A Tale of Two Teams
After a fast-paced start to life as Rangers manager Gio seemed to hit the same slump that plagued his predecessor Steven Gerrad throughout his run as Rangers manager. The curse of the winter break.
A near perfect start was interrupted, prematurely, after a win at Ibrox vs. St Mirren and following the restart the performances had been horrendous to say the least.
Draws away to Aberdeen and Ross County sandwiched a poor performance, albeit victory, at home to Livingston and questions had started to be asked of the team.
Why were we starting two holding midfielders in games against lesser opposition? Why were we trying to hold on to slender 1 goal leads instead of pushing for the kill?
The Old Firm
Then came the Old Firm. I think most of us were pleased with the team selection, it was what we had anticipated and hoped for.
What we didn't account for though was the tactics. For some reason when starting 2 attacking midfielders, in Joe Aribo and Scott Arfield, we chose to sit in and absorb pressure.
This wasn't the selection for that tactic.
Especially given our frailties in defence the last game.
The midfield was overrun, the defenders looked shell shocked and our attackers just couldn't get into the game.
It was always going to be a big atmosphere, and that meant we needed our stronger characters to stand up and be counted, to lead by example, unfortunately this was lacking.
Players weren't going in for 50/50's with the thought they would come away with the ball. There wasn't any emphasis to get the ball forward, more often than not the simple backwards pass being the chosen option.
Things changed in the 2nd half, it could be down to the subs (which I think Gio does deserve some credit for in admitting that he got it wrong instead of pursuing with the starting 11 out of stubbornness) or it could have been down to that lot tiring, but either way it was too late.
We went into halftime 3-0 down, and for a team that admitted previously that they knew a game was over when 3-1 down at HT to Hibs there would have been very few of us expecting to see them come back 3-0 down in the east end.
After such a lacklustre display many fans were starting to seriously question Gio, his tactics, his appointment and Ross Wilson. I've been an advocate for Gio since before Gerrad was appointed, so I wasn't quite there after a few bad games, but I did start to acknowledge that if I was wrong, I would have to admit it.
What I did find strange though was a lot of the fan base seemed to forget how bad we were prior to Gerrard leaving.
This was not a team playing like they had the previous season. That had bought a lot of grace, but quite honestly the wolves were at the door in Sept/Oct for Gerrard too.
One thing can't be denied though, it wasn't good enough, we'd allowed a 6-point cushion erode into a 1-point deficit and a big performance was needed against Hearts.
Hearts
And a big performance we received.
I questioned pre-match the decision to go back to two holding midfielders, saying I hoped to be wrong. I was. The team were brilliant.
John Lundstram, who regular readers will know I'm an advocate for also, was only pipped to the MOTM in my eyes by the returning Buffalo.
It was a joy to watch. Ryan Jack was back to his best, although unfortunately was the recipient of a bad tackle right in front of Collum that went unpunished and will now miss Hibs.
Kent showed that when he is on it he can be the best player in Scotland, and this match he was on it. Bassey had a good game at LB, a couple of minor mistakes but also some really good play and his pass to Kent for the first goal was simply unreal and if it had been Scott Allen making that pass, we'd no doubt be seeing a new award produced for it.
Even the subs were brilliant. Kamara seemed to morph into Diego Maradona for his goal and Fashion Sakala did his best Morelos impression after taking his goal brilliantly.
The highlight for me though was seeing Aaron Ramsey stepping on to the Ibrox pitch in a Rangers shirt for the first time. Finally, I had a Welsh hero playing for my club.
It was the response we needed, but it doesn't end there. We're in a real title race and every game for us now is a cup final after letting that lead erode. We have no margin for error currently.
Hibs
That brings us to tonight's game against Hibs. The only change was an enforced one, with Kamara coming in for Jack, and you can't fault the selection after how the team played on Sunday.
The first half was a dominant display again from the Gers, Kent winning a penalty early on that James Tavernier converted down the middle. Kent should have also had a 2nd penalty midway through the half when he was pushed over in the box but Nick Walsh was clearly too scared to give a 2nd .
Arfield also had the ball in the back of the net from a looping header, but unfortunately ruled offside. It was great to see him pushing so far up again, and its little wonder he has 33 goals so far in his Rangers career.
Despite All Rangers dominance they went in at halftime only 1-0 up and a second goal was needed to settle the nerves. It was also disappointing to see Balogun go off injured but it gave Barisic a chance to come in and hopefully reset himself after a disappointing Old Firm.
Unfortunately I don't feel he took it he looks a shadow of his former self. A meek, timid player who struggles with even short, safe passes now. Maybe Annan will come at the right time for him.
Fortunately the much needed 2nd goal came, with James Tavernier slipping in Alfie, who buried a lovely finish to continue his lovely run of form under Gio.
Ultimately the game was over then, Rangers riding out the game to take the 3 points. There were some great displays from John Lundstram (again) and Ryan Kent, even though he does frustrate me with his inability to curl a shot, instead opting to rifle it in a straight diagonal line each time.
These last two games have been the response that we've been looking for and with each left being vitally important it's nice to see off two tricky fixtures in style, without really being troubled.
Now on to Annan in the cup, where I imagine we'll see a much changed team.
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