THE thing about unfamiliar territory is you don’t know where it leads.

3-0 down inside 34 minutes last night at the Johan Cruyff Arena, playing in the Champions League proper, this Rangers side were in a position they had been before, but a circumstance they had not. Of all the grounds they’ve visited on European runs during these past five years, of all the teams they’ve faced, none have witnessed such a collapse as visible as last night’s first-half.

Of course, the Rangers support have, just a matter of days ago during Saturday’s Old Firm humiliation. For the second time in five days, their team trudged back down the tunnel at half-time with only damage limitation a realistic target before conceding a slack, preventable, telling fourth goal in Amsterdam. The response to Saturday’s 4-0 defeat was another damaging loss.

Ajax of course have the known quality to chalk up such a commanding advantage. But how many previous away trips have carried that caveat? Repeatedly, Rangers have taken points when they have had no right to do so. This group had earned their promotion into the European elite after years of Thursday night success. Only two weeks ago in Eindhoven, they shuffled, pressed and passed with near perfection to return to football’s promised land. Quality of opposition aside, last night was a far cry from the standards they themselves have set to earn Champions League football.

Whenever domestic form has wavered previously, midweek games have seemingly offered respite. A break from the grind of league football, an opportunity for expression in a game filled with space. Europe has always been something to hold onto throughout tumultuous times and performances have consistently evoked pride. Last night, those memories felt far away.

Ally McCoist’s celebrations on the Ibrox gantry only a matter of months ago after a 3-1 win over RB Leipzig epitomised the atmosphere of Rangers in Europe; giddy excitement, exuberance and joy. Yesterday in the BT Sport studio his visible anger was telling.

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"There's no spirit, doesn't look like there's any fight, there's certainly a lack of belief, if no belief at all," he said.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst wanted a response from his team, James Tavernier wanted a performance for the fans. Instead, 10 of the 11 who took to the field at the weekend continued the weekend’s malaise. During his pre-match press conference, the manager was adamant that he had “no regrets” about the transfer window. Last night needed a performance that had fight and personality to alter the mood from the weekend and provide some iota of momentum. Instead, it supplemented an increasingly widespread feeling that this team has not been refreshed sufficiently in the summer.

Vulnerability at corner kicks has been present all season and broke the deadlock before things threatened to get messy. Ajax played Mohammed Kudus in place of traditional No.9 Brian Brobbery, who regularly exploited the aggression of either centre-back. Connor Goldson at times moved up to pressurise Kudus as he dropped into midfield but the hosts exposed any space the defender vacated. John Lundstram was repeatedly left two-vs-one in the middle and without an outball beyond or through the defence, attacks kept coming with unrelenting consistency.

Edson Alvarez rose unchallenged to open from a corner before a James Sands deflection made it two. Kudus then powered beyond Tavernier and Jon McLaughlin with a strong run and left-footed finish.

“You have to be 100 percent to be ready for the game and you saw everything goes quicker in the Champions League, the pressure, the thinking on the ball, the ball control, the speed of passing,” van Bronckhorst said.

“It's all on a really high level. In the first half especially we couldn't reach that level and we struggled. Every mistake we made got punished by Ajax.”

Only two weeks ago, 1700 supporters, in amongst the gods at Eindhoven, were lauding their team’s odds-defying achievement to navigate a passage into Europe’s elite. Then, van Bronckhorst, normally a sage character when playing teams on the continent, able to utilise his full box of tactical tricks, roared with emotion and arms lifted high. On Saturday, he meekly held an apologetic arm to the smaller continent of away supporters who had faced 90-minutes of agony. Last night the only ounce of excitement generated for the travelling fans was a Borna Barisic shot ruled out for offside. Throughout the entire game, the visitor’s xG stood at 0.09.

Football is all about context and in isolation bad games happen. However, last night lacked every attribute that has re-established this group as a European force. Effort, grit, determination, drive. An ability to stick together and come through difficult patches during a game. Everything that has been a guarantee from this group on the continent dispersed. 

They now travel to Pittodrie on the back of successive thumpings, five points behind in the league and with a squad that looks so very devoid of confidence. Then Napoli, 4-1 victors against Liverpool in the late kick-off, travel to Ibrox. Rangers need to change the mood and do so fast otherwise, as recent two first-half performances testify, the wheels can very quickly come off.