WHEN the transfer window closed, it was quickly agreed by all that the biggest success from Rangers’ transfer window was keeping the core of the title-winning squad together.
A modest transfer window by the standards of other seasons, Rangers brought in four players with minimal cash spent on fees. This wasn’t surprising as the club recovered from a year of empty stadiums and missed out on Champions League income.
The use of the Bosman market looked shrewd. Greg Stewart was replaced with Fashion Sakala who scored 16 goals in the Belgian league last season. Bongani Zungu’s underwhelming loan spell was replaced with John Lundstram who brought two years of EPL experience. These looked like straightforward and obvious upgrades.
As the season has started, the reality of managing such a big squad is starting to look very challenging.
Before I explain a couple of my concerns, I’ll caveat them by highlighting the positives to the squad size. With strict Covid isolation protocols in place for the foreseeable future, it does make sense to have a large squad. Players can drop out for ten days with no notice, it’s a frustrating nuance of these strange times and it makes sense to have the depth to account for this.
The other caveat is that I would rather have our squad depth than Celtic’s. Despite signing twelve players in the summer, their squad turnover was so radical that they now have paper-thin resources to compete across all competitions. As they currently experience a few injuries, their bench is full of untested youths. They would need a remarkable run of luck to win the league with such a trim squad.
Rangers’ start to the season can be described as nothing more than steady and unremarkable. Four wins out of five in the league have been welcome, but the performances have been pedestrian. In isolation, each result and performance could be accepted, but couple them with an uncharacteristically poor European start and the wider picture shows a team that has lost its edge.
The rhythm of the team has been off since day one of pre-season. It was always inevitable Rangers would not be able to find the same level as last season, however, this does not look like a team able to cut open a team that has a decent defensive structure. From middle to front, the play is ponderous. Set pieces, wonder strikes and penalties have made up the goals when not playing relegation candidates like Ross County and Livingston.
I’m finding it difficult to escape from the conclusion that there is simply too much competition in the squad at the moment. Take Sakala, for example. A free agent signing, but no doubt one on a healthy wage. His season has been remarkably stop-start. The Zambian has played 157 minutes over six games. While it sounds like he’s been shaking off an injury, it’s evident he needs a run of games to bed himself into the team, but there are simply too many players in similar positions to allow him an extended run. These 15-minute cameos are doing little to help his confidence. If Gerrard gives Sakala a few games in a row to feel his way into Scottish football, he has any combination of Morelos, Roofe, Hagi, Wright or Kent banging at his door asking what’s going on.
That’s what happens when you replace a Greg Stewart with a Fashion Sakala; you no longer have a willing third-choice option. Rangers now have six or seven “first choice” forwards with not enough games to accommodate them all, and not enough rhythm in the team to allow for a fluid movement of players in and out of the team.
Every good team should have competition for spaces, but when does a squad reach a point where there are too many options? When Ryan Jack and Nnamdi Ofoborh are fit, Rangers have almost three options for each midfield role. A signing fresh in the door such as Juninho Bacuna already looks consigned to spend the vast majority of the season in the reserves and on the bench because it’s doubtful there will be space for him. The revered transfer policy suddenly looks a bit weaker when players seem to be signing to make up the considerable numbers rather than improve the team.
This isn’t a DEFCON 1 situation. Rangers should still have the quality to win trophies domestically, but that can’t be taken for granted. Whether we can recapture the magic in Europe is unclear, but that will always be a bonus when so much is at stake in the league.
The squad look bloated and packed to the rafters, and it feels like this will inevitably lead to some unrest. Rangers filled a squad full of first-team players against St Johnstone without Hagi, Goldson, Jack, Patterson, Bacuna and Ofoborh being available. Even when 90% of the squad is fit, first-team players will miss out on matchday squads and it’s difficult to see how that doesn’t lead to some unhappiness.
Rangers need a spark to set the season alight and to assert a lead at the top of the league. Right now, it feels like too many cooks are spoiling the broth as the manager chops and changes to fit players in. There must be tough decisions on a weekly basis for Gerrard, but it will take some strong management to make it through this season with a content squad.
Rangers remain in pole position and it’s our title to retain. Now is the time for someone to take the season by the scruff of the neck and make themselves undroppable.
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