“Never stopped trying – 5” Rangers rated v Utd

Rangers grafted out a pretty rank-rotten performance but earned an invaluably timothy-crushing 3-points.

Ibrox Noise takes you through our ratings for a forgettable afternoon in Govan:

McGregor:

One bright save was all he had to do all match. Might as well have had no goalie for all the work he needed to do, but was beaten all ends up late on by Clark for what could have been a crushing equaliser. 6

Tavernier:

After starting in a bizarre CB slot, the skipper quickly reverted to his RB position. And didn’t do a lot with it, in truth. Had a fair chunk of the ball, but wasn’t able to convert any decent crosses. Got the winner with a fine penalty and that was the biggest say of all. 6

Goldson:

Goldson was ok – he’s starting to take a lot more touches of the ball than he did when Gio first arrived, and is slipping back into that ball-hogging habit. And his passing wasn’t as good as it needs to be. But defensively he’s mostly solid and clearing his lines when he should. 6

Bassey:

Didn’t assert himself in this one, but did clear his lines well. Sharp passing from the youngster meant there wasn’t too much to complain about. 6

Patterson:

Doesn’t really suit LB but made the best of his opportunity. A few crossing attempts made, and tried to get forward to support Kent, but mostly a fringe performance. 6

Kamara:

Game of two halves for this guy. Was completely in the wrong position first half – played advanced against ten men and it left him isolated. Was withdrawn to the ‘Hearts’ role and started to get into it a lot better. 6

Lundstram:

In truth he didn’t do much wrong, and was unfortunate to be hooked. We could sum it up by saying his passing was close to perfect and he made 3 great tackles too. 7

Arfield:

Pretty uncharacteristically weak from Arfield, barely seen in this one. 23 touches and 18 passes summed up a bizarrely poor afternoon from him. 5

Hagi:

There were a few raised eyebrows when the desperately awful Hagi was named MOTM by the sponsors. Passing all over the place, and little he did worked. He never stopped trying though. 5

Kent:

By an absolute country mile Rangers’ best overall performer. Always a danger, willing to run at defenders, and by far the most productive in the side. 7

Subs:

Wright:

Did ok with his chance but didn’t add much to proceedings. 5

Aribo:

Wasn’t able to get into the match as a late sub. 5

Manager:

Gio van Bronckhorst made a raft of changes for this one, and frankly while the away side did park the bus, the hosts looked disjointed as a result of those changes. We also have absolutely no idea what was going on with Tav as CB and Bassey as LB for the first 5 minutes. His subs didn’t have a big impact but his players kept going for him, and the winner meant it all. This really was winning ugly and that’s fine by us. 7