Rangers 2-1 St Mirren: The definition of insanity

To start with an overused cliché, as the title suggests, it's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein for some reason, but it's not actually from him thought I'd just include that fact.

But as you can imagine, that's where I'm at with this Rangers team. Since Thursday I've tempered expectations as we've seen this before, but there was a tiny part of me that had hope it would be different. But it's the hope that kills you. Rangers limped to victory 2-1 at home to St Mirren, with a performance like we've seen over and over again in league fixtures this season.

It was a really poor start, like the team were trying to dispel any notion that we might kick on after Thursday. St Mirren had a very good chance early on that they squandered. We took the lead not long after that, Bajrami playing it to the edge for Raskin who shot first time, the keeper saved but Diomande was there to pick up the pieces.

I think most of us hoped that we could stabilise a little after getting the goal, but there was no such stabilising going on. I mentioned before the game that I thought Diomande and Bajrami would struggle playing together and I think we saw that, Diomande goal aside, it didn't really work. We laboured for most of the half.

St Mirren swung a corner in, Propper (who really struggled) was out manoeuvred and out jumped by Gogic who equalised from close range. It was sloppy and in keeping with how this team likes to defend at the moment.

Bajrami missed a good chance at the back post to put us back in front. St Mirren scored a goal but it was thankfully offside. I know I'm jumping all over the place here, but on the rest of the lineup, I think most were pleased to see Kasanwirjo and Igamane come in for Tav and Dessers. And I think that's the most disheartening thing, a common explanation from some sections of the fanbase for the poor domestic performance is the fact the manager has "stuck with Tav and Dessers for too long". But Sunday showed us that the problem is way deeper than that.

Despite another poor performance, we got the winner in the end. Good work from Dessers, on for Igamane at half time, who chased a lost cause down the byline, the ball was cut back and found it's way to Cerny who tucked it home nicely. If there was two positives from the game, it's that Cerny continued his good goal scoring form, and Dessers' reaction to the goal. Dessers was chastised heavily for his reaction to Cerny's second goal in midweek, no sign of such reservation this time, he went nuts.

Maybe that shows there's some real togetherness in the team, or maybe it's just a guy relieved he's made sure he's not the story again.

In my report on Thursday's game, I was full of praise for Clement's passion for the team. And I don't want to recant that, but I'm just filled with so many doubts about his approach and lack of adaptability. He's not a young manager, but we seem to be waiting for him to realise things about the team in the same way we gave Gerrard/Beale patience in their first major jobs in management.

I've got real worries for Wednesday night and what a negative result could do to this team and the support. Patience is wearing thin and the fans are already protesting the leadership at the club.

I'd review Big Phil's press conference but it's the same thing as we've heard after scraping a win in the majority of our domestic games. We were good, it would have been nice to get a few more goals but the 3 points is most important etc. Sick of it, he needs to throw in some new phrases, give us something new to react angrily to.

A positive I'd forgotten about was Kasanwirjo's performance, paired with the concern over how terrible Propper was before being subbed on the hour mark. To cover the negative first, Propper was brought in to add experience to the backline and help us play a high line with centre backs comfortable on the ball. He hasn't done that, I think the majority of games he's had some random loose moment, we don't need that in a team that's hardly locking games down defensively as it is. Kasanwirjo seems like a potential solution, he moved to centre back after Propper's substitution and looked very comfortable, perhaps that's where we will see him in the next few games. I think if we want to play high up the pitch at Pittodrie, his pace and nose for danger will help us massively.

That's all for today, I don't think my preview on Wednesday will be me jumping for joy, and I really hope that I can just avoid thinking about Rangers till then. Try and enjoy your week everybody.