Trips to Dingwall and Aberdeen in the space of three days, with a squad still far from its full compliment. The Christmas period is ‘mentality week’ for Michael Beale and Rangers. They have the opportunity to impress and answer questions, or provoke an inevitable inquest.

“We’ve got the two longest journeys in Scottish football back-to-back in three days before Christmas,” Beale said speaking yesterday ahead of tonight’s meeting with Aberdeen.

“It’s a big week where eyes are going to be on us so it’s a great opportunity for us to make sure that we impress people and not keep the questions coming in the background. It’s a mentality week.”

Rangers head to Pittodrie following a 3-2 win against Hibs that confirmed suspicions of the size of task in hand for Beale, the length of journey needed to rediscover confidence properly.

Compact, aggressive and fast after the break, they exuded vulnerability before it. “There was a lot of the first half that made me realise, there’s a lot of work we’ve got to do,” he said. “Where we are at the moment is 45 minutes into a long, long journey."

After the interval, Rangers were more free-flowing, more loaded with identity than they have been in months. Throughout Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s domestic era a presiding sense of unsustainability surrounded results, and sure enough, that would eventually prove his undoing. One point from six against St Johnstone and St Mirren just before the World Cup break was bad enough on the basis of results and exacerbated by performances. If your football isn’t a good watch you’d better make sure results are consistent. Otherwise, when points dry up there’ll be little in the way of promising indicators to earn patience.

Identity has been a buzzword of Beale’s early weeks in the job because it matters. He has a clear vision of how Rangers should play, a clear belief of why that will work. That has to be married with steel and resolve, however. Earning points on bad days is an important trait, so long as those bad days don’t frequent the calendar regularly.

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"This team needs to know how to grind it out and win ugly at times," he added looking back at the 1-0 Pittodrie win which kicked off the 2020/21 unbeaten league season.

“We need to make sure if we’re not at our free-flowing best we show our qualities in terms of being able to keep clean sheets and to win ugly at times.

"For me, the key thing is the time on the training pitch. That’s not coming in until after the new year schedule so until then it’s about conversations and just re-motivating the team to go out there.

READ MORE: How Rangers switched it up at half-time to 'get around' the Hibs block

“At this moment in time, that’s the most important thing for us – to try and get performance happy. That will double up with results. I certainly don’t want to go all for the result with no style or substance because I think over a while we might get tripped up with that. It’s important we get to the style we want as quickly as possible.”

The type of game that awaits in the North-East is somewhat of an unknown. Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin was forced to defend his tactical framework in the wake of a 1-0 defeat against Celtic this weekend. While the game was decided by a one-goal margin, Aberdeen completed 136 passes to the visitor's 777 and created 0.07xG to 2.34. They sat low and invited pressure but never enjoyed a spell of retaliation to vindicate the gameplan.

Can they afford to approach this tie with the same plan? Is blood and thunder inevitable under the lights? Will a more open game suit Beale’s side?

Regardless of Goodwin’s blueprint, tonight’s game will test the resolve, ask serious questions of the intentions and apply pressure just like the first half did last Thursday for Rangers.

And that’s where mentality comes into play. Under Van Bronckhorst this team developed an unhealthy habit of dropping points away from Ibrox. Rangers failed to win on 12 occasions under the Dutchman's management in the Scottish Premiership and nine of those matches came on the road. As the Rangers Review wrote earlier in the season, underlying numbers suggested the dropped points that arrived in Perth and Paisley seemed inevitable.

In January of this year Rangers dropped points at both of the venues they visit this week. At Pittodrie they earned a lead during what was a poor 90 minutes and conspired to hand over control of the game, resulting in a late concession. In Dingwall, they led 1-0 and 3-2 but drew after a late County corner was converted.

Beale knows identity is paramount if he is to be successful at Rangers. That's why the theme of giving players 'clarity' has been often repeated and superlatives supporters have discussed all season offered up in media conferences. 

That is the route to long-term success in Beale's mind. In the short term, he needs his team to view "pressure as a privilege" to borrow his own phrase and ditch the vulnerability that's shadowed them on the road in the past year.

This era may be young and Beale’s success does not depend on the upcoming double-header, but it will depend on such moments.