Former Celtic star Davie Provan has slammed Rangers in his Scottish Sun column.
As we all know, Rangers slumped to a disappointing Old Firm defeat last Sunday.
Unlike in the previous two derbies at Ibrox, they never made it out of the blocks, with Steven Gerrard’s tactics as well as player performances, rightly coming under scrutiny.
Coming so quickly after the rousing Europa League Qualifying win over Legia Warsaw, it halted the Gers momentum heading into the international break.
Provan claims it’s done more than just that, though.
Rangers one defeat from crisis?
“Rangers’ pathetic performance was among the worst in the recent history of this fixture,” he wrote in the Scottish Sun. “Gerrard had two centre-backs who couldn’t make a forward pass, a clueless midfield and a striker playing in a different postcode to his team-mates.”
“Carrying the weight of expectation for the first time, Gers crumbled. Early days, but the defeat leaves Gerrard one league loss from a crisis.”
Verdict
The Rangers players and manager left themselves open to criticism by the way they went about things last weekend.
Provan is sensational in his language when discussing the performance, but he isn’t far wrong. The Gers offered next to nothing in attack and never looked like taking the game by the scruff of the neck.
It was a huge chance to make a statement, and they did anything but.
However, to state that Rangers are one league loss from a crisis, is over the top.
A crisis suggests major performance issues at the club, which, are not borne out by results so far this season. Rangers made it through eight European qualifying matches without falling behind, they won their first three league matches and they are still in the League Cup.
The defeat to Celtic was poor and disappointing, but it was the first blemish in an otherwise perfect start to the season.
Sure, if the Gers were to lose to Livingston next weekend, or lose any one of their next three or four league matches, they would have some serious making up to do.
It definitely wouldn’t be a crisis, though.
It’s paramount that the players ignore this sort of sensational speculation and concentrate on getting back to winning ways, as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
