Rangers 2-0 St Johnstone: Nice one, Cyriel

I might need to purchase a thesaurus and try find some synonyms for "mixed bag" because I feel like if I don't then I'm going to be saying "a mixed bag of a performance from Rangers" a lot.

So to mix it up I'm going to say it was a... potpourri of a performance from Rangers. Yeah that sounds good, fancy.

We triumphed over a stubborn St Johnstone side with 2 second half goals from Cyriel Dessers and Ross McAusland respectively. I thought it was probably our most creative performance of the season, Danilo started upfront and he had 2 or 3 great chances that he squandered, the pick of the bunch a rebound he hit straight at the recovering St Johnstone keeper.

Jefte and Matondo made up our left hand side and I thought they linked up fairly well, especially in the first half. Unfortunately this linkup often lead to Rabbi on the ball in the final third and that was where the moves tended to break down.

Cerny had a chance near the end of the half on his right foot that he completely blasted over the bar and it really seemed like it was going to be one of those days for Rangers. Especially when those defensive frailties exposed themselves again and St Johnstone hit the post just before the break.

I think given the negativity around Rangers at the minute, I'm not surprised many felt a bit frustrated at half time. Oh and just to add our troubles, we lost Robin Propper to injury and he had to be replaced by Ben Davies, who I have already seen far too much of at Rangers for one lifetime.

In terms of performance I thought Tav really struggled in the first half, which is becoming a real theme, physically he is finished and wingers are bypassing him with ease. St Johnstone made an effort to target his side and I think that's partially due to Tav's physical condition but also the fact that Cerny isn't as great on the cover as you'd maybe want.

So that brings us to the second half, we emerged from the tunnel with Dessers replacing the frustrated and blunt Danilo (clearly lacking match sharpness, in his defence).

I feel like Cyriel's introduction actually gave us a great bit of zip and drive, maybe it was because he was more involved in general play than Danilo, or perhaps Clement had a lot to say at half time.

The breakthrough came shortly after as Rabbi played a reverse ball to Dessers who got in ahead of the defender, turned inside smartly and smashed the ball in at the near post to give us the lead. Or so it seemed, the whistle went after the finish as the ref had spotted a foul when Dessers got the ball ahead of the defender. Confusion reigned, followed by a very lengthy VAR check that ended with the ref going to the monitor and giving the goal.

St Johnstone's players and management staff were apoplectic at the decision. I can understand the frustration as I don't think the process was communicated very clearly to those on the park. But on the basis that the ref didn't blow his whistle before the ball hit the net, and the fact that it clearly wasn't a foul, they can't have too many complaints that the goal was given.

After the goal there was a 10 minute spell when there was a real confidence in our play and we looked like adding to our lead. This spell ended, St Johnstone then started to threaten quite consistently. Barron was introduced for the woeful Kieron Dowell and that steadied the ship, Barron's passing from deep helping us get on the front foot again.

However the next great chance in the match fell to the visitors as a late freekick was played wide and then crossed into the box, Dessers made a hash of the clearance, it fell to Sidibeh who seemed to entirely miss the ball with Butland bearing down on him.

It felt like a big moment in the game, and it proved to be when just minutes later we got our second. Barron played it wide to McAusland, we advanced to the edge of the area, McAusland played it to Barron who zipped it into Dessers. Dessers took it beautifully on the turn and it feel to the onrushing McAusland who took a touch and casually dinked the St Johnstone goalkeeper as he charged down the young winger.

2-0 and it was job done, in the hat for the next round. The players went over and thanked the Union Bears at the end of the game. There's a lot of mixed feelings on this from the support, it's obviously akin to Klopp getting his players to do the same after a 2-2 draw with West Brom early in his Liverpool tenure. It's a clear move to show the fans that the players appreciate their support and to try rebuild some of that connection that has been missing this season.

I don't mind it, football management is all about doing anything you can to gain that little 1% advantage. And since it's not really important what people outside the club think of this, if it works I'm all for it.

For the game overall, it was nice to see us have some attacking patterns and create a good volume of chances. If you keep doing this, the finishing will come, there's no doubt about that. So we just have to wait and see if we actually keep doing it.

Defensively we certainly weren't untroubled, I thought Sterling did a decent job in front of the defence and kept the ball moving nicely. I don't think anyone was helped by Dowell's presence, or lack thereof. We also had the disruption of losing Propper, Davies did fine when he was on the pitch, but the prospect of seeing that backline for a few more games is terrifying, especially with a trip to Celtic Park on the horizon.

I really liked seeing Diomande as the number 10, his ability to take the ball and turn in tight spaces combined with his willingness to drop into midfield to make it a tight 3 out of possession means he should start there ahead of Lawrence going forward.

Given Barron's fantastic cameo I really think if we can start with that midfield going forward, we have a good platform to build from. The real question is over Sterling's fitness, we know how much he loves an injury.

Robbie Fraser came on the left wing near the end of the game, and I thought he had some nice touches and was very positive. He should fancy his chances for more minutes this season I'd say.

Phil was positive on the performance of the team and Dessers' form this season. Dessers was similarly keen to mention that he wants to keep his good run going.

I was pleased with Dessers' impact, if I was critical of anything he did last season, it was his work on the ball outside the box. I think he's clearly taking big steps to get involved deeper and provide more of an outlet for the team, there's still a lot of inconsistency there, but the desire is great to see.

That's all for today, have a good week everyone, if there's any transfer news I might drop an article midweek with some thoughts on it. But unfortunately given how much work is needed, the rumour mill is strangely silent.