The Malmo throw-in echo that bamboozled Rangers analysed - Joshua Barrie

Over two legs against Malmo, they conceded four goals in a duration of seven minutes to exit the qualifiers. Both came in spells after the half-time whistle and were equally exasperating in their form.

Over two legs, Malmo took advantage of any foothold they could leverage. They were clever to attack straight from the restart - and ruthless to gamble on the possibility of a second soon after.

Down to ten men, they knew opportunities would be scarce. By projecting possibility from two throw-in routines, they earned space and Antonio Colak twice finished precisely.

Steven Gerrard said: “We’ve got two restarts badly wrong in the second half and there and we’ve paid for it.”

“We’ve been made to pay from the ball being out of play [at] two throw-in situations and defensively we haven’t been good enough in those situations.

“Besides that, I can’t really think of too many other things that went wrong. As I say when you play teams and players at this level, if you don’t defend situations from restart well, you’ll pay and we have done tonight.

“Again, last week was slightly different but our second-half performances in both games haven’t been good enough.”

Gerrard is right. Up until that point his side had been very good.

Alfredo Morelos sent a rapturous crowd into delirium after connecting with a superb Ryan Kent cross to open the scoring. Steven Davis was excellent in helping to maintain pressure on the Swedes through intelligent positioning and his use of the ball.

Joe Aribo offered a greater balance from the left of midfield – able to both progress the ball forward, make untracked runs beyond in the half-space and his five interceptions and four recoveries validate a brilliant all-round first half.

Perhaps the difference between the teams was the host’s lack of unrelenting intention to capitalise on pressure. Much success was created on the left, but with Malmo playing relatively high Rangers didn’t stretch the game enough.

Kent in this system is tasked with finding central pockets to impact the game from dangerous areas, but in hindsight, he could have perhaps isolated himself more on Ahmedhodzic who looked slightly shaky in the opening 45.

Ibrox played an excellent host and supporters answered the call of the manager to create an atmosphere that should have been reminisced over in the years to come.

Having enjoyed a superb first 35 minutes and endured a spell of Swedish pressure shortly before the dismissal – every outcome seemed destined to fall Rangers’ way.

READ MORE: Rangers see lightning strike twice as defensive calamity skewers Champions League dream - Jonny McFarlane

The scoreline of 2-1 Malmo at 57 minutes seemed a complete improbability after Bonke Innocent was shown a red card before half-time.

As Gerrard suggested, Rangers got their restart wrong. Half time came at a good time for the visitors after losing a player but in equal measure, it gave Rangers the chance to regroup, refocus and plan for a different game state.

From the referee’s whistle to resume proceedings, the game was played in front and around Malmo – exactly where they wanted it. From 46-60 minutes, Rangers had 46% possession and took one shot. In the period of time where they could have put the game beyond their opponents, they were far too passive.

A warning was fired when Veljko Birmancevic exploited room down the side and fizzed a ball across the goal. The Swedish champions then built pressure, forcing Leon Balogun into two erratic clearances before the opener.

After a corner wasn’t cleared they were given a throw-in.

Anders Christiansen and Oscar Lewicki rotated to create a huge amount of space in the middle of the pitch, while four Rangers players covered two opposing men down the line.

Scott Arfield was protecting the space outside the box but is dragged in by Christiansen.

Although that room was not initially exploited, the second ball fell to Birmancevic who was able to run across Colak before reversing possession into his path to score.

Just four minutes later a similar pattern emerged.

Rotation from two Malmo players pulled four of the opposition down the line to create a direct path to Colak.

Balogun was too tight and then not tight enough, Aribo was naïve to try and risk nicking the ball and left space exposed, and with that, the tie was won.

In both instances, basic rotation created dangerous space that Malmo should have been made to earn. In both instances, Colak got the better of Balogun – seven days on from Filip Helander cancelling him out superbly in Sweden.

While hindsight suggests Helander should have played – the thinking behind Balogun’s inclusion made sense.

He had a good first half and allowed his team to squeeze up the park and Gerrard clearly prefers the Nigerian international in games of this nature.

In equal measure, Helander is the best out and out defender at Rangers and after keeping Colak quiet last week it seems to have been the wrong decision to not start him.

READ MORE: Rangers need to go back to basics with Connor Goldson and Filip Helander - Garry Carmody

As Rangers chased the game, chances were forthcoming but finishing was erratic. The intensity of the opening half deserted the team who flung in 38 crosses by full time.

Although some questioned why Cedric Itten wasn’t brought on if this was the plan, Gerrard’s post-match comments suggest it was not how the team had been instructed to play.

He said: “It’s what you do with that possession. Even when we had them where we wanted them, we were going round and round rather than trying to pin back their defenders and try and play into our front men more.

“A bit of fear and a a bit of panic sets in. We were sometimes just putting hopeful balls into the box rather than staying calm and trying to play through and create more with a bit more calmness. We got the second-half performance wrong and that is on all of us.”

Having suffered three defeats on the spin, a home tie against Dunfermline on Friday night now becomes a far biggest occasion. But the goodwill this team has earned in the past year should not be discounted despite the natural disappointment the fan base feels.

Gerrard conceded in his press conference that there would be a bit of “panic and noise on the outside” following the past seven days.

However, he trusts this group who have delivered so many famous European nights at Ibrox and a 55th league title – there will be no panic and noise inside Ibrox. Rather there will be a determination to retain the anticipation for what this season can bring.