Rangers 2-0 St Johnstone: Waiter, we'll take the Czech, please!

We swept aside the stubborn resistance of St Johnstone with the help of a Vaclav Cerny double to take all 3 points. Our winning run in the league continues (as does our run of clean sheets).

Surprisingly, last night's performance wasn't as bad as many thought it would be (myself included). It certainly wasn't "good" by any means, but "not terrible" is probably fair.

We sat very high up the pitch all night, this was something I was quite positive about. We successfully boxed St Johnstone in for most of the first half, even if we weren't creating bags of chances. I thought Raskin was a really good foil for Diomande and Bajrami(his first start as a 10) in front of him, he won a lot of duels and loose balls in midfield and kept it moving nicely.

Corners were an area that we felt could be profitable. Tav was hitting the same area in the back post very consistently, with Dessers coming close a few times in the first half. It was nice to see us actually recognise a weakness in a team and look to exploit it, even if it never led to a goal.

I liked how confident we were in leaving Souttar and Propper alone on the halfway line when we had the ball. In the first half they both swept things up comfortably, even with the pace St Johnstone carried on the break in Kimpioka.

Despite our dominance, we struggled to create high quality chances. I thought Bajrami was excellent and his willingness to link up all over the park was the reason we played with such freedom. I don't want to be too critical of individuals, but I think we have to end the McCausland left wing experiment. He's the most obvious chalk-on-the-boots right winger I've ever seen, and instead he's being played on the left and being asked to come inside and combine. He looked uncomfortable again, and once again ended up being withdrawn at half time like against Hibs, that won't be great for the young man's confidence. It makes me wonder about Clements man management skills.

Thankfully we went in at the break one up, and it was thanks to a genuinely brilliant goal from Vaclav Cerny. I made the point in the preview about how low on confidence he's looked recently, that was something he addressed in some interviews after the game too. But there was no sign of that lack of confidence here, he slipped the ball past the St Johnstone defender on the right side of pitch, just outside the box, before curling into the far corner. The keeper had no chance and it's exactly the kind of goal he's made a career out of scoring. I really hope that's a moment that ignites his Rangers career.

At half time Phil clearly wasn't happy with what he was seeing as Diomande and McCausland were withdrawn for Connor Barron and a returning Ianis Hagi. It was really nice to see the big welcome for Hagi as he's always been a fan favourite. When he's on song he can really get fans on their feet, and he certainly managed that, if not for all the right reasons.

St Johnstone made some attacking changes in the second half and really fancied their chances on the break with us leaving 2 back. I thought Souttar dealt with the changed front line very well as he was one on one a few times and showed good patience to hold the play up and snuff out any danger. Propper wasn't quite as composed in the second half, he lost his footing on one attack which required a strong save from Butland when there was a passing option on for the St Johnstone attacker. I think it's quite concerning that if our latest approach at home is sitting incredibly high against deep blocks, one of our starting defenders isn't entirely comfortable defending large spaces.

I think there's an argument for playing Sterling and Souttar at the back in these kinds of games, both very comfortable defending with space in behind and shouldn't be put under too much pressure from settled possession.

It felt like with those changes we lost a bit of the fluency that had developed between Bajrami and Diomande, even if the Ivorian's execution in the final third was lacking. But it was Hagi who made a telling contribution. We broke and stretched St Johnstone, it looked like the moment was gone to get in on goal, then Hagi played a brilliantly weighted ball to Cerny, he took the ball onto his right before wrong footing the keeper with an early finish.

It was great to see Cerny get a brace as it really felt like we needed to see something else from him. He embraced the manager after his first goal and I thought it was good to see there's faith in the manager from the squad, even if we think that faith is a bit misplaced. It also goes without saying, that he doesn't deserve any of the abuse he's got from fans in the stand or online, he's a human being like all of us.

We then slipped into a pattern we've come to recognise under Clement. We got our second goal, which I suppose is an improvement cause we normally do this after our first goal. We seemed to sit back, as if we were unsure if we wanted another goal, the game ended up very scrappy as a result. Cerny was suddenly full of confidence, linking up well with Tav to set up Igamane who nearly added a third.

But the scrappy nature of the game probably contributed to the next incident. Tackles had been flying in for the 10 minutes following the goal, a few bookings were handed out, then Hagi over reached for a ball and seemed to trip the opposition forward. Upon a replay it was clear that he had essentially went studs up on his calf, it certainly wasn't ideal. VAR had a look and it was a straight red for our returning Romanian.

I think it was a clear red, although it came from sloppyness rather than any malice. No one will be more disappointed to be back out the team than Hagi, I thought he looked like a really good option and it's a shame to lose him for a few weeks given the suspension and him not being in the European squad.

Nothing much happened after that, Sterling was introduced to shore things up, Kasanwirjo had a bit of a jolly up the right hand side when he came on. But eventually the full time whistle blew.

After the game Clement made it clear he felt like the performance wasn't up to the standard expected even if we got the 3 points. This was nice to hear, especially after he dodged a few questions post game on Thursday. Whether that will lead to any improvement is anyone's guess.

He also credited our Czech winger for coming to him after the game and opening up on feeling responsible for the defeat. I think it shows great mental fortitude to come back from such a poor performance and moment on Thursday with a brace and positive performance on Sunday.

The boss gave an update on injuries too, with Ridvan and Danilo back after the international break but Cortes missing "longer-term". At this point it's best just to forget about having Cortes as a consistent option, given our deal is an obligation to buy, I'm not sure what room we have to manoeuvre in. That's one to consider in the summer.

Overall I am pleased with the 3 points and hopefully we can build on some of the individual performances in Souttar, Raskin and Cerny. Have a good international break folks.