The sense that a crisis is now gripping Rangers in the aftermath of two 4-0 defeats at the hands of Celtic and Ajax has been impossible to ignore.
Fans will always react to football with emotion first and ask questions later, but there was something in the manner of these defeats that even the most level-headed Rangers watchers were bristling at what they had witnessed.
When the normally uber-positive Ally McCoist looks like he's about to spontaneously combust on live TV you know there's a serious problem.
Both games had an end of days feeling, a sense heightened by a seeming lack of commitment to do the basic dirty work every elite football match needs.
Next up is likely to be Napoli in the Champions League and the squad have a lot to make up for. Here's how they can turn it around.
Work on set-pieces
A major issue throughout the season so far, the team has a soft centre at the heart of the defence when balls are thrown into the box. Ajax star Edson Alvarez' goal to open the scoring in midweek was a debacle - four players moved towards Calvin Bassey, James Sands was nowhere, Connor Goldson and James Tavernier ended up marking each other and were caught under the ball. Much has been made of the teams' use of zonal marking and while there are obvious flaws in any system, it's the application that is the problem here. Rangers need to get back on the training pitch and iron out the kinks. If that means hours and hours of practice and drills, so be it. No manager will not survive in Scottish football if his team can't defend their box.
Draw a line in the sand with a big name
The whole team is misfiring with Borna Barisic the only one to come out of this double header of disaster with any credit. You can't drop everyone but Giovanni van Bronckhorst can make a statement by singling out one. Ryan Kent has started the season looking like a shadow of the player that was ripping teams asunder in the Europa League last season. His performance against Celtic was notable for switching off at set pieces for two of the four goals while his failure to look along the line in Amsterdam robbed Barisic of a stunning consolation when VAR spotted he was offside in the build-up. Kent has never been lazy or someone with a propensity to hide throughout his four years in Glasgow but he's been skirting close to such criticism recently. With Fashion Sakala, Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo all capable of stepping in, the manager has options if he wants to refresh his left flank - and lay a marker down.
Graft
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. It's an old cliche but it's endured because it's true, especially in top level football where the fine margins are now infinitesimal. This Rangers side has to go back to doing the nuts and bolts and fast. In an inverse way, there's hope to be drawn from these two god-awful spankings. In neither game did Rangers lose goals because they were cut asunder. Almost every strike was on the back of a horrendous individual or team mistake. 25 percent of the goals conceded came from a Rangers player directly putting through an opponent on goal after all. If the squad can hunker down, look to getting the obvious parts of football - defending set-pieces, falling back into position, making accurate passes - nailed down, then there should be scope for obvious improvement.
Integrate Ben Davies ASAP
Many fans have been impressed by James Sands and he has done well over the course of the season as a stop-gap. He is still though, a natural central midfielder stepping in to cover injuries. Alongside him, Connor Goldson has been receiving flak for his showings and many are now calling for him to be the one to drop out when Davies is able to return to the side. That would be a mistake. Form is temporary but class is permanent and Goldson has shown time and again he's one of the top defenders in Scotland. He's a leader and his presence would be missed, not least from a passing point of view where his raking diagonals are a potentially deadly attacking weapon. A Goldson/Davies pairing at the back looks excellent on paper and given the finances splashed out to make it a reality, needs to be implemented as soon as possible. Sands will remain an important squad player, especially given the injury problems surrounding Filip Helander and John Souttar and might even be a midfield answer alongside John Lundstram.
Get Morelos match-fit
Everyone knows Alfredo Morelos is Rangers' best player when he's on his game. We also know by now he's a nightmare to deal with and hasn't been showing the level of professionalism demanded under van Bronckhorst. He's been a perennial conundrum and given contract talks are now stalled, you'd have to imagine he's in his final months in Glasgow. Unless he gets his act together he will be walking away from the club and into a contract at a team of a much lower standing than his talent deserves. A contact in the game told me Morelos has the skillset to be in the Premier League earning £100k a week if only he stabilised his form, dealt with his indiscipline and kept the puppy fat off. He's 26 now though, and you sense if the basics of life as a top athlete have eluded him this long, it's unlikely they will take now. That will be someone else's problem going forward, but in the here and now, the Colombian will know his form in the next eight months will define the standard of club he arrives at in the summer. Once more, a man management job is required with an agreement that benefits both parties. It will involve some compromises on each side. Then the time will come when this rollercoaster marriage of convenience will surely end for good.
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