The Moyes dossier: Everton boss faced Fiorentina and tells Rangers boss Smith what makes them tick

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Moyes' Everton side have been acclaimed this season for their style of positive football but it was deep disappointment when they fell to Fiorentina earlier in the competition, despite an heroic attacking display in the second leg at Goodison.

Trailing by 2-0, Everton levelled the tie, only to suffer the heartbreak of defeat in the penalty shoot-out. Safe to say then that, despite the Celtic history in his CV, Moyes will be hoping Rangers can gain some revenge. Walter Smith and Moyes have talked ahead of tonight's tie.

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In a bid to ensure no stone is left unturned in the quest for success, it would be remiss of the Rangers manager not to call in the favour from the man who replaced him at Goodison.

Whether the dossier arrived on Smith's desk is an interesting point but there is little doubt that Moyes has alerted his Ibrox opposite number to a raft of possibilities and problems.

"I feel we should have gone through in the tie," Moyes sighed when speaking to Sportsmail. "If you look at Fiorentina's results in the UEFA Cup, they have tended to win their home games and draw or win away from home, too.

"We beat them at home but just couldn't get the third goal we needed to go through. We saw them a few times, then played the two games against them. They are not a team with massive stars. Adrian Mutu is probably the one who is, but they are a side full of very good players.

"Their midfielders, particularly Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Riccardo Montolivo, are ones to watch. They work very hard and protect their defence well. They are both young and play with great energy.

"Mutu plays off the left but comes in from there to play behind the strikers, which can cause a bit of problem. He has a goal threat, although the other way of looking at that is you can break from right-back against them.

"You might have a little chance of scoring from set-pieces against Fiorentina but, generally, they don't concede many goals or even allow teams many chances to score."

If Rangers target set pieces as a weakness in the Italian armoury, then Moyes singles out Davie Weir as a key man tonight. He knows all about the ever-young centre-half from the time they spent together on Merseyside and admits that should any Rangers player be searching for inspiration, they need look no further than their stand-in skipper.

Weir is in line to make his 56th appearance of the season for club and country as a vital brick in the Rangers wall against the Italians. A post-match red card against

Celtic last week gave the venerable veteran an unexpected rest from the Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone. But his former boss Moyes fully expects Smith to again lean heavily on the Scotland star tonight and in the Old Firm rematch on Sunday.

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"I am not surprised that Davie has done a great job for Rangers and remains a key player at Ibrox," said Moyes. "He is a top guy and he has looked after himself properly over the years. Davie is one of those players who has realised that you have to train more as you get older, not less, to keep up with the younger ones. He put in the time and effort and he is reaping the rewards.

"All managers have to look for young blood, because you never know when older players will need to be replaced. That is part of your duty as a manager but you often find that experienced centre-backs keep coming back.

"They know where to stand, know the position and that's through learning from their experience. The great thing with Davie is that he is reliable and makes very few mistakes.

"He is also the right type, the type you want at your club. I don't know if the young players at Rangers look up to him but they should do, because he has had a terrific career."

Smith's conversations with Moyes would make compulsive listening.

"Watch out for Mutu," an obvious one ... "the attacking midfield," point taken ... and "possible success at set-pieces," very interesting.

"I've spoken to David Moyes with regard to the game and he thought Everton were very unfortunate, especially in the second game, not to go through," Smith said. "But he also impressed upon me what a talented team he thought Fiorentina were."

Yet, even with Rangers severely hit by injuries and suspension, former Celtic defender Moyes believes Smith has a chance of replicating Martin O'Neill's Seville achievement.