In the aftermath of Sunday’s disappointing defeat Rangers social media was awash with comments that once again this Rangers team had ‘bottled it’. Accusations were made that when the pressure is on, this current crop of players, and management, can't handle the pressure. It’s easy to make knee jerk reactions when emotions are running high in the immediate aftermath of what was a truly awful performance but the claim that this team are ‘bottlers’ just doesn’t stack up.
Earlier this season this team played Porto, Champions League regulars, knowing that they needed a victory to keep alive their hopes of Europa League qualification. The performance from Rangers that night was magnificent, securing a 2-0 victory which gave them the platform to go and qualify from a extremely competitive group. Three weeks ago Rangers went to Celtic Park and defeated the current Champions in their own back yard. This was despite being pegged back to 1-1 and having to contend with some questionable refereeing decisions.
Questioning the temperament of this team is lazy and fails to acknowledge a more glaringly obvious problem with this Rangers side; an over reliance on Alfredo Morelos and a lack of goals from players who could be expected to contribute more. Morelos has missed the last three games and Rangers have looked a different animal. Whilst Jermaine Defoe has a predatory instinct meaning he’s an invaluable penalty box striker he does not have the elements in his game that Morelos does and which Rangers have become so reliant on.
Morelos' ability to get Rangers up the park and to push opposition teams onto the back foot cannot be more clearly demonstrated than an incident in the game at Celtic Park three weeks ago where Morelos won a header, chased the header 30 yards, hassled the defender and won a free kick for Rangers. Jermaine Defoe, partly due to age but perhaps more because of the kind of player he is, isn’t going to do this. This leaves Rangers with a major problem when Morelos doesn’t play.
The lack of goals from the other forward players in the current Rangers team was also laid bare in the Hearts game. Despite how awful Rangers played they could, and should have, scored two if not three goals before half time on Sunday. Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo, both playing in the wide forward areas missed glaring opportunities on Sunday. Neither of the chances were gilt edged but for players of this quality Steven Gerrard will have expected at least one of these chances to have been taken. Although Kent did score in the 2nd half, going in at half time ahead would have changed the complexion of the game and given Rangers an impetus to carry into the second half.
Ultimately it was a bad day at the office yesterday for Rangers, perhaps the worst performance to date from a Steven Gerrard team, but there were still opportunities for Rangers to have won the game yesterday. In the cold light of day this does not change the result but it does suggest that if Kent, Aribo and others selected to play in the wide forward positions can increase their goal return results like yesterday will be avoided going forward.
A positive result is needed on Wednesday night when Ross County visit Ibrox and I fully expect Rangers to win this game comfortably. Doing so will allow the team to start building momentum again ensuring that they very much stay in the title race.
WDTCR💙
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