The draw with Partick Thistle last night was an exciting game in many ways, but the dropped points have brought a lot of negativity to many Rangers fans. The match has been discussed, but let’s look at some of the reactions and talking points.
First up, there was some criticism of our central midfielders on BT Sport. I never got to hear this, but read the reaction on Twitter and seen many Rangers fans agree with it. I feel this was very harsh. Last night, Dorrans and Jack almost swapped roles in the first half. Dorrans seemed to be asked to play the deeper role in midfield, and be the player dictating the tempo. It led to Ryan Jack setting up the first goal. However, when we were chasing the game, Dorrans was a real driving force. His performance last night deserved far more praise than he got. This idea that both players are just playing it sideways or backwards all the time is wrong. Last night, as our wide options never really got into the game, they were often forced into that, but it’s a far stronger area of the park than many are stating.
I discussed the first potential red card incident in the match report. As much as I know that many will be frustrated by another decision not going our way, I can see why it wasn’t given in the moment. It took a couple of replays from different angles for pundits to make up their mind on it. I don’t think Ryan Edwards meant to go in to hurt Jack, but he certainly went in recklessly. I fully believe, if the referee saw it clearly, he’d have sent the player off. He had no hesitation in sending off Chris Erskine for his daft challenge in the second half.
The Mexicans are being judged a little unfairly right now. Last night, they were brought on while we were chasing a win in a game where a lot of the team wasn’t playing well. They aren’t being given the chance to get into a game and get up to the speed of it in that sort of scenario. Pena showed good movement and a real threat, and Herrera worked hard to create chances. It’s fair to say that a few of our players weren’t great last night. As such, it’s difficult to ask players who aren’t fully integrated yet to make a difference. The match was physical and lacked a real rhythm in the second half last night. They did struggle to get up to the match speed, but that often happens with substitutes in a game like that.
Pedro Caixinha really needed a win last night to just ease a bit of pressure. We’re in a situation now where Aberdeen and Celtic will end up 5 points clear if they win today, as they’re expected to. Given that our form suggests a win against Celtic is unlikely next week, that gap could look rather big soon.
I wouldn’t write us off for next weekend yet, but it will take a better performance than we’ve shown in any of our games so far. The only way our first six games can be seen as a slow start rather than a poor one is by winning that game. We’re not favourites to do so.
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There would be a large number of seasons in our history, with far better squads than we have now, where we’ve started our first 6 games as inconsistently, or even worse than this. The problem is that we haven’t seen enough from the squad yet to suggest that we’ll go on a good run of wins later in the season. We need a big result soon to get some confidence flowing through the team.
We’ve let in far more goals than anyone would have expected. Some have been unlucky, but most have been down to individual errors. Caixinha will have to tighten up our defending overall to get the consistency we’re looking for.
The last talking point, and a big one for me, is that we yet again started the second half slowly. In our last few games, we seem to let the other team into it a little in those 10 or 15 minutes, even though we create a couple of chances ourselves. We have only started a second half 2 goals ahead in one game this season, so when Ross County did get a goal, we were still in control. I’d hope that the team has identified this issue by now, and will work towards sorting it. You expect the losing side to start at a high pace in the second half, but maybe some of our new players aren’t quite grasping just how high that tempo will be in Scottish football.
What do you feel was noteworthy from last night? Tweet us @rangersnewsuk and we’ll be happy to discuss!