How many toxic nights can one club endure? As Andrew Cavenagh travels back to America following his latest visit to these shores, it is a question he will have to ponder, because here was another entry.
Rangers have played their joker card and changed head coach mid-season. Of course, you cannot do the same with your squad. Despite Danny Rohl making some good early decisions and impressions, even the most elite in this Ibrox dugout would struggle to turn such a ship quickly.
Rangers are not a formation tweak or minor improvement away from where they ought to be. Rohl is not the fifth man in four years to hold this position by coincidence, and arguably, the German has the biggest job of the lot. This was another night that reminded everyone why.
Last night’s bleak 2-0 defeat at home to Roma felt, once again, as much about events off the pitch as on it. A muddled squad, appearing weaker physically than in any recent European season, did what they’ve done all season: underperform. An angry crowd needed no encouragement to remind those in the directors’ box, through chants and banners, that their club is becoming more unrecognisable by the game.
On the pitch, this was 90 minutes of home truths; this Rangers squad is not good enough for where it wants to be. In the summer, the club badly needed a new core, something they’ve lacked since 2022, yet they are still relying on last season’s group, which wasn’t good enough then and is now a year older. At present, it is hard to argue that this current squad is any better than last season’s.
Hamza Igamane, Cyriel Dessers, Vaclav Cerny, Ianis Hagi, Leon Balogun, Ridvan or Jefte, in how many positions is this squad an upgrade on last season? How many of last season’s players would get into this one?
Rangers hardly laid a glove on their Serie A opponents last night, and Roma hardly moved into third or fourth gear. Ally McCoist was once again left to vent on commentary about the physical difference between Rangers and a European opposition. A club that’ve made successive Europa League quarter-finals now find themselves ranked 36th of 36 after four matchdays, having scored just one goal.
Seven European defeats on the spin is the worst run in the club’s history, scoring three and conceding 19 in that stretch of matches. In January, Rangers held the longest unbeaten European away run in Scottish football history. Losing to Braga next would equal the longest losing streak on the continent of any Scottish club. This is no blip - as the underlying numbers below demonstrate, Rangers’ xG difference (chances created minus conceded) has them 35th out of 36 in the competition.
Who among this summer’s signings has performed consistently? Who could be described as anything close to a success so far? Djeidi Gassama is currently off the boil and likely not helped by being deployed in so many different positions to compensate for others’ underperformance.
Loan players aren’t free; they need to make an impact now. The considerable cost of Nasser Djiga, Max Aarons, Jayden Meghoma and Mikey Moore merits attention because such deals only benefit the club in the short term, as Cerny, Abdallah Sima and Malik Tillman have shown in the recent past. Moore and Meghoma are clearly talented youngsters, but they are still developing as players, and even the best will struggle to demonstrate consistency while doing so. Entering the season with only a 19-year-old loanee as a natural left-back option looks like a worse decision by the week.
Joe Rothwell and Aarons were the first signings of the summer, supposedly forming a new core of experienced individuals. Nico Raskin and James Tavernier were dropped after the opening day of the season against Motherwell. Indeed, Rothwell played ahead of Raskin for weeks, and Aarons briefly usurped Tavernier for the Champions League play-off games against Brugge. Since being hooked at half-time in that 6–0 defeat, Rothwell has started just three of Rangers’ 13 fixtures. Tavernier, predictably, has been relied upon more than ever, as has always been the story of his career here. Since climbing off the bench in Brugge, he has been rested for 45 minutes in that same 13-match spell.
The money spent on Manny Fernandez and Oliver Antman hasn’t translated into the required impact. The former has started just twice and appears more of a development signing when the club so clearly needed an established centre-back to build around. Antman, impressive in last season’s Eredivisie, was supposed to solve long-standing right-wing issues but the 23-year-old has come nowhere close to replicating Cerny’s impact, a player who moved for a similar fee in the summer.
Read more:
- Danny Rohl explains dressing room message after Roma defeat, physicality problem
- Why semi-final defeat captured Rangers' clear and obvious shortcoming since summer
The entire back five who started this game are either out of contract or returning to their parent clubs at the end of the season. All the while, this remains a bloated squad carrying the likes of Kieran Dowell and Rabbi Matondo.
And the striker situation? £8 million shelled out on Youssef Chermiti, only a little less than what was brought in for Hamza Igamane, who continues to shine in France, demanded much more of an impact. The Portuguese forward has plenty of developing to do, but as recent seasons show, that is easier said than done in Glasgow and the pressure on his shoulders is visible. For that money, supporters will expect a world-beater, especially when the ready-now option of Bojan Miovski isn’t proving an upgrade on Cyriel Dessers.
Too many of the players available to Rohl need others to lead them to develop. Kevin Thelwell has reiterated that this squad is better than its showing, but there is a danger the season will be over by the time performances click. The League Cup is done, Europe is now all but done, one more defeat in the league should do it. And that's before you discuss the real possibility of finishing third domestically, and the tricky path Rangers would then have to walk to qualify for any European competition.
Rangers badly required three or four leaders to build around in the summer, quality individuals who surely could’ve been purchased for the money spent across the board. Instead, Tavernier, Souttar, Butland and Raskin remain the most important core; a sound theory only if the new hierarchy had inherited a winning formula, which they had not.
Who is responsible? Is this merely the number of transfers of players so attached to Russell Martin - Rothwell, Aarons and Meghoma to name a few - catching up? The result of trying to cram too many signings into too short a period? Has this squad been fine-tuned for a mode of possession football that has now been abandoned?
Recruitment is collective, as Thelwell has reiterated, but it is the sporting director and CEO Patrick Stewart who faced the brunt of supporters’ frustration with songs and banners last night, visible and audible. Stewart has been in post less than a year and, in that time, has backed three managers, Clement, Martin and now Rohl. It was only ten months ago that Stewart was insisting sacking managers was no “silver bullet” and yet he’s pulled the plug on two since.
An interim appointment sandwiched in between, while an internal review of the football department and a takeover occurred, hardly provided a launchpad for the overly ambitious Martin project. This time last year, Rangers had no permanent CEO or chairman, nor a sporting director, but was there unrest at matches like last night?
Rohl remained defiant in his post-match press conference, “convinced” his side will achieve their goals over time. He will also recognise, as January approaches, that managers live and die by the quality they have available, especially at a club like this, and especially at a time like this.
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