Caveat 1: ‘it was only a friendly’
Caveat 2: ‘they’re a Champions League side’.
Both are true, but there’s no hiding how bad Rangers have been this year even although both fixtures have ‘only’ been friendlies.
All the weaknesses of Rangers’ team remain as evident today as they have for a long time, and it seems like this season could be completely doomed without any new signings helping this mess out.
Of course, Copenhagen are decent, and yes, this was a friendly, but the utter lethargy of the team in both friendlies is a real concern.
Tuesday night’s effort was brighter than the horror show v Hertha, but not by a lot.
Copenhagen definitely had the better of the match, and looked sharp, zippy, and clinical when they had chances.
Rangers did have a bright enough opening 15, with a very nicely-taken goal by Rabbi Matondo, but it fell away very quickly after this.
There is just a real lack of hunger at the moment in this team, and a real lack of quality, but then what’s new there?
Philippe Clement might be a seasoned pro of a manager, but his new manager bounce, just like Michael Beale’s when Giovanni was fired, just like Giovanni’s when Gerrard moved on, seems to have faded, and there can be no coincidence at the timing.
Every single time, Rangers have lost a manager around early winter, and the new one has come in and overhauled and ‘saved everything’.
Until a dismal result against Celtic then rather sets everything back before returning abysmally from the winter break looking much like they do now.
This goes back to Steven Gerrard, it’s been the same every season, the one exception being 55. In that one it was Ryan Jack’s injury that set the team back, but by then the league was won, his injury being that February.
Prior and since, our team simply crumbles around the turn of the year.
The only thing we can hope for is that this pro of a boss has identified every issue and can sort it all out when the real action resumes.
Michael Beale, in part, was fired for a horrible performance against minnows Morton – Philippe Clement faces fellow minnows Dumbarton and Rangers fans will be hoping for a much more convincing display and result in the cup this weekend.
Because if not, it’s a sure sign that history is simply repeating itself.
These friendlies weren’t good. We pray that the bad performances are isolated to them.