Bloody nose for Rangers as Gio takes a beating

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first Old Firm match as manager couldn’t really have gone much worse.

The Dutchman seemed to select a mostly-strong side, with the notable exception of the vulnerable Calvin Bassey in defence at the expense of fit again Leon Balogun (something we were vocally against), but the tactic of deep sitting and trying to soak Celtic up was a disaster in waiting.

To say this XI looked disjointed, confused, slow, ponderous and weak is doing them a favour, because they were a lot worse than that, and GVB’s tactics played a big role.

There was little cohesion in any area of the pitch, with the especially disastrous Borna Barisic having maybe the worst night of his Rangers career and doing little but losing the ball or passing it back to McGregor.

He was by no means the only fail. Ryan Kent certainly tried, but lacked any conviction with his dribbling, looking lost, while James Tavernier nearly gifted Celtic a goal but for the heroics of Allan McGregor, who himself had a mixed night.

The tactics, however, played into Celtic’s hands. The selection, while attacking-looking, sat in defensively, in a mode which simply didn’t work. 4 defenders, Glen Kamara, and 5 attacking players set out as a defensive unit simply wasn’t designed to work that way.

It was as if Gio was trying Walter’s tactics but with completely the wrong set of players and indeed formation to succeed with it.

It was found out. Sure, the opening goal was messy, but Celtic deserved it, and the fact Bassey and Aribo collided only added to the ineptitude of the defensive shape.

The second goal was quite a finish but one can’t help feeling McGregor was slow to it, and the third was just a shambles.

GVB changed the personnel in the second half, taking off the ineffective Diallo, the struggling Barisic but surprisingly the solid Kamara, but his replacement, Ryan Jack, showed us what we’ve been missing for a year with a brilliant and inspiring gutsy show in midfield, restoring some shape in the middle and stemming the bleeding.

Fashion Sakala too showed endeavour, and got more from his appearance than the Ivory Coast man, while Balogun should have been on from the beginning.

The damage, in the end, was all done in the first half, and while the changes did make Rangers a little more fluid and able to threaten in the second, it was too little too late.

Gio absolutely made a hash of this, and was unable to fix his mistakes, albeit he did try.

The players, in that first half especially, were installed in a system which didn’t fit them and which made most of them look absolutely hopeless.

This was a learning experience for our manager. He needs to wise up. 7 dropped points of 9 in the last 3 SPL matches is not champions material, and the new year blues have blighted him like they did Gerrard.

After that lovely honeymoon, Gio now hits the rough spell. Which we knew would come.

He now has to restore the form, make the needed changes, and get the side going again.

But the players must take responsibility too – too many hearts were missing tonight, with Arfield, Kamara, and Jack the notable exceptions – honourable mentions to Sakala, who worked, to Balogun who looked far superior to Bassey in CB, and Aribo, who tried to make things happen but was off the pace.

McGregor had a mixed bag, saving us from a worse score but a feeling too he could have done a little better with a couple of the goals.

Either way, it’s a big bloody punch in the nose, the scare we’ve needed, and we now either sink or swim.

Up to you Rangers.