In the space of a week, Rangers have played two Premiership games with a very different output and outcome in each one. The impressive displays at Ibrox are much needed on the road, making dropped points like at Hibs last week all the more frustrating.
After the first five league games, three of those have been comfortable wins at Ibrox, yielding 10 goals score with none conceded. On the road it has been a win and a draw with four scored and three lost.
A breakthrough Champions League away win, as was witnessed in Eindhoven during the week should be the catalyst for a different dynamic away from Ibrox, especially in the Premiership when there is no need to limit attacking intent.
Each game presents its different challenges but the setup for some games has been far too conservative and in the case of last week at Leith, the application was nowhere near good enough. Too many chances were passed up in the first half then the madness descended with the two red cards and the misery confirmed with Hibs late equaliser.
In spells, Rangers two home games prior to Saturday were OK with decent spells in both. That was against opposition content to sit very deep in a familiar pattern but its up to Rangers to find a way.
That is exactly what Gio van Bronckhorst’s team did on Saturday against Ross County who had no answers once the hosts went in front through Antonio Colak. They never looked back and it was a joy to watch. With only John Lundstram ‘holding’, Tom Lawrence, Scott Wright, Malik Tillman, Ryan Kent and the Croatian striker were fluid in attack and importantly hurting the Staggies.
That is the approach we need to see more of, particularly in games like Hibs last week.
Reflecting on a better tempo set by his team in the 4-0 win, GvB stated:
“We had a great result on Wednesday, we were on a high and of course, very positive because we’re going to play in the Champions League but we had to switch back to the domestic league and it’s all about the start.”
“Keeping the standards you want and the same way of playing every game. When you start games like this you will never drop your level. We reached a really high level today and the goals we scored were of a very high level, with the movement we showed.”
If Rangers can match that level with consistency, the rewards will be plenty. More of the same please!