Rangers Find Foothold After Chaotic Start to Season
Rangers finally found a foothold, but it has taken far too long.
The opening weeks of the season have been a mess: sluggish recruitment, a European campaign that barely merited the name, and Derek McInnes shuffling line-ups, systems and substitutions like a manager searching in the dark. It has looked chaotic, disjointed, and well short of the standards expected at Ibrox.
Against Aberdeen on Sunday, something resembling order finally emerged.
A team that looked like a team
This was the version of Rangers McInnes will have had in his head from the first day of pre-season. Not spectacular. Not free-flowing. But solid. Functional. Reliable.
They were compact without the ball, more coherent in their pressing, and far less vulnerable to the kind of basic errors that have plagued them. When the pressure came, they stood up to it. When the game needed managing, they managed it. They got over the line with a performance built on structure rather than chaos.
For a club in their current state, that matters. This has to be a foundation, not a freak occurrence.
Kim and Gassama offer a spark
In attack, only two players really rose above the grey.
Kim Min-Su played as though he wanted the entire operation to run through him. He showed for the ball, demanded it in tight areas, and tried to knit Rangers’ play together. He looked like a fulcrum, not a passenger.
Out wide, Djeidi Gassama brought energy and intent. Lively on the ball, direct in his running, he at least carried a threat and gave Aberdeen something to think about. In a forward line that has too often been flat and predictable, those two offered signs of life.
It is a start, nothing more, but McInnes will cling to those attacking flashes as he waits for help from the transfer market.
No controversy in the key calls
The noise online arrived right on schedule after Kevin Nisbet’s disallowed goal, but the officiating on the big moments stood up to scrutiny.
Referee Matthew MacDermid handled the key incidents with authority. In the case of Nisbet’s chalked-off effort, there were two clear issues: a shove on Dujon Sterling and an offside. Either one would have been enough; together, they made the decision straightforward. The goal was rightly ruled out.
In a season already simmering with frustration, the temptation is always to see conspiracy. On this occasion, the controversy is contrived.
Window ticking, work mounting
The win brings comfort and a measure of calm, but it does not disguise the scale of the job still facing Rangers.
Falkirk away on Wednesday now becomes a test of whether this display was the start of a trend or just a rare moment of clarity in a muddled month. The performance against Aberdeen has to be built on, sharpened, and repeated. Anything less, and the anxiety returns.
Off the pitch, the to-do list is obvious. The club have been heavily linked with a striker. They still need another right winger. Two midfielders are also on the agenda. That is a significant volume of business for this stage of the window, and every delay shows on the pitch.
Rangers are some distance from the level required, and everyone inside the club knows it. Sunday brought a glimpse of what they could be. The question now is whether recruitment and resolve can turn that glimpse into the new normal before this season slips away from them.
