To be a Ranger

Following Rangers defeat to Hearts last Saturday and our subsequent Scottish Cup exit I was angry and disappointed. As a supporter, still on a high from the outstanding result we had achieved in Braga, I felt if I'd just been kicked in the stomach after slowly rising back to my feet. At 9.45 pm on Wednesday I didn't feel like I'd been kicked in the stomach but rather that I had been the subject of a full on attack by a heavyweight boxer. When the referee blew the whistle at full time on Wednesday to confirm a 1-0 loss to bottom of the league Hamilton Academical the pain was real.

In the aftermath of the Tynecastle defeat there had been the usual soundbites from the management team that there needed to be a reaction from the players in the fixture against Hamilton. A home fixture versus the bottom side in the league appeared to be an ideal opportunity for the players to respond positively and put in a performance that would suggest to us, the supporters, that they were hurting, that they were committed to the club and wished to atone for previous performances.

Unfortunately the ninety minutes that followed did little to repair the bond between supporters and players. Rangers first half performance was satisfactory despite not being the all guns blazing reaction we had perhaps expected. We controlled the game and created good chances but once again failed to convert pressure and possession into goals and therefore went in at half time with the score at 0-0. What followed in the second half was nothing short of disgraceful from Rangers.

On fifty-five minutes Hamilton took the lead following a completely avoidable error from Connor Goldson, although James Tavernier is not without criticism in the comedy show of defending we witnessed. Whilst the defending was awful and individual errors once again put the team into a difficult position the teams reaction and subsequent performance was simply unacceptable. From the moment we went one nil down almost every one of our players started to hide and not one single player took the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged the team back into the game. Once again our lack of leaders on the park was clear for everyone to see.

The lack of confidence that seeped into almost every player after conceding the goal again exposed the mental fragility in this squad of players. When the going got tough the first instinct for too many of our players was to accept they could do nothing to change the result and they accepted the fate that awaited them. Their was a collective lack of self belief that as unit they could reverse the result and could positively impact what was happening on the pitch. They simply did not have the mental strength to react positively to the setback. They were unable to use the pressure as a catalyst to improve their own performance and instead accepted that defeat was inevitable. As a supporter that is a bitter pill to swallow.

Yet no matter how horrible things are, still we keep coming back for more. Sunday saw a trip to the Highlands to play Ross County and our third game against a bottom six side in three weeks. Another defeat was unthinkable and it would be unlikely that Steven Gerrard would survive three defeats in three weeks to bottom six sides no matter how much progress has been made in the last 18 months. We may be about to play Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16 of the Europa League but defeat to Ross County would have left the board of Rangers with some serious thinking to do.

Thankfully the Bears managed to secure all three points with a one nil victory giving Gerrard and his coaching staff some much needed breathing space. The performance was far from assured but Rangers ground out the victory, something we perhaps have been unable to do recently. There was once again moments of uncertainty, particularly at the start of the second half when Alan McGregor made two vital saves. One save in particular from Billy McKay may well prove to be a pivotal moment in Steven Gerrard's Rangers career. Had Ross County scored at this point it is my belief that we would have gone on to lose the game and as already stated I do not believe Gerrard would have survived defeat today.

There were some positives to the game today with Joe Aribo once again showing he was prepared to take the game to the opposition. It doesn't always come off for Aribo but he has shown more positivity

in the last couple of of games than many other players. Florian Kamberi impressed from the substitutes bench again and Jordan Jones seemed to offer more in the ten minutes he was given than Brandon Barker has offered all season. There still remains a number of issues for the management team to address as a number of players did not perform to the standards that they are capable of and perhaps none more so than Alfredo Morelos.

Morelos is a shadow of the player who had scored 29 goals in all competitions prior to the Winter break. He has gone from one of the most difficult players for opposition defenders to play against to one of the easiest. His movement is limited, his touch is heavy, and perhaps most worryingly his desire is pretty much non-existent. Morelos has been idolised by the Rangers fans for the last two seasons and is currently in real danger of losing his iconic status with the supporters. All strikers go through difficult periods and barren spells in front of goal but Morelos' current performances are more than this. He seems distracted and uninterested and on current form should not be considered a certain starter for the upcoming fixture against Bayer Leverkusen. There has been a number of off-field issues surrounding Morelos in the past couple of months and I don't doubt that they are impacting on his performances but trying to play through the problems is not working and his inclusion in the side is now having a detrimental effect on the team as a whole.

