520 days and 40 games on from the last time Steven Gerrard’s team tasted defeat in the Scottish Premiership, a second-half strike from Jamie Robson ended their long-stretching unbeaten run on matchday two of season 21/22.

It was the team’s second defeat this week and while there was plenty of perspective from fans post-match, as you would hope at the end of a 17-month unbeaten run, there remains more than a touch of scar tissue from games gone by.

While not necessarily doing enough to win the match, Rangers also fell foul of small margins, suffered from a lack of tactical variety and were victims of an array of below-par performances.

Reflecting on the culmination of his side’s undefeated league status, Gerrard told Sky Sports: “We’ve been top and unbreakable almost. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case today.”

With supporters back at Tannadice for the first time since lockdown, this was always going to be a match in which the visitors needed to manage the environment and play on the presumption that their opponents would find an extra yard.

While cliché, it proved true. United were really aggressive without the ball, defended their box superbly and hustled tirelessly to close any avenues to goal Rangers tried to exploit.

Despite dominating plenty of the match, Gerrard’s side only fleetingly tested Benji Siegrist. A James Tavernier effort produced a save for the cameras and Alfredo Morelos missed the target from a good position.

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Joe Aribo and Glen Kamara both failed to snatch at shooting opportunities in the box, a few excellent deliveries weren’t taken advantage of by the forward line.

Connor Goldson powered a header past the upright after out jumping Charlie Mulgrew. And ultimately, the game-deciding goal would come with the benefit of a fortuitous deflection in the build-up.

“Second half we’ve played with more control, the majority of the game has been played in Dundee [United’s] half. But there’s no point getting there if you can’t find that quality or that invention to go and hurt teams,” Gerrard added.

“At 0-0 at places like this you always run that risk of them scoring against the run of play, so that’s how it was.”

Of greater concern was the way Tam Courts’ side fashioned space sufficient to prise an opening in their opponent’s backline for the game’s only goal.

Twice this week Rangers have conceded a goal that exploited their defensive shape. Before what Gerrard called possibly the biggest game this group have faced on Tuesday, fundamentals that have vanquished this past five days will need to be reinstated.

The Rangers Review have written at length about the ongoing discussion regarding the need for tactical variety and evolution at the club.

Gerrard commented in pre-season that teams would try and “stop this system” having seen it in various forms for three seasons.

United mirrored a similar style to Rangers out of possession, showing them around and outside their shape. This allowed James Tavernier and Borna Barisic room at points as they pushed high, but the visitors were fairly ponderous in possession and played at a pace that suited their opponents.

The Ibrox side's undoing again came from a lack of speed in nullifying the opposition and a failure of the midfield to supplement the defence.

In midweek, Malmo managed to stretch the Rangers backline by exploiting the lack of pressure put on the ball as it was received in the full-back area, where space is deliberately afforded. This triggered forward vertical runs and ultimately, bore fruit due to the midfield not fulfilling their defensive responsibility.

So sighting of similar capitalization in today’s defeat is worrying.

As Robson receives the ball out wide, he has room to move into space before John Lundstram closes him down. Adrian Sporle is shown infield by James Tavernier, who is counting on the fact that the space left behind him will be protected by his covering midfielder, but still allows his man too easy a route to goal.

Sporle should see Robson’s run instead of trying to cut across the defence, but that slice of luck spares him. Lundstram is ball watching and doesn’t protect the space that the goal eventually comes from.

READ MORE: Why does Steven Gerrard want to introduce a new system?

Elsewhere Ryan Kent had a match in which nothing worked. He played very centrally in the first half but was rarely picked up behind the United midfield.

Too often, Kent is guilty of overcomplicating attacking situations and this game proved no exception. He clipped a ball perfectly onto the head of Alfredo Morelos at one point, when he chose to use a crossing position fashioned on his left foot instead of trying to jink back on his right.

This point must be countered with the fact that after a similarly mixed appearance in midweek, Kent assisted Steven Davis’ vital last-minute goal to make Rangers’ Champions League progress realistic.

Given he is a player who never shirks responsibility and always receives in pressurised areas, such performances are perhaps inevitable.

Glen Kamara was handed more attacking license due to a flat three being played in midfield but struggled to make an impact. Joe Aribo added moments of quality, but none that had any noticeable impact on the game. Borna Barisic is still recovering match sharpness evidently.

In saying all of this, there is no team that does not endure an off day. Think back to the start of last season when Rangers drew 0-0 with Livingston. Without the security of a 55th title, supporters were justified in questioning this team’s identity as champions, something no longer up for debate.

Gerrard’s team could have fallen on the wrong side of marginal differences that day, but they didn’t and went the whole season unbeaten.

He added on RangersTV the last two performances will not be enough to earn passage past Malmo in midweek. His task now is to prepare this team to hit the heights of which they're capable.