IT HAS been a rough week for those who stick a bit of cash on a Rangers first goalscorer on the way to the ground.
Three fixtures in seven days have seen the side fall behind in all three games. It’s become such a normality this season that I barely flinched when Motherwell took the lead at Fir Park.
Wednesday marked the quarter-point of the season and Rangers are rapidly approaching the same number of goals conceded in 38 games last season.
While last season’s tally of 13 goals conceded was an outlier that will likely never be repeated, it is remarkable that the exact same players can look so different in their defensive approach. The confidence has disappeared, sloppy mistakes are commonplace and they’re adding pressure to their teammates’ performances.
Goldson’s drop in quality has been noted by all and he looks no closer to recapturing his form of last season. It’s no coincidence that Goldson’s Player of the Year performances last season have disappeared and Rangers look incredibly poor in defence. There is no flexibility at centre-back with the injury to Helander and lack of trust in Simpson. The club's vice-captain will need to play through his poor form.
The defence looks no closer to improving, but where the team is struggling at the back, they’re making up for it in fighting spirit all over the rest of the pitch.
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In the three matches in seven days, seven points have been attained from three losing positions. The two dropped points came from recovering a two-goal deficit. Over the course of the league season, Steven Gerrard's side has been behind six times and only once has it ended in defeat.
It’s frustrating that it’s requiring such spirit to get back into games, but it shows the desire to win of the champions is still alive and well.
Celtic handed Rangers a gold-plated chance to extend the lead after a surprising draw at home to Livingston on Saturday, and it was heartening to see Rangers’ performance of the season arriving in response. The players held their nerve after falling behind and if it hadn’t been for the slackness in conceding early in the game, it would have been the perfect performance.
Before Sunday, the Ibrox side had only scored more than two goals on two occasions in the league. Hitting Motherwell for six was the result every fan has been praying for since day one.
The captain, James Tavernier, was the epitome of the side's weaknesses and strengths.
His confusion with Goldson in the build-up to the goal was overridden by his stunning strike and assist to turn the game on its head. That shows what fans may have to live with this season; the deficiencies are obvious, but if the drive to get the team back into winning positions remains, the title will still be within touching distance for this team.
If confidence cannot be drawn from scoring six goals, nothing will work. If Sakala can’t find a way to establish his presence in the team after a hat trick, nothing will work. A four-point lead is always respectable for this point in the season, but to build that while playing poorly for the majority of the games is the main positive to come out of the twelve games.
This is the chance to build on an advantage over the rest of the league. Rangers are the champions and if players like Arfield and Sakala can continue to chap on the door to start games, the competition may just push those around them a bit further. That’s what made last season’s title-winning team so remarkable; more than 11 players had good seasons and everyone knew their place in the team was not guaranteed.
In recent weeks, the team has shown fighting spirit without quality. They showed both against Motherwell. It is too early to predict that the corner has been turned, but November would be the perfect time to finally hit the ground running. December always seems to throw up a run of notoriously difficult games and this year is no different.
If Rangers can put together a string of results in the run-up to December, the nervousness of a poor start to the season may just fade away.
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