Underwhelming, a polite description of the season so far

Underwhelming.

The polite way to describe the first part of the season.

So much hope. The promise of a proper transfer kitty and shiny new players. The promise of change and ultimately, the feeling of being let down.

Cast your mind back to pre season. Three losses and one victory at home to Hamburg left us with questions over the style of play. We all said ‘give it time’ – an allowance in pre season was perhaps fair at the time.

Michael Beale wanted to play European style teams to prepare the squad for the Champions League qualifiers, but perhaps a different approach and a few victories would have allowed the team to build momentum coming into the new season? Just a thought.

Sterling, Sima, Dowell, Lammers, Dessers, Balogun, Danilo, Cifuentes & Butland joined the club this transfer window. We were all pleased we got our business done early, with many praising the board in being more proactive about their business this time round. However, fast forward a matter of weeks, it’s not unreasonable to suggest the only success at this point has been Jack Butland.

The weight of the jersey can be too heavy for some.

Something that irks me is that lack of a Scottish identity in our team. I recently went to the rangers review live night at Edmiston House where Barry Ferguson was the guest – I know, he splits the support. He spoke about the derby, walking out in front of the ibrox support and his desire to ensure that WE went to work with the bragging rights come Monday.

I’m not sure what our recruitment policy is but in my opinion, this snobbery that other Scottish players aren’t good enough to play at rangers is nonsense. I’m all for building a squad for Europe but your bread and butter is the league. It’s all that matters!

What I will say though, three out of our back four is the same as it was five years ago. An ageing & frail defensive line needed some improvement this window and it has badly been neglected. In the 13 games played thus far, 20 goals conceded and 2 clean sheets doesn’t make good reading. We’ve witnessed some embarrassing mistakes of late. I’ve said to Stevie before, I’m a big fan of Souttar, but he’s costing us goals regularly. A left sided CB must be a priority. Its needs shored up. And fast!

We were full of optimism for the opening game of the season at Rugby Park, only to be outfought in every area of the pitch and slump to a 1-0 defeat. There’s no mistaking, Derek McInnes had his side well organised – his players weren’t scared to leave a bit on us in the tackle either.

Unfortunately, we didn’t look like we had the stomach for the fight.

Our most convincing display of the season came at home to Livingston in between two 3rd round qualifiers against Servette. A good league performance sandwiched between two questionable displays in Europe left us all with legitimate concerns.

The lack of width is something we’ve all spoken about but the lack of a serious goal threat is more of a worry. I’m yet to be convinced that we’ve replaced Morelos (or Côlak for that matter) and the goals they brought to the team.

A £6m marquee signing sitting on the bench has raised many an eyebrow (no botox jokes please) – I’m struggling to get my head around it.

PSV still fills me with anger for the manner of the defeat in Eindhoven. Excuses made about a gulf in class and yes, we were outclassed, particularly away from home. But losing a goal a minute after scoring is unforgivable and again, questions were raised over the back four. Rightly so.

If we want change, that back line needs to be fixed.

Michael Beale needed to win at home against them. You’ll never see a poorer Celtic defence at Ibrox. A derby victory would’ve given the players confidence and given the support something to shout about. Instead, we were presented with a lacklustre performance.

Misplaced passes, no movement, no pace, no guile, and, for the second game in a row, completely overrun in the middle of the park. We were disjointed on Sunday. No workable press. When we did press, it was at the wrong time, disjointed and easily picked off. Sitting so deep you’d think we were playing with 10 men away from home.

Too many players anonymous. Yes, some decisions didn’t go our way but let’s be honest, Lammers missed an open goal and we had 13 shots on goal. The concern is that only 3 of them were on target.

Who’s our biggest goal threat at the moment?

I’d challenge any one of you to tell me what exactly our playing style is?

The booing from the stands when Roofe was substituted was as clear a sign as you’ll get that the manager had, at that moment, lost the support. The very toxic atmosphere at full time tells you everything you need to know about how we’re feeling, with many leaving incandescent at what they’d just been subjected to.

The display in the stand better than the display on the park, not for the first time.

The manager deemed the criticism of Tav harsh. I expect he’ll defend his players in the media, but week in, week out, we see the same mistakes. The same poor corners, not passing the first man. It stinks of ‘my baw’ that he’s on every set piece. Yes, his stats are great – I’m not disputing that. But first and foremost. I want my RB to defend and he’s being found out far too often, in fact he is being targeted.

To simply reply ‘yeah’ when asked if he was happy with his level of performance is unforgivable in the eyes of many in the support.

He’s not the player he once was. The continued criticism of his captaincy won’t fade. Trundling out the same old interviews, we know it’s disappointing. DO BETTER!

For comparison, Butland’s post match interview after the the hiding in Holland was almost a breath of fresh air. Eloquent, analytical and honest. “Can we? Yes. Did we tonight? No.”

It’s clear he is a real leader in the group.

We’ve found ourselves in a European competition we know well, with a reasonable chance of finishing top of the group. A spicy double header against Sparta Prague in the middle will likely decide our fate and we should be ready for the battle.

We’ll back the team as always, but, there will come a point when something has to give if performances and results don’t improve soon.

A favourable draw in the league cup in which Rangers essentially have a free hit at after they dropped out at Rugby Park. With the final on 17th December, a trophy before the second derby of the season would do much to settle some of us. It has to be a priority for the manager.

Big changes have come around in the boardroom this season. The appointment of John Bennett and James Bisgrove was warmly welcomed and yet, we feel no further forward.

Michael Beale was promised money – announcing that he’d spent £13m on 9 players. With around £12.5m brought in for Kamara, Côlak, Sakala and the £1m for Tillman I’d argue that’s not backing the manager.

To me, that’s balancing the books.

We’ve seen improvements around the stadium. NEH and the museum have been good additions, despite over budget. The new sports bar in the site of the old shop, new restaurants, self service kiosks, a pulley system for tifos, the apparent openness to safe standing – great!

James Bisgrove needs to understand that none of that matters if the team don’t perform on the park. For many, there will still be a question mark over his past decision making – we haven’t forgotten. As for our new chairman, John Bennett delivered a ‘best in class’ lecture to the support and has since been posted missing, when will he speak to the support?

Will the board double down and ride the storm or will the Chairman and CEO speak out prior to the upcoming fan forum which, I believe, is next scheduled for November.

Ibrox can be an unforgiving place when things aren’t going to plan. Michael Beale has yet to convince the support with a win in a big game and the pressure will only grow. He’s lost the backing of many after Sunday’s performance, no excuses.

His team. His tactics.

And on Sunday, it was wrong. 9 different starting 11’s in the last 9 games. Does he know his best 11? This will be a long fortnight before St Johnstone.

We all bought into Beale after he was part of the team who brought the league title back to Ibrox. But remember, that management team won 1 out of 9 domestic trophies. The rumours of a replacement have begun and that doesn’t paint a favourable picture for the manager. The support will not settle for mediocrity. 

Can he turn it around? 6 points from 4 league games is a dreadful start to a league campaign which had so much promise. He simply cannot afford to fall further behind. He must find his best 11 quickly and install a proper identity. We have five games in the month of September and arguably, nothing other than a clean sweep will begin to persuade the support that he’s the right man for the job, if that’s even possible.

This is Rangers. 117 trophies. We demand the best. We demand high standards. Anything less is completely unacceptable.