Rangers 1-0 Dundee: Back down to Earth

Morning all, Clement's Rangers are back! They really are, it was a pattern we've seen many times this season. We huffed and puffed for 90 minutes, got the breakthrough and failed to add to our tally, and almost had to hang on by the end.

The main shock in the lineup (aside from me forgetting Sterling would be playing over Balogun) was Liam Kelly coming in late for Jack Butland. Which we were told was injury related by Rangers TV. But thankfully was for positive personal news.

Our shape was good out of possession in the first half, although Dundee made it easy for us to press them by refusing to advance beyond halfway. But on the ball we were back to our usual ponderous selves.

Aside from Tavernier, who continued his recent resurgence with another top performance, we looked very erratic in our use of the ball in the final third.

We did strike the cross bar twice from distance in the first period. Hagi with a drive from range and Tavernier from a free kick. Although these would have been great goals had they gone in, I don't think it's a sign of any kind of attacking pattern.

There was also a small thing that I've noticed becoming a pattern in recent games. Across the team there's a lack of technical security in our passing when we aren't under pressure. The first half exemplified it, but the entire backline and Raskin were especially notable for continually passing the ball wide of their target. Each time this happens it forces the player receiving the pass to turn away from the play, or stretch to control the ball. Sloppiness like that gives a deep block time to step up or move across. I'd expect Clement to focus on such small details as they're often the difference in games like these.

But the good news is, after that struggle of a first half we got the goal very early in the second. Danilo had the ball on halfway, Dundee stepped up very high, Cerny beat the offside trap and had all the time to round the keeper and finish.

We'd started the half with a bit more intensity and I was ready to forget about the first 45 if we went on to blow Dundee away with consistent attacking play.

Our final ball was atrocious all game. Hagi scored but was clearly offside. The decision making continued to be slightly erratic. Bajrami was introduced for Danilo but didn't add much to the game.

Igamane had the best chance of the game when he met a low cross and hit the bar from about 5 yards out. It was a poor miss, which seems worse because good chances from us were at a premium all game. He had another chance cleared off the line earlier in the half too.

I liked some of the passing through the lines once Dundee started to press looking for an equaliser. Kelly, Tavernier and Propper all played through the pressure to find our midfielders and turn Dundee. Kelly didn't have much to do in terms of saving chances, but it felt refreshing to have a keeper play a brave ball under pressure.

McCausland was introduced and added a bit of zip and directness. However his end product was severely lacking. Dessers arrived to some boos (disappointing to hear) and hit the bar late on.

Dundee looked very poor going forward, but at times we put ourselves under pressure by giving the ball away easily. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention Lyall Cameron, who looked mature beyond his years playing through the Rangers press. He would be a great acquisition if we can make it happen.

After 90 minutes it finished 1-0 to Rangers and it does feel like we've been here before. In statistical terms this was "regression to the mean". I mentioned after the Ross County game that we weren't doing much different in our approach to attacking play, we were just scoring more from the same kind of chances. Yesterday we saw what happens when we do the same things without scoring great goals from distance to open up the opposition.

I certainly got a bit carried away after our initial results following the switch to 442. That kind of optimism was born from a desperation to see us actually play well.

It was a stark reminder that Clement has us at a baseline of performance with no real signs of consistently pushing beyond that level.

Sadly I don't expect there to be any kind of push for improvement from above. Even given the new appointments, the last thing our new CEO will do, is immediately turn on the manager.

The only other positive from the game was probably Dujon Sterling's performance at centre back. He looked very comfortable as he covered alot of ground, sweeping up Dundee long balls and bodying attackers that came too close. His worth to the squad as a utility player cannot be understated.

Thanks for reading everyone, enjoy your Sunday and Christmas when it comes.