Four wins in a row, three clean sheets, one goal conceded, and nine goals scored. The anxiety of a potentially rocky transition to a new manager is now a distant memory for the Rangers support.
The baton has been passed to Giovanni van Bronckhorst with ease. While too early to say with any certainty, it looks like the millions of pounds brought in for Gerrard’s team is simply an added bonus to the boost that the change has given the squad.
Gio has worked well with his new charges, with the early hallmarks being the flexibility deployed in comparison to Gerrard’s rigidity. Small tweaks in each game have been evident and reflective of the challenge at hand. This was obvious against Dundee on Saturday as Scott Arfield added to the attacking power that overwhelmed the visitors. A three-goal defeat somewhat flattered Dundee and it was another very encouraging outing for Gio’s management style.
In amongst a hectic schedule of fixtures and coaching changes, Rangers’ AGM still grabbed a lot of headlines as always. Ross Wilson’s comments at the AGM caught my ear on two occasions; Rangers do not need to sell players and that he is comfortable with the contract situation across the club.
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It’s a relief to hear there will be no necessity to sell players purely for the need of keeping the club afloat but also not overly surprising. It would be bizarre for the board to bring the club this far forward to now abandon the project in favour of a fire sale. I don’t think Rangers should or would rule out selling players completely, but it’s reassuring to know that any player that does leave, will be leaving for the correct reasons and price.
Where Wilson’s comments did raise an eyebrow is in saying he is comfortable with the contract situations. I am still to be convinced that it is a comfortable situation. Connor Goldson's contract situation should have been resolved by this point. Either a new contract should have been agreed with the player that played every single minute of an invincible title-winning season, or he should have been moved on and replaced in the summer.
Elsewhere, three of Rangers’ potentially most saleable assets (Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos) enter the final 18 months of their contracts. They are now into the stages where clubs will be tough in negotiations, knowing that in one year they would be able to seal their man on a pre-contract. While it continues to benefit Rangers on the pitch, unless some surprising deals are signed in the coming months, this will represent a failure to implement the suggested player trading model that allows a healthy amount of money to arrive for the biggest assets.
Despite the heavy run of fixtures that greet Rangers in December, it’s difficult to not still find an eye wandering towards the January transfer window. It will be fascinating to see how Ross Wilson’s AGM comments translate into reality when it comes to potential arrivals and departures.
The situation materially changed when van Bronckhorst arrived. The squad was no longer built for the manager in place. Gio clearly has different ideas. While nothing major, the squad - particularly the midfield options - now looks slightly out of sync with his philosophy. The central midfield options look bloated whereas the options for the wings look limited. Added to that are defensive issues - Calvin Bassey is filling in admirably but a once well-oiled defensive machine now looks threadbare.
In depth and quality, the squad remains strong but it would make some sense to allow van Bronckhorst to work with Wilson to accelerate a small amount of changes that inevitably would occur next summer regardless. It also makes sense for the balance of the squad. If Sakala and Kent faced prolonged injury or suspension, do Rangers have the quality to cover the positions on the wing? The answer is likely no and suddenly the squad depth is futile in addressing the problem.
If that requires a player to be sold to allow that to take place, so be it. The club may not need to sell, but it may make sense to make a sale to give Gio an early start in the market. Rangers fans shouldn’t be scared of a small number of alterations to compliment the manager’s ideas. This is a squad that is very familiar to fans, but we are now moving into a new era and I would rather van Bronckhorst was allowed to start making tweaks sooner rather than later. If only one or two loans with options to buy, it could make a huge difference to what can be achieved.
Even with Gio settling into the job nicely, Rangers cannot afford to stand still. All indicators suggest a title race may be on. Rangers retain a four point lead but the top two sides are currently matching each other punch for punch. Celtic will look to plug gaps in their squad in January, Rangers should also be proactive and look to tweak ours to support the new manager in what threatens to be a fiery final few months of the season.
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