By Duncan Wright
An ugly, horrible mess
Travelling through to Ibrox for Saturday’s fixture vs Dundee United it was clear the season was changing. The leaves on trees that had not already fallen, had transformed to golden orange and fearsome red. The temperature had an autumnal chill in the air and the light itself was more subdued than the heady summer days of August.
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It was August when Rusell Martin took charge of Rangers for the first time, overseeing a 1-1 draw with Dundee. It was a disappointing start for Martin and Rangers which got progressively worse and came to a head earlier this month when Martin was sacked following another 1-1defeat to newly promoted Falkirk.
Despite Martin’s sacking being announced twelve days ago, Rangers had failed to appoint a new manager before Saturday’s fixture and therefore youth team coach, and former player, Stephen Smith was asked to take interim charge. Just as nature was marking a change in the season, could Smith also begin the transformation of Rangers season?
Early indications suggested that the Rangers team had indeed turned over a new leaf. There was an urgency to their play and a desire to put Dundee United on the back foot from kick off. Oliver Antman and James Tavernier were combing well on the right-hand side and Gassman was providing a threat on the left. Smith had set Rangers up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Aasgaard playing in the number 10 role and he was revelling in it. Dropping into the space between the defence and midfield Aasgaard was at the centre of Rangers play in the first quarter of the game.
It seemed fitting that it was the Norwegian who opened the scoring. Picking the ball up just inside the opposition half he strode forward at pace, beat two defenders before cutting inside to rifle a shot into the top right-hand corner. It was an outstanding goal, which Rangers deserved after an extremely positive start to the game. Following the goal Rangers continued to play with a verve and vigour missing from their performances under Russell Martin and could, and perhaps should have, reached half time more than one goal to the good.
United managed Jim Goodwin admitted as much in his post-match press conference referencing both how well Rangers had played in the first half but also how poorly his own team had been. However, following a change of shape at half time, and one can assume some harsh words from Goodwin, the second half provided one of the most perfect examples of the adage “a game of two halves”.
The intensity and drive evident from Rangers in the first half were missing from the start of the second period. As has so often been the case this season individual players weren’t winning duels against their opposite number, opposition players were being given time on the ball and defensive frailties hidden in the shadows in the first half, come striding out to take centre stage.
The Dundee United equalizer came twenty minutes into the second half but had been on the cards since the teams had taken the pitch for the start of the second period. Just off the bench for United Trapanovski drilled a shot from the edge of the box past Butland. Ten minutes later and Rangers were 1-2 behind after a tremendous strike from Craig Sibbald. It was a great goal but the time and space he was given from the Rangers defence is something that we have seen on a regular basis this season.
It was rather surprising given the shift in balance in the game that Rangers did manage to fashion an equalizer. Good work from Connor Barron released Mikey Moore who cut the ball back to Tavernier to finish well. It was more than Rangers deserved in the second half and indeed they had Butland to thank two minutes later when he made a great save to stop Dundee United taking all three points.
When the final whistle came there was a general malaise around Ibrox. The players perhaps escaped leaving the field to boos due to an acceptance from the Rangers crowd that Stephen Smith the manager isn’t the cause of the massive problems within the club currently. There was some choice words directed towards the Rangers directors’ box, which contained among others Patrick Stewart and the pressure on Stewart and Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell is sure to increase in the coming days and weeks.
Rangers are simply, a mess. The positivity and excitement of the summer takeover have long been forgotten as the reality of another season without a league challenge takes hold. There will be a fear within and outside of Ibrox that second place may even be under threat this season. This Rangers team haven provided no evidence that they have the quality required to finish that high up the table.
Autumn can remind us that change is inevitable and can be beautiful and whilst there has been change at Ibrox in terms of ownership and manager, it’s been far from beautiful and indeed things look rather ugly at Ibrox currently. As Halloween approaches Rangers need to ensure this season doesn’t turn from ugly to a nightmare.