Magic wand required

To start, I don’t want this to come across as just the usual diatribe simply because Rangers didn’t win a game on Sunday.

There was the perfect opportunity to close the gap at the top of the league against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, unfortunately we failed to take the chance.

Rangers started slowly, giving the home team a few chances in a mess of a first half. Aberdeen scored early on, with that most basic of moves. A long ball, a flick on and Miovski striking a fine finish into the bottom corner before Jack Butland had the chance to set himself properly.

Rangers huffed and puffed, hit the woodwork a couple of times in the second half, ultimately equalising in injury time via a clear penalty for a tug on Connor Goldson’s shirt. James Tavernier struck the ball straight down the middle and Rangers left the granite city with a share of the spoils.

Should Rangers have won the game? Yes, probably.

We had three or four clear opportunities to score, but a combination of bad finishing, luck and decent goalkeeping meant Rangers have now failed to beat a very poor Aberdeen side in the last three matches against them.

The issue here is that this is all too predicable from this squad of players.

Given a real chance to put pressure on our nearest rivals, once again appeared to buckle under the weight of being a team that needs to put their title contending rivals under any actual pressure.

More often than not in recent years, the trend has seen a failure to take advantage of any slip ups. When the pressure is on, there’s been a failure to grasp the importance of closing the gap at the top of the league.

I think the worrying part of that is that no one is especially surprised when the league leaders drop points, then this team does exactly the same the day after.

On the last 4 lads podcast, I mentioned that I felt Philippe Clement had changed the mentality of the players at the club. Having witnessed Sundays performance, I’m not so sure about that.

Rangers is a club at a crossroads.

Philippe Clement will need significant help when it comes to bringing players in. The clubs record in the transfer market of late has been incredibly poor. That has to change, starting in January.

We had a four million pound signing sitting on the bench on Sunday. He didn’t get on when it clearly wasn’t happening for Danilo. That’s a major concern for all of us.

A three and a half million pound summer signing came off the bench only to miss a sitter in the last minute of the game.

Out of nine signings in the summer, how many of us can honestly say (Butland and Danilo aside) have improved this Rangers team? Not many of us, I suspect.

That is where the last transfer window has left Rangers. Players have been brought in that haven’t improved the first eleven, and with so little flexibility in regards to finance, getting the right players in, with the mental strength to play for Rangers is imperative

This is where Philippe Clement needs to be the manager we all hope he is. Rangers can’t go on wasting opportunities to close the gap at the top and the habitual failure of a large number of this squad only heightens the frustration we all feel.

We’ve seen this scenario unfold so many times over the years. Time and again, this squad has failed to take the chances given to them. This is a recurring theme. This isn’t one game in isolation I’m talking about. This is a mentality issue with this squad of players. That team should’ve flown out the traps on Sunday. The fact it didn’t and Aberdeen did tells us perhaps it’s a psychological problem. This was the chance to close the gap, put our rivals under real pressure and gain even further momentum.

To have the opportunity to reduce the gap to six points with a game in hand would’ve left Celtic knowing they had no more room for error as Rangers would’ve been right on their tails. I’ve seen this tired old movie once too often. It’s become really tedious to watch. It’s as predictable as night following day.

That back four on Sunday consisted of Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, and Barisic. Bar one season, that defence has proven itself not to be good enough, so what makes any of us believe it’ll all of a sudden produce title winning performances?

Fresh ideas and fresh faces are needed. The influence of some members of that team has concerned me a number of times over the years.

There’s a weakness in this team. When the pressure is cranked up, they tend to fail to deliver when it really matters.

The only positive that came out of yet another damaging result is that perhaps Philippe Clement might catch on to the notion that some of these guys have been at the club for too long.

Make no mistake. If he has to rely on the same faces over and over again, he will end up carrying the can for their weak mentality.

It’ll be interesting to see if a new Director of Football or Technical Director is brought in before the AGM as if not, I would expect them to be asked about what the delay is in doing so.

What happened in the summer when Michael Beale had autonomy on the signings shouldn’t be allowed to happen again.

The job of being the first team manager at a club the size of ours is big enough without being extended help in areas where positive assistance can be given.

Rangers don’t have an abundance of cash where they can get too many signings wrong or take too many gambles. Getting the right players in to improve the team is of paramount improtance. Especially now, after the summer transfer window the club had.

I fully understand that most fans will be glass half full kind of people. At the moment, I’m not that guy.

I’ve just got to the point where I see no end to this. The new manager has to be aware that fans’ patience is wearing thin, as we’ve had the core of this squad through some good times and plenty of bad times. That they can’t get over the line when they really need to is not lost on anyone. This is not a title winning squad. This is a group of players that have maintained a level of performance over the years that suggests it’s fair to question them.

This isn’t on the new manager. It isn’t on previous managers either. This is on the players themselves. It’s a mindset. Some players have ran their race, while others honestly look shot to pieces at times. I think there’s a few faces that most fans simply don’t want to see anymore, and a freshenss is needed.

I think there’s eight or nine players out of contract in the summer. That may well allow for a freshness to occur organically, but it will be interesting to see what Clement is looking for in January, when his first tranfer window as Rangers manager opens.

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but when players are being asked to go to the well fifty and sixty times a season, year in year out, well, legs end up being shot to pieces. I think we are witnessing that right now with a few of the key players in this team. Six seasons of playing twice a week must fry you mentally and physically.

If Rangers are serious about being the number one club in Scotland, serious decisions need to be made. Bring a Director of Football in to help the manager and let them get on with changing the football infrastructure. Player trading will need to happen in January, but I’m confident Philippe Clement is the man to get Rangers charging in the right direction.

Two trophies in twelve years is nowhere near good enough for a club like Rangers. It never has been, nor should it ever be. Everyone connected to the club, from top to bottom, has to have the same purpose. That purpose has to be winning titles and trophies. It’s the most important thing at any football club, especially one that has been as successful as Rangers.

Standards have been slipping, I feel. There’s a mentality problem. Rangers dropping points at Pittodrie isn’t the biggest concern. It’s the realisation that it isn’t a surprise to anyone that’s the issue. In all honestly, I just don’t see this team has much left. They’ve given they’re all, and they don’t have much more to give.

The sad reality is so much money was wasted in the summer that Rangers will need to wheel and deal before they can bring fresh players in during the January transfer window.

A new Director of Football and a smart manager with a plan to improve the team will give me encouragement going forward, but the signing policy from here on in has to be way better than it has been.

Otherwise opportunities like Sunday will continue to exist and repeat.