Rangers 3 – 1 St. Johnstone – Match Report

By Lee ClarkAs I’ve said countless times in this column, I take no pleasure in attending a Rangers game in a negative mind-set and it’s even more annoying that I need to begin this article in that sort of tone but, unfortunately that is where we must start. The build up to St Johnstone at Ibrox was one dominated by off field matters, as a hastily arranged fans protest was announced by the Union Bears, supported from the Rangers Supporters Association in the wake of Patrick Stewart’s address to the media on Saturday; a press conference that had itself been brought forward from Sunday which, on the face of it seemed to suggest that Stewart was well aware of the severity of the situation on the pitch. For a section of Rangers fans it wasn’t to be the news they had hoped and some had already (very publicly) called for the Managers head in the aftermath of Thursday night.The new CEO had delivered the (sometimes dreaded) news that the club would be backing the coaching staff, with fans immediately taking to the FollowFollow.com message board and other social media outlets to start what seemed like an endless amount of arguing and sniping at each other, as to what the best course of action should now be. The planned protest was announced via a joint statement, urging fans to leave the stadium on 55 minutes to demonstrate their displeasure to the Rangers Board and it’s fair to say it was met with mixed emotions. There was of course plenty of support online but, I did wonder how this would translate to the match going fans. I won’t sit on the fence here; I’m all for protest and I do feel that fans have a right to voice their complaints as long as it doesn’t cross a line into mindless abuse and violence as we have seen from other clubs. That being said, I didn’t agree with the 55 minute walk out today and would have preferred if fans wanted to protest in that way, they just stayed away altogether (as many said they would in fairness). For me, it was only going to create more division within an already frustrated support and as stated, I just didn’t think it would be met with enough enthusiasm from the rest of the fans to make a significant impact. More of that later.Turning to football matters (yes there was a game going on), manager Philippe Clement made two changes from the dismal midweek display at Dens Park with Danilo and Raskin replacing Bajrami and Barron. In truth, there was very few within that squad who deserved to retain their place in the team, as ‘Gers limped to yet another draw and more dropped points in what has been a not so Merry Festive period. Even when you consider the one win in five the team managed in that time, was the complete demolition of runaway leaders Celtic, it has done little to subdue the anger felt from the support. Thursday’s horror show added to a bigger picture of only 13 points from a possible 33 away from home in the league, a quite appalling record which has seen even then most positive of Rangers fans turn on the team and manager.All that being said, there is no hiding place at Rangers and they still had a job to do.  I must admit, arriving at the stadium, I did have an uneasy feeling as to what the official 45818 attendance would actually look like.  Whatever was to happen later in the game, I had speculated that a crowd of as around 30k would turn up for this one but,  it turns out I was very wrong with that. Credit to everyone who made the effort, there was much closer to 40k inside the stadium by the time the game kicked off, a great turnout after what has been a grim time to be a Bluenose.Rangers started the game brightly and within minutes it was clear how this match would unfold. St Johnstone were going to offer very little to proceedings and with the light blues dominating the ball in the final third of the pitch it was only a matter of time until the first goal, which duly arrived on 15 minutes.Great work by Cerny and Diomande down the left saw the latter break into the box and his perfect cutback was knocked home by one of the few shining lights in recent times, Hamza Igamane. Everything this boy touches just now turns to goals and whilst delighted with his contribution it only adds to the frustration that he wasn’t more involved in games like Thursday night, where he cut an isolated figure for almost the entire match. Even more bizarre was the manager choosing to single him out for criticism from that game however we are going over old ground here and in any case, four minutes later it was 2-0, Cerny finishing a lovely move after being slipped through by Danilo. Almost immediately it was almost three after Cerny and Igamane again linked up brilliantly in the box which saw the Morrocan’s goal bound shot being deflected wide. The Rangers front 4 were very much in the mood and the game was put to bed in 25 minutes with Diomande calmly heading home after a blunder in the St Johnstone box, from Cerny’s cross. Rangers weren’t done there and continued to pepper the visitors’ goal until the break, with the best of the chances again falling to Igamane, whose audacious overhead kick attempt, demonstrated once again how much confidence the young man currently has.Into the second half and Rangers failed to continue with that spark we had seen in the opening 45 minutes and it was St Johnstone who were back into the game after crossing the half way line for what felt like the first time. It was a typically soft goal (our trademark these days) with a simple header from a corner on 53 minutes. It’s been a real bone of contention amongst the Rangers support, in that we simply haven’t strengthened in the correct areas, the defence being the main one. It was another terrible goal to lose and was almost a carbon copy of what we seen at Easter Road a week ago. Whilst I appreciate our defensive short-comings are amplified due to a ridiculous injury list, are they really expecting anyone to believe that we can’t do the most basic of tasks correctly anymore?Attention then turned to the protest and unfortunately it went as feared. A chorus of boos rung out from all sides of Ibrox as the singing section emptied, accompanied by around 1000 or so other fans dotted around the stadium. It wasn’t a great moment for anyone and when you already have a support who can’t agree on the colour of the sky I never felt like this would go well. For all I have criticised the UB’s at times, I thought their actions (and those who supported it) were done with the best of intentions yesterday and it was unfair and out of order in the extreme for them to be booed like that. No one was being forced to do anything and surely there isn’t anyone in the stadium, who can honestly say they are happy with how things are going?That being said I do believe this was down to a culmination of events this season and the booing was directed to who had organised it, rather than the protest itself. I would also ask to what end was the protest done? This felt rushed today, with not enough thought for what happens next. I’ll qualify this by saying I don’t have the answers either so it’s not a criticism. I’m as tormented as any other Bluenose at what is going on at my cub and the complete erosion of standards this past couple of seasons so I completely understand why people have had enough but, if we do indeed ‘sack the board’ as the section chanted, what happens next?Inevitably the manager was asked about it post match:‘I am focused on the team and getting the results and I know from my experience here that if we get the results the fans will always be behind the team. I understand their frustrations, I am also frustrated. I want everybody to be united. Simple. But it has to do with performance, we want consistency, I want consistency and so do the fans. I support the review (of the football department) because there are several things that need to be addressed to go to the level that we all want. My pressure is I want to win every game. The team needs the fans behind them but it isn’t a one way street, the team needs to give the fans the right stuff and we are going to work hard to do that.’The game then ran its course with very little talking points. Several changes were made but, they did little to ignite any sort of urgency back into the team and Rangers ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. Philippe Clement echoed what he has said so many times this season already:‘A good first half with good attacking moments and really good goals. Second half we wanted to do the same but, as the half went on the lower our tempo became and not what I want to see.  A well-deserved victory but, we need to keep that level for 90 minutes’I do wonder how frustrating it must be for the manager having to say the same thing over and over because it’s frustrating as hell for us to watch and hear it game after game. I was also able to ask him about the comments from Patrick Stewart and the possibility of bringing in ‘one or two’, particularly in defence after the team continues to lose very soft goals.‘It’s frustrating to lose goals like that because we need to win the duels. About positions, I never like to speak about that. Everyone knows in the building what we want and what we need and I saw the last two month a lot of players the recruitment team have come with good players (suggestions) that can add quality to the squad and it’s about seeing how far the club can get with getting them over the line’Rangers now face Aberdeen on Wednesday night before undertaking two cup matches with a difference as we welcome Fraserburgh in the Scottish Cup and then a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the Europa League.