3 hours ago
16
What a slog. Just when it felt like Rangers could not sink any lower this season, they somehow managed to plumb new depths in a woeful display against Falkirk.
Knowing victory would have closed the gap on Hearts to seven points at the top of the table, Danny Rohl’s side blew a great chance to drag themselves back into the title race.
Perhaps the most damning aspect was that they never even looked remotely likely to win. This was as bad as anything Rangers have produced over recent months.
If anything, they are getting worse. It was a performance that would have put folk to sleep, and little wonder the Ibrox crowd vented their frustrations at full-time.
Although Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart have departed the scene, the squad they left behind remains patently unfit for purpose.
Rangers were 13 points behind Hearts when Rohl took charge. That the gap is now nine, with a game in hand, speaks more of the Tynecastle club faltering than it does of Rangers making progress.
Falkirk goalkeeper Scott Bain had little to do in their goalless draw with Rangers at Ibrox
Danny Rohl consoles captain James Tavernier after a game Rangers never looked likely to win
Falkirk boss John McGlynn was disappointed that his team only took a point from the match
Rohl has been lumbered with a sub-standard group of players. Nobody would argue with that. But that doesn’t mean he gets a free pass from now until January.
Not when the performance levels are as awful as this, against a team who were playing in League One only a couple of years ago.
For the most part, Falkirk goalkeeper Scott Bain was a passenger. Rangers could have played for another couple of hours and still wouldn’t have scored.
Rohl spoke afterwards of his frustration that certain players aren’t taking advantage of the fresh start he’s offered them under his management.
Of course, that labours under the mistaken belief that these players actually have another level to reach. Plainly, most of them don’t. They are bang-average.
Rohl had managed to steer them to four league wins in a row coming into this match. That in itself was scarcely believable, and merely papered over the cracks.
Rangers had been getting away with it. Their flaws were brutally exposed here against a Falkirk side who could well have won had they been a little braver.
Rohl and his players now face Dundee United at Tannadice on Wednesday night at the start of a hectic schedule over the next month or so.
If he can somehow keep this gaggle of misfits within striking distance of Celtic and Hearts come January, it will be an act of alchemy.
With Celtic winning at Easter Road in the lunchtime kick-off, the gauntlet had been laid down for Rangers to keep pace.
Rohl made four changes from the 1-1 draw with Braga in the Europa League last Thursday night, with Bojan Miovski, Thelo Aasgaard, Oliver Antman and Nedim Bajrami all coming into the team.
This was only Bajrami’s second start of the season and he was asked to play out wide on the left, with Aasgaard operating in the No 10 role behind Miovski in Rohl’s 4-2-3-1 shape.
Falkirk have been a revelation since returning to the top flight, John McGlynn’s Bairns flying high inside the top six as they made the trip to Glasgow.
Chasing a first league win at Ibrox since 1925, they started the match well and their pace down the wings courtesy of Ethan Williams and Kyrell Wilson caused Rangers problems.
Calvin Miller was also dropping into some clever pockets of space as he forged links with the evergreen Brian Graham up front.
Not for the first time in recent weeks, Rangers were one-paced and predictable in possession and the home crowd soon voiced their frustrations.
Miovski and Aasgaard, in particular, were dreadful. Miovski has only scored one league goal since joining, and that was at the Falkirk Stadium in early October.
He continues to look a shadow of the player who, at one stage, was the best striker in the country when he played for Aberdeen.
The first real chance of note came on 20 minutes when Max Aarons floated a cross to the back post. Antman made a mess of the header and couldn’t get it on target.
Bajrami was the only player who looked capable of injecting some pace into the Rangers attack and curled an effort just wide of Bain’s post a couple of minutes before half-time.
Even by the home side’s depressing standards this season, the opening 45 minutes were as poor as anything they have produced domestically over these past few months.
Off the ball and out of possession, there was no energy to them. They allowed Falkirk time and space to play, while there was no aggression or desire to press high up the pitch.
The tempo was slightly better at the start of the second half but Rohl clearly wasn’t impressed. A double change just before the hour saw Jayden Meghoma and Djeidi Gassama replace Antman and Aarons.
Falkirk also made two changes, with former Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield afforded a warm reception by the Ibrox crowd when he entered the fray.
There was a huge let-off for the home side on 64 minutes when Falkirk substitute Alfredo Agyeman pounced on a moment of hesitancy and closed down Jack Butland’s clearance.
All sorts of panic ensued in the Ibrox defence, especially when Nasser Djiga started dilly-dallying rather than clearing the danger.
Only a couple of minutes later, Rangers poured forward on the counter-attack and a neat ball from Nico Raskin eventually found Gassama.
He cut back and unleashed a shot at goal. Bain made the save and the ball just evaded Bajrami on the rebound. It was as close as Rangers had come all afternoon.
Truth be told, moments of genuine quality were extremely rare from both teams. You couldn’t dress it up as anything other than a terrible game of football.
‘We’re disappointed,’ admitted Falkirk boss McGlynn. ‘We didn’t start the game well. Listen, I’m not going to be too critical as we’ve still taken a point away from Ibrox.
‘It’s been 100 years or whatever since Falkirk won here as a club. But I believe we are better than what we showed today. That’s the frustrating thing.’
All in all, the Bairns will view this as a missed opportunity. For Rangers, it was a day when reality started to bite for Rohl.
This squad is miles away from where he needs it to be. The January sales can’t come quick enough for the Rangers manager.
