Barry Ferguson has brought a sense of pride back to Rangers ever since replacing Philippe Clement.
But it’s been anything but plain sailing for the former Rangers captain, who once again had to ring changes in order for his Rangers team to turn things around in a match.
Rangers were sucker-punched by Dundee and fell 2-0 down in the Scottish Premiership clash at Dens Park before they could even blink.
Whilst the Rangers team deserve credit for hauling themselves back into the match not once but twice, having fallen 3-1 behind before going on to win 4-3, recent performances are a cause for concern for Rangers fans.
With Barry Ferguson hoping to convince the club’s prospective new US owners that he is the man to take Rangers forward, it’s a big cause for concern for the interim Rangers manager too.
We reckon that both the comeback victory at Kilmarnock and the one at Dundee probably don’t happen under Clement, with Jack Butland pointing to Ferguson’s hairdryer before the match.
But with the interim gaffer at a loss as to how his team are starting matches so poorly, he’s starting to sound a lot like his Belgian predecessor.
Barry Ferguson ‘didn’t see Dundee drama coming’
Barry Ferguson was asked why his team once again started on the back foot as Rangers travelled to Dundee.
This is the fifth time in seven games that Rangers have gone two behind in matches and Ferguson admits his team failed to match Dundee’s physicality in the first 45, despite repeated warnings from the coaching staff.
”Again the way we started, they were told, they were warned,” Ferguson explained to Sky Sports.
”You have to be really be physical and match your opponents individually and collectively and we never done that in the first half.
”So again I have to go and make changes. I have to make changes to the shape.
”Yes it makes a difference but I shouldn’t have to do that and that’s the thing that is frustrating me.”
Asked why the situation continues to happen, Ferguson ominously repeated a mantra which was popular with Philippe Clement before he was sacked.
”I need to get to the bottom of that and I will get to the bottom of it,” said Ferguson.
“I didn’t see it coming. Again, maybe I’m maybe guilty of thinking it was all rosy in the garden.”
Philippe Clement was also blind to Rangers’ issues
By all accounts Philippe Clement is a talented manager but he struggled with the need to be adaptable to win matches at Rangers.
Speaking after a shock 2-1 defeat to St Mirren in December, a result that left Rangers 12 points behind in the title race, the Belgian uttered the same immortal words as Ferguson. He didn’t see it coming either.
“I didn’t see that one coming after the consistency the team showed in the last two months,” Clement told Sky Sports after the game.
It’s not the only time that Clement said this line before being sacked.
Despite falling to defeat against the same opposition two months later at Ibrox, a 2-1 loss to St Mirren which ultimately cost Clement his job, the Belgian also didn’t see his team’s collapse coming then.
“We were by far the worst I’ve seen in all the time I’ve been here,” Clement told BBC Sport. “I didn’t see this one coming – this nervousness, everyone below par almost all game.
“We were not what Rangers should be. I saw the team drifting apart in islands. That’s not been the case in the past. In the first place, it’s my responsibility.”
Whatever way you look at, the comments of both Clement and Ferguson suggest that there are deep-rooted issues within the squad which are not forming part of the public conversation at Auchenhowie.
There’s no doubt it’s a player issue. There’s also no doubt Ferguson has improved matters significantly.
But unless the interim Rangers manager can get to the bottom of it soon, he might not see the new US owners decision to opt for someone else coming either.