This has been a difficult week to be a Rangers fan as we again watched our heroes disappoint us. Disappointment is of course part of being a football fan but the nature of our defeat on Wednesday evening made it more difficult to for us as fans to accept. The very least that we expect from the team is desire, fight and commitment and in the second half performance against Hamilton the players on the park lacked all three. Victory against Ross County has allowed the relationship between the team and the supporters to move onto neutral territory but the issue of trust is not resolved as too often this season we as supporters have been let down. We now have three enourmous games coming up, a Europa league double header versus Bayer Leverkusen, and a home match against Celtic, Victory in all three of these games would go a long way in persuading supporters that the managment team and players understand what it is to be a Ranger.

Where's that team they call the Rangers?

At the end of the victory over Celtic in December, in a rare display of emotion, Steven Gerrard grabbed a TV camera and let out a guttural roar.  It was undoubtedly mirrored by Rangers fans far and wide and for many of us it felt like we were, finally, on the verge of something special.  When the final whistle went just before 5.00 pm on Saturday thoughts of our 55th title seemed further away than ever.

A 0-0 draw against Aberdeen, following the 2-1 defeat to Hearts last Sunday, means we have dropped 5 points in just 6 days and the pendulum in this years title race has swung back towards Celtic.  It's difficult to understand quite what has happened to this team since the season resumed after the winter break.

Prior to the two-week shutdown the Bears had gone to Fir Park and Easter Road and won convincingly with the victory at Easter Road in particular adding belief that this squad of players were ready to make the step up as title challengers.  A home victory versus Kilmarnock ensured confidence was high when visiting Parkhead and this confidence was evident in an outstanding performance which gave Rangers their first victory at Parkhead in nine years.

Following the return from the warm weather training camp the season resumed with a lacklustre performance against Stranraer in the Scottish Cup.  Although missing many regular starters those on the fringes did little to press their way into the managers thoughts, evidenced by Gerrard's team selection in the next game against St Mirren with the only changes from the Celtic game being forced on him by suspension, Morelos and injury, Tavernier.  Although we won the game 1-0 this was far from the same level of performance as this same group of players had put in during December.  

At Tynecastle the level of performance was so far below what we had seen prior to the Winter break it was hard to believe this was the same group of players. Their was a lack of composure, belief and perhaps most worryingly urgency in their play.  Wednesday saw a slightly more routine 2-0 victory against Ross County before we witnessed Saturday's 0-0 draw against Aberdeen . Where's the Rangers team of December gone?

It's extremely difficult to pinpoint where things have gone wrong in the last couple of weeks.  Were the players worked too hard on a mini-preseason in Dubai?  Personally I don't believe this to be the case as I feel we have to trust the medical staff and coaches who work with the players on a daily basis.  Have teams worked out how to frustrate us?  To some extent yes but teams parking the bus, particularly at Ibrox, is not something new that the players have had to overcome.  

Do we lack a plan B? Currently the answer to this has to be yes. If you are an opposition manager you know how Rangers will line up and what our style of play will be. Their will be no surprises even if our personnel has to change. This was clear in the games where Defoe played as a result of Morelos' suspension. Despite being completely different players our system did not change and as a result become ineffective due to the difference in style of play between Morelos and Defoe. Our play has become predictable and without the individual brilliance required to make the difference on occasion we have been unable to break teams such as Aberdeen down.   

We also can't underestimate how much we have missed Morelos and Tavernier in the recent games.  Both players at various points this season have individually changed games for us and the balance offered to us by Tavernier and the focal point created by Morelos have been sorely missing.  Although Morelos was back on Saturday he lacked match sharpness and was perhaps not even fully fit.  The absence of Ryan Jack has also upset the stability and dynamism of our midfield.  Losing three hugely influential players all at the same time has also highlighted the lack of quality deeper in our squad.

This has been addressed to some extent with the arrival of Ianis Hagi and Florian Kamberi.  Hagi comes with a glowing reputation whilst Kamberi is a proven SPFL player. We have to hope that one or both will add the missing spark that Steven Gerrard has been quoted as saying the team is missing. 

What is clear is that the drop in performance level has to stop now and cannot dip at any point again this season if we wish to remain in the title race.  Currently winning our 55th league title remains in our own hands and we must ensure that it remains this way for as long possible.

WDTCR 💙