When it comes to a friendly, supporters are always torn between the ‘it’s only a friendly’ psyche and the ‘must impress’ psyche over judging players’ performances.

Preseason and friendlies are generally meaningless, apart from one critical area – confidence, ergo, morale.

Now even this is far from foolproof – look how strong Rabbi Matondo looked in preseason last campaign, only for the serious action to expose how badly he was settling in.

But generally, a player who impresses in preseason can at least take that confidence on and hopefully apply it to the real action, which of course, is infinitely more intense and much faster. It basically gives that player a running chance of settling in, if they managed to have a good preseason.

So with that in mind, Ibrox Noise looks at all the new boys from last night, all the debuts of Rangers’ new signings, which despite ‘only being in a friendly’ was against a very top side who were taking this match seriously.

We begin with Kieran Dowell. Sadly for Dowell he was out of his depth – he has indeed 20 or so Premier League appearances, so he’s not a total rookie, but at that level he only ever won 4 matches so the pressure to win every match at Rangers will be new to him. He didn’t really exert himself on this match, and didn’t stand out. It is a step up for him, from Norwich in the Championship to Rangers in the Premiership and Champions League, and time will tell how he settles in. Slow start though.

Next up is Abdallah Sima. Again, sadly for the winger he made no impression aside one strong duel which he won later in the match. He struggled to read the play, there were no good runs off the ball, and he looked a little lost. Unfortunately for he, and Dowell, the serious action starts in just over two weeks so time is not on their side to get up to speed.

Then we have Sam Lammers. This was much, much better. This looked like a player who’s a pro at this level, not overawed and strong and composed on the ball, taking his goal well while he was at it. Ibrox Noise (and most Rangers fans’) fears about this signing were maybe quelled a little, and he had a good and imposing debut against a very credible opponent. Good start for Lammers.

Lastly, Jack Butland. Didn’t really get to do much other than be beaten by an admittedly brilliant headed winner, the ex-England cap can’t be judged on much of this, but his distribution seemed pretty good. Didn’t really have any saves to make at all.

(We’ll leave Leon Balogun because we know how good he is already, and that hasn’t changed)

So, of course, ‘it was only a friendly’ but it’s better to be making clear progress at this point than not to be. Lammers had a good debut, Sima and Dowell not so much, and Butland was hard to measure.

But we’ll have a better picture early next month when preseason is done and the serious action starts.

When it comes to a friendly, supporters are always torn between the ‘it’s only a friendly’ psyche and the ‘must impress’ psyche over judging players’ performances.

Preseason and friendlies are generally meaningless, apart from one critical area – confidence, ergo, morale.

Now even this is far from foolproof – look how strong Rabbi Matondo looked in preseason last campaign, only for the serious action to expose how badly he was settling in.

But generally, a player who impresses in preseason can at least take that confidence on and hopefully apply it to the real action, which of course, is infinitely more intense and much faster. It basically gives that player a running chance of settling in, if they managed to have a good preseason.

So with that in mind, Ibrox Noise looks at all the new boys from last night, all the debuts of Rangers’ new signings, which despite ‘only being in a friendly’ was against a very top side who were taking this match seriously.

We begin with Kieran Dowell. Sadly for Dowell he was out of his depth – he has indeed 20 or so Premier League appearances, so he’s not a total rookie, but at that level he only ever won 4 matches so the pressure to win every match at Rangers will be new to him. He didn’t really exert himself on this match, and didn’t stand out. It is a step up for him, from Norwich in the Championship to Rangers in the Premiership and Champions League, and time will tell how he settles in. Slow start though.

Next up is Abdallah Sima. Again, sadly for the winger he made no impression aside one strong duel which he won later in the match. He struggled to read the play, there were no good runs off the ball, and he looked a little lost. Unfortunately for he, and Dowell, the serious action starts in just over two weeks so time is not on their side to get up to speed.

Then we have Sam Lammers. This was much, much better. This looked like a player who’s a pro at this level, not overawed and strong and composed on the ball, taking his goal well while he was at it. Ibrox Noise (and most Rangers fans’) fears about this signing were maybe quelled a little, and he had a good and imposing debut against a very credible opponent. Good start for Lammers.

Lastly, Jack Butland. Didn’t really get to do much other than be beaten by an admittedly brilliant headed winner, the ex-England cap can’t be judged on much of this, but his distribution seemed pretty good. Didn’t really have any saves to make at all.

So, of course, ‘it was only a friendly’ but it’s better to be making clear progress at this point than not to be. Lammers had a good debut, Sima and Dowell not so much, and Butland was hard to measure.

But we’ll have a better picture early next month when preseason is done and the serious action starts.