Rangers fans will be hoping that a new team emerges on the other side of the international break after serving up a horror show at Parkhead.
Philippe Clement was already under pressure after failing to qualify for the Champions League and ending the transfer window with a squad that still has issues.
What fans will be glad to see though is the sight of Nedim Bajrami in a Rangers shirt with the playmaker keeping himself sharp on international duty with Albania.
Nedim Bajrami makes Albania impression after Rangers transfer
Unfortunately, the 25-year old was deployed on the left wing rather than his preferred number 10 role, but this is what we learned as Albania overcame early pressure to see of Ukraine.
Bajrami is very good technically.
In the first half, Albania spent most of their time sitting in their own half and trying to absorb pressure.
This meant that Bajrami was backing up his left back and covering runners.
Unlike Rabbi Matondo against Celtic, their were no lapses of concentration and he stuck to his task diligently.
With possession at a minimum, Albania needed their main men to keep a hold of it when they did have the ball.
Bajrami was excellent at this.
What he also demonstrated was his ability kill rogue passes stone dead.
Several times he had to deal with rushed passes at chest and waist height but not once did he lose the ball and turn possession over.
In the final third, on the rare occasion he did get the ball, Bajrami showed the type of composure that js long been missing from Rangers attack.
There were no rushed or over hit passes and he moved the ball intelligently including a perfectly hit through ball that was fired into the side netting.
Despite being picked on the wing, Bajrami was clearly looking to get involved in the middle of the park.
Similar to how Rangers played under Steven Gerrard, Bajrami operated in an almost left-sided number 10 role, drifting inside and between the lines looking to cause Ukraine problems.
It wasn’t a great game to get an idea of what Bajrami is capable of seeing as he was playing out of position, but it gave an idea of what the Albania is capable of on a technical level.
Bajrami set to add to Rangers forward line quality
The more good players that Rangers have in the forward line, the better.
With Oscar Cortés on one side and Vaclav Cerny on the other, having Bajrami in the middle pulling the strings could make a real difference to the quality of chances being created.
When Rangers signed Bajrami, his international different league experience was obviously an attractive proposition for recruitment director Nils Koppen:
“We are delighted to welcome Nedim to Rangers and Scottish football.
“He has a lot of experience having played in the Swiss league and Serie A in recent years as well as representing his country at the Euros.
“He will further enhance the options we have available to the manager and we feel he can be a success at the football club.”
Bajrami is exactly the right type of experience that Clement needs in his squad.
With 27-caps, he has represented his country for a few years as well as competing against elite opposition in Italy.
He still has time to develop and mature into his peak which means that, if he is as good as Rangers hope, he could make the club a profit on their £3.4m investment.
