Little by little

Storm Ciara is currently raging outside my window and had Rangers last two fixtures finished after 45 minutes I have no doubt that Ciara wouldn't have been the only one who was raging.  Thankfully however football is ninety minutes long not forty five.  On Wednesday evening we saw new signing Hagi score a debut goal to ensure we claimed all three points in our latest league fixture.  On Saturday we secured our place in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup with three second half goals resulting in a flattering 4-1 victory for the Gers. Whilst two vital victories were achieved their remains concerns about the level of the teams performance since the resumption of the season following the winter break.

Wednesday's performance against Hibs was littered with periods of labored attacking and indecisive defending and their is no doubt that had George Edmundson not scored a debut goal just before half time, the players would have received a tasty reception from the fans as they departed down the tunnel.  In fact Edmundson's goal had the opposite effect with Ibrox coming to life in song and a no surrender attitude and when the second half started the team seemed to find the spark that had been missing of late playing perhaps some of their best football of recent weeks.

The decisive goal came from Hagi with a sublime finish six minutes before full time but even before then he had shown enough movement, skill and desire to suggest he might just be the missing spark that is required for a title push. Arfield turned in another good performance and is starting to look like the player we saw at the end of last season whilst the balance and attacking threat we were missing from from the right full back area returned with the return of our captain Tavernier.  Connor Goldson continues to excel and his consistent high level performances are in danger of being taken for granted by some in our support.  He is an outstanding defender who has grown in stature in his time at the club.

There were however others on both Wednesday and Saturday who didn't reach the level of performance we know they can.  I don't think anyone can disagree that our Colombian Prince has looked slightly off the pace and indeed a little short of confidence since coming back into the team.  Off field issues may be playing a part in this but he also looks far from 100% fit.  In the first half yesterday Morelos spurned a great chance to make it two nil and it was interesting that although it was a good save from the goalkeeper, had Alfie placed the ball as opposed to going for power he may well have scored.  It's not the first time he has missed a chance similar to this, perhaps most notably in the cup final against Celtic, and I hope it is something he is working on in training.  We have to hope that his goal yesterday will be the catalyst for restoring some of his confidence and self belief and we once again see the player who was unplayable just a few weeks ago.

Alfie should not be alone in coming in for criticism following our past two games with Ryan Kent once again proving to be a frustrating figure on our left wing.  There were positives from him in the Hamilton game, a blistering shot just before half time following a swift counter attack and an assist for the Aribio goal.  Indeed it was this assist highlight which highlighted where many fans frustrations with Kent currently lie. Kent has blistering pace and attacked the full back direct, beating him with pace (and skill) before putting the ball on a plate for Aribo.  Many believe there has to be more directness in Kent's play to stop him from becoming to easy to snuff out of games as has happened to often lately.

George Edmundson after a solid performance against Hibs looked strangely out of his depth on Saturday and struggled for most of the game with the movement of Hamilton's limited front line. We have to remember that Edmundson is young and still learning the game so performances like this will happen. It has happened with Katic and perhaps highlights how much we have missed the experience and leadership of Filip Helander.  His injury has been less well documented than others but their is no doubt that our back four is weaker without him in it.  We can only hope that he can return to fitness before too long.  

There are some who may think I'm being over critical about our last two performances considering we have won both games, ensuring we stay in the title race and and progressed to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup.  However neither of our victories were convincing (despite the 4-1 scoreline vs Hamilton) and their is work to be done to get this team back to where they were at the end of December. However little by little their are signs of encouragement that we are beginning to to find our tempo, rhythm and groove and heading out of a challenging period of form.  We must hope this improvement continues when we go to Kilmarnock on Wednesday where once again nothing other than three points will be enough.

WDTCR 💙