Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow – Saturday. That was about as bad it can get. A St Johnstone side that came and set out exactly how we all expected them to, left Govan with 3 points, and 3 goals, and you can’t say it was deserved.
In all honesty, it could have been worse, a lot worse. I can’t remember a performance where so many Rangers players looked so uninterested, and not just in spells, for the full duration of the match. This despite Rangers taking the lead, with Alfredo Morelos keeping up his scoring run. That was it, I’m sorry to say this group of players offered nothing of note in the rest of the game.
The manner in which St Johnstone, equalised served as a warning of things to come, it was a fine strike and no taking away from that, but where was our effort in first stopping the cross, and secondly closing down the ball, it was all too easy.
In a game where we could barely string two passes together, it was no shock to anyone in the ground when St Johnstone, took the lead, and again it was another cross and the failure to stop it that resulted in Deny Johnstone, winning the aerial battle and sending it past Fodringham. Niko Kranjcar, was then introduced and I still don’t know why, his constant attempts at Hollywood passes time after time, showing he is a player well past his best or even acceptable levels, but he was not the only one.
There seemed a lack a belief, lack of heart, and a lack of will, all the attributes the squad have received praise for over the last few weeks, all that good work has been undone, in a matter of 90 minutes.
The third goal for St Johnstone, just confirmed the result, again it was another well-taken goal, but Rangers were all over the place. Not one player looked to take on responsibly when the going got tough.
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St Johnstone, didn’t come and play like Barcelona or Manchester City, no they came and played as advertised, a well-drilled side that every player was aware of there roles and the responsibilities within that structure.
Murty has to share some of the blame. He altered the shape, moving Windass, out wide in turn nullifying his effectiveness, he left Pena out the squad completely, made strange substitutions at strange times, and failed to get the squad focused in the manner he achieved at previous fixtures.
Questions will no doubt turn to the board and the length of time getting a new manager in place, however I think you have to question this group of players. Maybe the last four games were the outlier, and the results and performances in games with Dundee, Kilmarnock and Hamilton, is closer to where we are at ?.
After all you can’t polish a turd, you can put glitter on it and make it look nice, for a while, but it’s still a turd.
Steven Harrigan
@steven_harrigan
@rangersnewsuk