£1.5M man can help turn Rangers back around

So it’s the morning/afternoon after the afternoon before, and there’s a very strange vibe in the air over Rangers right now.

Fans seem confused, angry, frustrated – there are some notes of positivity, but not a lot. Indeed, we’ve rarely seen the support this dejected.

However, we want to lift the spirits, a tiny spot, by raising two players who have shone the past three matches, and whose position at the club is solely the responsibility of their manager, who has simply not coached them properly.

Matt Polster and Nathan Patterson have both shown, in three matches, that there’s life outside James Tavernier.

Polster, of course, came on yesterday and impressed most supporters – his balls into the box were good, his pace decent, and not only did he defend resolutely, but he linked as well with Aribo as Tavernier used to with Candeias.

In short, he didn’t feel like a weaker version of the captain, he in fact shone and provided a serious threat to Tavernier’s place.

Then there’s Patterson – let’s quit whining about ‘it was only Stranraer’ – Jon Flanagan drowned against feeble St Mirren and Hearts sides so we can tell the young 18-year old has something about him.

He was Rangers’ MOTM v the League One minnows, easily, and while he has much to learn, as we said in an earlier article, the fact he played exactly the same style as Tavernier and to the same effectiveness as the captain gives some idea of just what quality of competition there is for the man with the armband.

In short, Steven Gerrard should be slightly ashamed of his wilful ignoring of both Polster and Patterson – he brought the American in a year ago and has barely touched him, while Patterson lost his place immediately after impressing.

We don’t like this blind spot, we don’t think it’s constructive, and once again a player has shown he’s a lot better than we perhaps thought – although we at Ibrox Noise have rated Polster and long-extoled his virtues ever since we got him.

Just a pity the manager didn’t.