirt. The Englishman attributes his injury issues earlier in the campaign down to a lack of match minutes and the lack of a proper pre-season programme to give him the foundation that he needed for what lay ahead.

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Whether it be through form or fitness, Davies just couldn't find his rhythm in the first half of the term but his fortunes have mirrored those of Rangers since the appointment of Michael Beale and recent times offer reasons to be cheerful and encouraged.

The three minutes that the defender played in Beale's first game against Hibernian were followed by half an hour in the win at Pittodrie. Since then, he has started and finished every fixture as Rangers have regrouped and recovered under Beale's guidance.

The Ibrox boss already has one eye on the future as he prepares to overhaul his squad ahead of his first full term in charge. Davies will have a part to play in that process and reckons he will be better equipped to make an impression second time around.

“I think so, yeah," Davies said when asked if it would be next season by the time supporters see the best of him. “It’s just been my minutes, I’ve been doing the pre-season work, but when the games have started I’ve not played as much as I need.

“I’ve then gone from basically no football to playing 70, 80, 90 minutes which is hard for my body to adapt to.

“What I want is a clear run to the end of the season and then a good pre-season and then we can see how I am."

Davies has spoken previously about his formative years in the game and the hard yards that he put in on loan with the likes of York City and Tranmere Rovers before he established himself at Preston North End.

He was a robust and reliable figure at Deepdale but the biggest move of his career stalled his progress and he couldn't force his way into the side at Anfield after being signed as cover during the Reds' defensive crisis.

“When I went to Liverpool I couldn’t get many minutes in the team," Davies said. “So when they were building up the team, doing 30 minutes, 45, 60 then 90, I was getting five or 10.

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“So when I went on loan to Sheffield United and then here, I had to go from getting five to getting 90 minutes.

“When you get your break in the off season you are doing your running but that was the problem for me because I was doing running and then more running when I really needed to be playing some games so I could get my rhythm going."

That 18-months on the books at Liverpool could be put down as a waste of time but Davies doesn't see it that way. He spent last season at Sheffield United and his form in the Championship ultimately helped to earn him his switch to Ibrox.

There are no regrets for Davies. He is a calm, cultured presence on the park and a pleasant and polite figure off it. Every experience, both good and bad, has helped shape him.

“No I’m grateful for the opportunity and the experience," Davies said of his time at Liverpool. “It opened my eyes to the top level and what the best players do, day in day out.

“It gave me life experience and now coming into Rangers off the back of it it’s definitely helped because I think if I’d come here without that step to Liverpool it would have been a big eye-opener.

“What did I take from it? I took from it how the elite people and teams in the world operate, how they prepare and the standards that are required around the whole club.

“That rubs off on you even when you’re not playing. You benefit from that. I was up against these guys day in day out in training.

"When I was at Preston and playing Championship level you have ab idea of what it would be like to reach the top. But to see it first hand was good for me."

The trials and tribulations that Davies has had throughout his career helped prepare him for his move to Rangers. Events of recent months will have made their own mark as well.

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Beale has injected belief back into the team since his appointment and Rangers head to Fir Park this afternoon on a lengthy unbeaten sequence in the Premiership. It is a run, of course, that has not allowed them to close the deficit to Celtic.

The performances and results on the road have been more impressive than some of those produced and earned at Ibrox and the wins away to Hearts and Hibernian stand out on Beale's watch.

Both of those sides paid the price for an attacking approach as they were picked off by Rangers. It will be intriguing, then, to see how Motherwell approach it and if boss Stuart Kettlewell sets out to stifle and frustrate the visitors.

“All in all I understand why teams play that way against us," Davies said. “They can see the flow of the games we play in which is why they sit in.

"We just need to try and unlock the door. That can come from a bit of magic or something like that.

“The fact is that when teams have open up against us we have punished them. So I can see why teams do it.

"There is more than one way to play football at the end of the day. If they think that gives them a chance to take something from the game then why wouldn’t they try it?

“We have talented players and teams don’t want to leave themselves too exposed against talented players. As a defender I know our forwards can hurt you.”