There are no words strong enough to adequately sum up the situation. For the Rangers supporters, every one of them is hollow, meaningless.
Partly because they have heard them all before. And partly because whatever your choice of adjective, none come close to encapsulating the feelings right now.
Derek McInnes spoke about being ‘embarrassed’ by the performance against Jablonec. He was ‘mortified’ by the result as Rangers lost on penalties to crash out of a second European competition on the night that the draw for the main one was completed in Monaco.
It was McInnes’ duty as manager to try and sum up the situation, to attempt to explain to fans where it all went wrong and why. The same burden fell to captain Lawrence Shankland after a 1-0 loss over two hours was followed by a defeat in the shoot-out.
The vocabulary from Shankland was just as strong. Ultimately, though, it is just as inconsequential. Actions always speak louder than words.
“It’s sickening, to be honest,” Shankland said when asked if Thursday night felt like the lowest point of his career. “We need to take responsibility for that as players.
“We’re all out there and there’s no doubt in my mind that everyone is trying to do well. But right now, it’s not happening for us, if we’re being honest. And that’s for myself included.
“It’s not been at the level required from the start of the season. We’re trying to find that form individually and collectively. But we aren’t getting results along the way and we’re getting punished so it’s difficult.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a crisis. But it’s a concern, we know that as a team.
“For this club to not be in European football, it’s an embarrassing moment for us. So it’s difficult, we can’t hide behind anything. There’s nothing to hide behind, the proof is there. It just hasn’t been good enough.
“It’s difficult for me personally because you’re judged on everything you do. Of course, I’d have loved to have come here and had a better start but it’s not been the case so far.
“But listen, I don’t lose belief in what we’re doing. Right now, it’s a horrific feeling and a bad moment.
“But the way it is, we have to move on at some point. We have to reflect on it and be disappointed but we’ve got a league campaign to take care of.”
That campaign continues against Aberdeen on Sunday. If McInnes was to hand-pick a fixture to come back to, a return to Pittodrie would surely not have been top of the list. His former club will smell blood, and rightly so.
The sense of danger was clear before a ball was kicked in the second leg after Rangers travelled with only a Ryan Naderi goal to show for their efforts at Ibrox. Somehow, it wasn’t enough.
Vakhtang Tchanturishvili levelled the tie with 20 minutes remaining. A lead in the shoot-out after Ivor Pandur saved from Filip Zorvan was also squandered as Findlay Curtis and James Penrice missed from 12 yards to spark an outpouring of emotion in the away end.
“There haven’t been too many times where I’ve had to apologise to a travelling support,” Shankland said. “But on Thursday night, the players certainly owed the fans that apology.
“We weren’t good enough to win the tie on the night and ultimately we went out of the competition.
“We went there with a one-goal lead and it was about trying to capitalise on that and we didn’t manage to do it. It’s a tough one to take but we have to take it on the chin.
“Right now, it’s difficult to explain why we weren’t good enough. We need to go away and look at it. There were parts of the second half when they were causing us a lot of problems.
“We just couldn’t seem to get to grips with it. On the flip side, though, when we turned the ball over our attacking play wasn’t good enough either.
“We didn’t create any clear-cut chances to try and get the goal we needed. That led us to a position where we needed to go to penalties to try and get through.”
On occasions like this, the fingers of blame are pointed in all directions. No individual or collective can escape the criticism and the inquest will be deep at Ibrox.
McInnes praised the support as ‘outstanding’ and pointed to the work of his staff to ensure his side are in ‘peak condition to go and perform’. A showing and a result that is arguably the worst in the history of the club tells its own story.
McInnes made three changes of personnel and another switch of formation at the break. Over the rest of the evening, he added bodies and tinkered with the tactics more in hope than expectation. Nothing that McInnes threw at the wall stuck.
“It’s massively on the players,” Shankland said. “We know that in the changing room - you can’t shift that responsibility.
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“Over two legs, we were confident that it was a tie we could go and take care of. So it’s us who are responsible for not going through.
“The players are clearly finding it difficult at the moment. It’s been a tough start to the season by all accounts. And going out of Europe, it doesn’t get much lower than that moment.
“It’s been difficult. We’re trying to learn as we go but results aren’t coming. Sometimes you get away with it and you get results along the way.
“But that’s not happening for us just now and we’re getting punished on all fronts. So it is difficult but we need to keep working hard at it.”
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