In the end, it was a badly needed win but little more. Rangers’ 1-0 victory over Hearts last night at an edgy Ibrox sent them into another international break with as many questions as the last.

It was a game featuring frustration everywhere you turned. Philippe Clement was as animated as memory allows and when Nedim Bajrami slowed down a move in transition after the break, the manager snapped at his side. Stray passes in the second-half were everywhere you turned. Fans loudly booed the substitution of Connor Barron just after the hour and were, understandably, far from pleased with the product on the park.

Underneath it all persists a nagging feeling - are Rangers improving?

Even the most optimistic of supporter would accept that a tilt at the title this season is out of reach. Not that it should be as Aberdeen’s continued presence at the top of the league shows. Even so, accepting not being first now is only possible when there’s a belief the current course of travel will take the club first in the long run.

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After the game, Clement was critical of Rangers’ showing: “[In the second-half] the performance went up and down with more downs than ups, we were too sloppy on the ball and not making the right choices.”

Quizzed on the anxiety that engulfed Ibrox in the second-half, he argued: “I don't think it was in the first-half. I think in the first-half there was a really good atmosphere with the fans really positive behind the team. We make the fans nervous by making wrong choices.”

After an impressive performance against Olympiacos in Greece on Thursday past and given only two changes were made to the starting 11, the performance against Hearts was always going to be somewhat stodgy. And yet, analysis of the underlying numbers confirms that the narrow win achieved yesterday is far from an isolated event this season. Just like wins over St Johnstone at Ibrox, Dundee United at Tannadice, St Mirren a fortnight ago and Hibs last month, Rangers are not dominating games by a sufficient margin.

The underlying numbers show that in terms of chances created (xG) Rangers would win the meeting with Hearts 70/100 times. And yet, 47.5 percent of that tally came through the James Tavernier shot (0.17xG) and Cyriel Dessers finish (0.69xG) to score an early goal. Thereafter the hosts only created chances with a greater value than 0.10xG (a 10 percent chance of resulting in a goal) in the 89 and 0.17xG effort in the 90th minutes. From six to 89 minutes, Clement’s side fashioned 0.7xG.

The xG trendline from Rangers 1-0 Hearts. The higher the indent, the higher quality of chance

Only twice in 11 league matches have Rangers won by more than a single-goal margin. Only twice has their xG been greater than 2.5 (against Motherwell and Ross County). Looking at the below game-by-game xG chart from the league campaign, the margin between chances created and conceded, xG difference, is slim. Only on three occasions has their xG difference, chances created minus conceded, surpassed 1.5. Rangers’ average xG difference in the league is 0.8, a drop from 1.23 last season. Early, comfortable wins against Motherwell and Ross County shown below have proven to be an outlier. 

Rangers' game-by-game xG difference table, showing chances created and conceded

All this to say while the Ibrox side aren’t scoring enough they’re also not creating enough. Keep up the current rate of goals per game and Clement’s team would end the season with 57 this season, a drop from 87 last season. Although that tally of 57 would be a slight underperformance on the 65 goals their current xG/90 of 1.71 charts they should score, it’s still a big drop-off.

The alarming truth is that the Ibrox side sit joint-sixth with St Johnstone on goals scored after the first round of fixtures. Including penalties, Celtic have scored almost double Rangers’ 16 goals with 31 but Dundee United (18), Dundee (18) and St Mirren (17) are all higher too. St Mirren have played two more games than Rangers and either Dundee outfit one. Six of those Rangers goals came in one game against Ross County.

Goals scored in the Scottish Premiership this season

It should be said that Rangers have underperformed in front of goal, scoring 16 from 20xG while Aberdeen have 24 goals from 14.4xG.

Clement has regularly cited ‘poor decisions’ or an inability to capitalise on big moments as reasons for narrow wins. Watching the win over Hearts would support that view to a degree. There were so many moments of misunderstanding between teammates leading to stray passes and unfulfilled attacks. 

The first goal will frustrate Clement because it was excellent but isolated, demonstrating the principles he wants Rangers to embody. “Finding the right spaces and from the back until the front, making good combination play, making good runs and scoring a good goal,” he said. From playing through the press, to the well-timed rotations on the left and diagonal attack into the box, this is the style and speed Clement's side need to show more often.

The age-old problem of Rangers looking better in Europe when teams press and leave gaps to exploit remains, however. Yesterday, the hosts often fell too deep and then encountered a familiar problem in the form of Cyriel Dessers. Dessers was in many ways a solution for the club last week. Scoring an equalising goal in the Scottish League Cup Semi-Final and Europa League clash with Olympiacos as well as the winner against Hearts. However, in games where Rangers fail to dominate territory and become boxed in their own half the Nigerian’s lack of hold-up play is an issue. StatsBomb suggests Dessers played six passes in 75 minutes yesterday, the same total Danilo managed from the bench after replacing him.

Clement remains limited by circumstances in some areas. Rarely has the manager not been forced to play square pegs in round holes and the job inherited has been bigger than coaching a football team for months.

With all of that said, for Rangers to improve long-term, the focus on performances must be as important as results.