As Rangers failed to capitalise against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership, Philippe Clement was quick to defend his team.
Claiming that a draw – courtesy of a late James Tavernier penalty – was the least his side deserved, the Belgian was quick to point to xG and the side’s second half dominance.
But whilst this might all sound good inside the Rangers manager’s head, we’ve had the wool pulled over our eyes far too many times before with this squad.
You can dress this up any way you like, but what we saw at Pittodrie was the same old faces once again crumbling in the face of title pressure against Celtic.
The likes of Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun, James Tavernier, Borna Barisic and John Lundstram are all heralded as leaders in the squad but all came up short.
This was in many respects a dispiriting performance from a Rangers team who cannot rise to the pressure of occasion and who much prefer the freedom of comfortability.
When St Mirren roll up to Ibrox next weekend, expect a more fluent and comfortable Rangers side who don’t have the pressure of dropped Celtic points squeezing them from the stands.
That’s if a struggling Parkhead side don’t drop points away to St Johnstone before the match.
Aberdeen outfought stuttering Rangers
I do not count on this Rangers side capitalising on Celtic’s folly because they don’t have the mentality to go on and overtake them.
They much prefer cruising in second place and second gear. They do not like it when things are made uncomfortable for them.
This is a Rangers team who have the best training facilities in the country, who have the best wages in the country, and the best and biggest support in the county, but who cannot even match the intensity and commitment of our opponents on a weekly basis.
The reality is that Rangers had a genuine opportunity to apply the pressure on our Old Firm rivals who – to date – have been offered meek resistance by the leaders in this Rangers squad.
All of them, to a man, failed to deliver on that opportunity and Philippe Clement is about to find out very quickly that every point is a prisoner at Ibrox.
Our approach to this game was costly and almost disastrous.
Our two centre-backs couldn’t defend against the physicality of two strikers and the entire team, seemingly overawed by that world-class arena known as Pittodrie, slept on every second ball.
On a day when we are expecting our players to show up, stand up, be counted and go out and deliver, they started like a pub team hungover from the night before.
We should’ve been 2-0 down by 15 minutes.
Aberdeen were hungrier, more determined and but for the grace of VAR, belief in this Rangers team, at least in title terms, would’ve evaporated.
Philippe Clement is not blameless
For the first time, there is a genuine black mark against the management of Philippe Clement at Rangers.
The manager was late in making changes, kept several underperforming stars on the field, and at full-time appeared to make peace with the fact that a draw was enough.
It wasn’t and it isn’t.
On a weekend when Rangers had the chance to ramp up the pressure on a Celtic at odds on and off the park, we failed. We handed the momentum right back to them.
Clement might talk about marathons and sprints, but for us used to the idiosyncrasies of Scottish football we know that this was a huge opportunity blown.
If Rangers cannot go to Pittodrie and defeat Aberdeen then they are not worthy of title victory and all that good feeling around the club has just once again been popped in our faces.
And no less by the same players who have proven time and again incapable of rising to the pressure.
The late show against Hearts came with many believing the title was already out of reach. The match with Aberdeen was a chance to properly kickstart a race to May.
The jury remains out on so many of these so-called leaders in the Rangers squad and it will until we start seeing reliable performances and consistent results in the face of pressure.
Say whatever you like about the xG, the performance, the chances or even the late goal.
For me, this was just the latest example of a weak-willed Rangers outfit struggling with the pressure of expectation at Ibrox.
