Dundee 3-4 Rangers: Rollercoaster

Morning all, Rangers came away with another swashbuckling victory. This time a 4-3 victory featuring a late winner. But honestly I'm scratching my head as to how we won that match.

The biggest news ahead of the game was Vaclav Cerny's absence. Apparently he's picked up a hamstring injury on international duty. Igamane replaced the Czech winger in the starting eleven.

Losing Cerny was obviously going to affect our ability to get forward and create chances. But I wasn't sure I was expecting us to be essentially neutered without him.

We started the game in very similar fashion to our last visit to Dens Park. Falling behind early on from a set piece. The delivery was good, Simon Murray found a yard and directed his first time finish into the net past the hapless Butland.

Going 1-0 down is fast becoming a familiar sight under Ferguson. Going down 2 goals is practically a calling card for Barry and this Rangers team. We didn't get up quickly after a Dundee set piece, Shaughnessy directed a tame header at Butland, who promptly spilled the ball into Murray's path, his shot was saved and Shaughnessy forced home the rebound.

It's a shame there's no transfer window currently, because we could have sold Butland when his stock was high after last week's performance and result. Not for the first time, it's a great game from the Englishman followed up by an absolute howler in the next game.

The story of the first half was inflexibility. I'd talked up the potential to really be fluid in this tactical set up, but there was no sign of that. Dessers and Igamane were too narrow whenever we got the ball. Dundee had freedom to step up and stop the ball into their feet, whenever the wing backs got the ball they had very little to play to down the line. As a result Yilmaz looked especially lost whenever he managed to find some space with the ball, although I'm not sure his solution of trying to launch the ball into the box was particularly helpful. Tav was more resourceful with his positioning, happy to come inside to receive the ball. But then the midfield looked very congested as a result.

The back 3 struggled to play forward in any meaningful way as Dundee looked to force the ball to Balogun with their pressing shape. I love Leon Balogun, he's a fearless defender and his mazy runs with the ball are a joy to watch. But his passing isn't really one of his strengths, and we saw that today. On more than one occasion, he would just launch the ball forward after being forced onto his left side.

Our midfield looked a little bit lost as a result. They tried to support their teammates by coming short and moving into space, but it looked messy and honestly that played into Dundee's hands.

We created one good chance in the first half after Diomande won a flick on to set Dessers in on goal. The Nigerian's touch was good, but his finish was too close to the keeper and was saved comfortably.

Dundee gave us a lifeline when Shaughnessy turned a fairly hopeful cross from Tavernier into his own net.

2-1 down at half time and we really needed to change something.

Barry obliged by introducing Bailey Rice and Ianis Hagi for Leon Balogun and Connor Barron. We reverted to a back 4, it was hard to tell what our set up was exactly at this point.

It looked like the changes would pay immediate dividends as Dessers was played in by Igamane before cooly rounding the keeper and slotting the ball into the empty net. The goal was disallowed for a ridiculously tight offside call on VAR.

We suffered a further set back when Tiffoney found space and finished well to make it 3-1. The game looked dead and buried as we hadn't really created chances with any kind of consistency.

Jefte, Lawrence and Danilo were thrown into the mix. But the game continued to pass us by, until Tavernier drifted inside, picked up the ball from Danilo and blasted home a fantastic strike into the bottom right corner. It's the sort of strike we've come to expect from the captain. And despite not playing anywhere near a good level, we were only down by one goal with 15 minutes to go.

I'd expressed dismay at Lawrence's introduction. But he decided to find his goal scoring touch again with a brilliant shot from distance to level the game.

3-3 was more than we expected or deserved. 4-3 was ludicrous to hope for. But a long ball was flicked on inadvertently by a Dundee defender, Dessers took the ball on his chest exceptionally before passing it beyond the onrushing keeper. Absolute pandemonium in the away end, and why not. We know it wasn't a great performance but as fans you've got to enjoy a late comeback and winner.

I'm not sure where we are with this team anymore. Given the nature of the performance and result, and recent results. I'm content to say that actually this team is exactly where it was before Barry took charge. Strong results and performances in big games, followed by poor performances saved by exceptional moments against the rest of the league.

Perhaps with Cerny we'd have looked more threatening and actually put Dundee to the sword. But I'm not sure the way we played really suggested that, although Cerny was always key to maintaining the width in the attack.

Overall I'm certain that this won't be the last scattergun performance from Rangers this season. This hope we see the peak of that performance against Athletic Club, rather than the trough.