As Rangers fans gear up to return to Ibrox after that crushing 3-0 blow at Celtic Park, mentality has been one of the buzzwords of the week.
As the Ibrox side crumbled under the first-half discolights fans have been left licking their wounds and trying to hide their blushed cheeks all around Glasgow and beyond ever since.
Rangers were a side unstoppable come the end of last season and one which has shown a blunted edge ever since the game kicked back off for this one.
But whilst the managerial turnaround and lack of fresh investment remain major talking points, it’s the post winter break seven-point meltdown that has the players’ mental strength amongst the biggest targets in the firing line.
Perspective is massively important; this is a team who’ve lost only twice in 62 league matches and who broke defensive records in the last campaign, impressing as a general on the European stage over the last four seasons.
Rangers mentality remains in focus after Celtic defeat
They are not a bad team even if form has been uninspiring or van Bronckhorst’s tactics/the players’ application of them at time leaving supporters’ scratching their heads.
Celtic too have improved sharply under their new manager, albeit with the help of gargantuan investment that dwarfs the rest of the league.
More than a few of us have been guilty of the same complacency that saw our rivals fall much harder last year than we did on Wednesday and our own indulgence has at the very least partly motivated their celebrations.
But the sudden post-Winter break meltdown of the now van Bronckhorst side has thrown up those same questions of mentality that came out of Steven Gerrard’s first two seasons in charge.
Rangers were neck-and-neck with Celtic heading into the second half of both those campaigns and in the early matches of the restart we saw the team’s bottle crash and fans left heartbroken.
It’s little wonder – after shipping six goals in two games and seven points out of 12 – some are asking if this is third time unlucky?
Time for some Rangers stars to have Last Dance
There are differences of course; Rangers are anything but out of the title race even if currently uninspiring and an improvement in form keeps pressure on a threadbare one-point lead.
This is also a different management team who don’t owe these players anything, with their own necks already been led to the chopping block by some as nerves rise and form continues to flail.
The team have also overcome these complaints in the past and – for so long as we retain the crown – are the undisputed Scottish Champions.
Rangers have also not been helped by conjecture around players who want to be here and those that don’t and the almost inevitable feeling of something of a freshen up in the summer.
This is perhaps the Last Dance for real for many of those players who talked about the Chicago Bulls series last season.
For so many players their futures not only at Rangers but elsewhere – should that be the case – may well hinge on how they come out of this spell and react to the pressure.
The questions of mentality remain whether we’re the ones asking and the Rangers team are the only ones who can answer them, for their own good as much as ours.
Rangers fans will be eager to see their side bounce back against Hearts and here is how we’re backing the Bears to line up.
