By Craig Rae
Michael Beale says he is still looking for a ‘performance’ at Ibrox in which the team takes their chances after today’s 2-1 victory over Ross County.
Rangers played well in the first half, creating a few good opportunities but couldn’t quite get in front until a bit of magical link up play between Morelos and Cantwell allowed the Englishman to cross for Malik Tillman to head home his second goal in as many games.
On the performance, the manager said:
“I’m still searching for a performance here at Ibrox where we take our chances because some of our football in the first half was very good but we were fussy in the final third.”
He made three changes to the side, with Jon McLaughlin, Ryan Jack and Todd Cantwell returning to the side and also made use of all five subs which included a debut for new Belgian midfielder Nico Raskin.
It is of course great to have such a large squad now, but how much can that impact on the team settling?
“I have to assess my own part to play in the game today because I’m trying to keep one or two players happy or engaged, maybe that disjointed the performance a little bit.”
With one game a week to play for the next month or so, it will be interesting to see if Beale opts for a more settled lineup in the coming weeks.
Barisic Revival
Borna Barisic scored the winner as his deflected free kick won the match, the Croatian is going through a purple patch since the return of Beale as manager, and he spoke about the differences from the last time the manager was here as coach.
“In terms of how we play it’s very similar, it’s different of course because previously Steven was the manager and he did all the speeches and now it’s different. I think he’s doing great.”
It is interesting to note that the Croatian’s performances have improved dramatically since the return of Beale, but he’s not the only one. Perhaps what this squad needed was a fresh approach and it certainly seems to have worked so far with Beale racking up 11 wins out of 12 and still unbeaten so far.
Barisic continued: “We are in very good shape, but we need more time to build that. We are playing very well and making good progress since Mick has came back so it’s very positive and we need to be going forward.”
Rangers cut the gap on Celtic to six points and will be hoping for a favour against St Johnstone in Perth tomorrow. Up next for Rangers, next Sunday’s crucial Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle back at Ibrox.
