Five Rangers things we learned as they defeated Dundee United

However, in the freezing fog around Ibrox on Saturday there was a real danger of the Ibrox club losing their way as they struggled against a plucky Dundee United side made up of youngsters from the club’s youth academy after a Covid outbreak last week had denied them six first-team regulars. The Ibrox side had to grind the win out, although given that Rangers got there in the end they will feel that at this stage of the season it is about banking points rather than performances. The fact remains, however, that there a few questions raised from what was an insipid display.  

The most obvious is that Rangers rely heavily on the influence of Joe Aribo. Their most consistent and creative performer this season it said everything about his contribution that his arrival off the bench in the second period drew the biggest cheer of the day, outwith the delight when James Tavernier’s penalty hit the back of the net. With Aribo one booking away from a suspension that would have ruled him out of January’s meeting against Celtic, Giovanni van Bronckhorst had hoped to get through the game without risking him. As it was he was forced into putting him on as Rangers struggled to break the spirit of United. If there was a sense of relief that Rangers got out of this one with all three points there was as much satisfaction that Aribo was unscathed. On this evidence the Ibrox side are creatively compromised without him. 

Van Bronckhorst is not the kind to indulge in sideline histrionics. Quietly composed and always well within himself, the Dutchman was the most animated that anyone would have seen him since his arrival at the club. He could be seen repeatedly shrugging his shoulders, gloved palms raised to the sky as he grew increasingly exasperated at the sloppiness of his side. His irritation was complete when Ianis Hagi indulged in some nonsensical showboating in stoppage time in a move that culminated with United’s Darren Watson looping a header off the crossbar. That the Romanian offered a swift post-match apology would suggest he was left with an unambiguous impression of his manager’s thoughts on the matter. 

James Tavernier had the briefest of spells at centre-back as Rangers lined up with him in the middle. It took only three minutes for van Bronckhorst to switch things around and push him back out wide with Calvin Bassey moving inside and Nathan Patterson sent out left. If Tavernier was more settled in the familiar position, there was a confidence too as he took up his penalty kick duties. With 50,000 supporters well aware of the impact dropped points would have in the title race, Tavernier’s penalty was an emphatic effort that suggested he might have been the most assured person in the stadium at that point. “You put Tavernier behind the ball, then you know he’s going to score” was his manager’s aside after the game.  

Rangers were over-reliant on Glenn Kamara to try to make things happen. The midfielder found it difficult to operate and exploit any space given the work-rate of United players buzzing round about him. Rangers switched things around at the break as they took off the ineffective John Lundstram with Hagi, who had struggled to make an impact on the right, given a more central role and Scott Wright introduced. The fact remains, though, that Rangers are a team who seem to lack leadership at times when the game is staid in the way that Saturday’s was. More needs to come from the likes of Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos in such situations given the quality that they have. Both were fairly quiet in their contributions.  

Nathan Patterson is capable at left-back but has far more menace and threat on the right. It is a difficult conundrum to find a way to accommodate both Tavernier and the Scotland internationalist but playing the best players in their best positions is to the benefit of the team as a whole. With Borna Barisic ill and forced out of the game at the last minute it was a case of simply making it work on Saturday but in the long-term there has to be a way to organise the team that gets the best out of Patterson given what he has to offer in his natural position. Not that he is of mind to complain about it.
“Just getting on the pitch is a bonus, no matter where you play,” said the 20-year-old.  

“With the under-19s I played a large chunk of the season at left-back and I’ve played centre-mid before too, so you get to sample those different positions when you’re coming up through the youth levels.  

“It’s a good challenge for you. 

“Obviously, if you can play more positions you’ve got a better chance of playing. It’s just a benefit to yourself. 

“We’ve had a new burst of life [under van Bronckhorst] and everyone is enjoying working under him. Anytime you work under a new manager you get an opportunity to learn new things. 

“He’s obviously a foreign manager so it’s good to learn different stuff, especially at a young age.”