When the season began, you would never have thought Livingston v Rangers would be such an important game. Few would’ve thought visiting the home of the newly promoted side would be such a challenging prospect either.
We travel to the Tony Macaroni Arena on Sunday desperately needing the three points having just dropped three at Rugby Park. When it comes to ramping up the pressure, it appears we just can’t help ourselves.
Winning this is not exactly a given either – we were beaten in Livingston last September.
The Lothian side also took points off Celtic on their home patch in an impressive first half of the season.
Not only that, but we were truly abysmal in the second half against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night.
Killie took advantage of two rookie mistakes and there wasn’t an ounce of gumption mustered between the Rangers team thereafter. No one taking responsibility, everyone on a completely different wave length.
Change of system played it’s part when pressure mounted
That falls at the feet of the manager. Looking to accommodate Morelos and Defoe, Gerrard shifted to from his usual 4-3-3 to a diamond. It’s hard to see the Rangers manager changing it any time soon either.
We may well be forcing square pegs into round holes until they fit, and if they don’t get crammed in sooner rather than later, Gerrard will be answerable. Who knows, it might eventually prove a masterstroke.
As a result of Killie’s industrious victory, they overleaped us in the table. We now sit in third on goal difference, tied on points with Aberdeen who sit in fourth.
This is a Rangers team who’ve been riding high after beating Celtic in December. Plaudits aplenty, there was even talk of a title challenge.
Last night has raised questions of whether or not we have such a thing in us.
To get back to winning ways, is this the XI and system the fans want for Livingston v Rangers on Sunday?
