Rangers' Dundee United defeat had nothing to do with crowds

But suggestions it transpired due to an inability to deal with crowds or failure to adapt to a remerging pressure seems far-fetched.

Of course, games with an atmosphere can have an impact on the outcome. Just look at the comments made by Steven Gerrard ahead of the home tie with Malmo today.

He said: "I am going to call on the Ibrox crowd. I have never done it before, but we are going to need them. We are going to need them for a full 90 minutes.”

He demonstrates just how significant a full-voiced, full-blooded Ibrox crowd can be.

But those reasoning that this team can’t cope with a tough away tie are perhaps not considering that in moments where an atmosphere could have been advantageous last season, Rangers still delivered.

And no crowd pressure equates to the demands of stopping your biggest rivals from winning ten straight championships. That is the very definition of pressure.

Reflecting on the weekend, this was the first time Dundee United had played in front of their fans in the top division since returning to the top flight.

While you could argue that this increased the frequency of their attacks and intensity of play, teams are far more inclined to attack at home than do so at Ibrox.

After all, this was the case last season.

When playing at home, no team got near Rangers in the league. But in fixtures played away there was a handful of frustrating 90 minutes.

READ MORE: Individual off-days and a lack of variety: Why Rangers lost their winning streak

That’s why, while Saturday exhibited areas in which this team must improve, the display was not isolated to this season. Instead, it highlights a type of game that this team must improve on to become more relentless.

The importance of perspective

The performance served up at the weekend was not absent from Rangers’ 20/21 unbeaten league campaign. In fact, the Ibrox side had more than one slack performance away from home in which they could conceivably have beaten.

First, let's look at the 1-1 draw with Hamilton in February in Lanarkshire.

A draw was considered to be the fair outcome by StatsBomb. But Accies had six shots on target to Rangers’ two and Allan McGregor played arguably his best game of the season.

A goal was only forthcoming when Brian Easton converted into his own net. Otherwise, the visitors registered an xG of 0.08 from shots on target.

A 1-1 draw with St Johnstone after the split was a match in which Rangers, by all measures, snatched a point. St Johnstone’s far higher xG of 2.09 to Rangers’ 0.35 demonstrates the lack of offensive threat Gerrard’s side offered that day.

They again only had two shots on target throughout the whole 90 minutes.

The pass map from that match further illustrates the lack of goal threat throughout the side. 

A 1-1 draw at Fir Park saw Rangers struggle to create anything of note until Cedric Itten equalised with a header, that was marginally offside.

All this to suggest, this performance could conceivably have occurred even if the hosts hadn't been cheered on by 5000 returning fans. 

It should not be forgotten, of course, the league was all but won by the time all these matches were played - but the carrot of conformation and an unbeaten season remained.

What is stark about all the matches highlighted from last season is how slowly Rangers began them. Last term, they fell on the right side of narrow margins even when first-half performances were poor.

Commenting on the United defeat, Gerrard told Sky Sports: “We’ve been top and unbreakable almost. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case today.”

Even when his team did not hit the heights expected last season - they managed to remain unbreakable in the league. 

The challenge now for him and his side is to combat these slow starts away from home.

Speaking yesterday, Gerrard told a press conference: "We won't use any excuses, our last two performances were not at our level but that is on me and we will take any criticism. We only need one performance to light the fire again."

His side has consistently delivered and can be forgiven for a defeat - to state the obvious there's yet to be a team in world football that has stumbled across the formula to avoid them.

Gaining results in these tricky away ties will become far more attainable when Gerrard's team start games at the level he expects.