Rangers’ win against St Mirren was huge, important, and morale-boosting for the club yesterday.
After a shocking week in which they failed to win any of their last three games, Rangers needed the three points. Daniel Candeias and Alfredo Morelos strikes were enough to down the Paisley outfit.
The importance of that victory couldn’t be understated. With Celtic seemingly motoring once more, it’s so important for Rangers to cling onto their coat-tails and remain in the hunt. Fans want to be challenging Celtic, and only victories will do that.
Steven Gerrard came out post-match and praised his players for the performance. He stated that the players showed a good reaction to a tough week, and therefore deserve credit. Speaking to the press after the match, Gerrard said the following:
“We asked the players to step up and take responsibility and they’ve done that.
“They never give up and even though we’ve had a frustrating week it’s not been through lack of trying – we just haven’t had that run of the ball or the quality to break sides down.
“We’ve got a good group of lads, who understand the week we’ve had and we’re all on board in trying to put that right and they’ve done that I thought they were terrific, especially second half.”
Performances have to be better
This was likely just soundbites to the press in order to protect his players. There can simply be no way that Gerrard was satisfied with the overall display in yesterday’s win.
Rangers continued to look lethargic and out of ideas going forward. Supporters were growing restless and the players were struggling under that pressure. Candeias’ goal spared blushes in that respect, but it was another dodgy display in Paisley.
This Rangers side has the quality to break opposition sides down regularly. They showed that during the early stages of the campaign and have struggled to replicate it recently.
Rangers’ players deserve credit for digging in and staying on the front foot against St Mirren. But you expect that from them – they’re Rangers players after all.
The performance levels from far too many individuals yesterday wasn’t up to par once more. Scott Arfield, Eros Grezda, and Ovie Ejaria have to be doing more with the ball to name a few.
Football can be fickle. When teams get a goal or two after a poor display, it’s easy to label it a good performance. What we saw in Paisley yesterday wasn’t a good display, but it was a big, big win.
Going forward, Rangers have to improve their performance levels. They got away with it against a woeful St Mirren team, but Spartak likely won’t be so generous on Thursday night. Rangers have a chance to make history, and need to raise their performance levels to seize the moment.
