By Alistair Aird
Rangers take on bottom-of-the-table Dundee United at Ibrox tomorrow, kicking off a month that will most likely define season 2022/23 for the club. Two Old Firm games are scheduled before April ends – one in the league and one in the last four of the Scottish Cup – and the outcome of those will ultimately determine if Rangers end the season empty handed or with James Tavernier raising aloft one or both of the two trophies that are still available.
But while the battles between the behemoths are looming, Michael Beale’s mantra remains the same; take each game as it comes.
He said, ‘Dundee United is in the forefront of our minds. This will be the twentieth game we’ve played since I came in, and we have to respect each game that is in front of us. We’re playing against Jim Goodwin, a manger that knows us well, and [the United game] is enough for us to think about right now.’
Since Beale arrived, Rangers have only failed to win two matches, but the manager is keen to see more improvement on home soil.
‘In the last six games we have scored 18 or 19 goals,’ said Beale. ‘In that period, we’ve been away to Motherwell, away to Hearts, away to Hibs, and we’ve got some big games coming up. The opportunities are there for us. Football is never perfect, but we are striving for stronger performances each week. I didn’t want the international break to come as we I thought we played really well in the last three or four games.’
He added, ‘We are hungry to play, but one place I would like to see us play better is at Ibrox. I do feel that our strongest performances since I came back to the club have been away from home. That’s maybe because of the style of the game and the spaces, but we are constantly working on the problems different teams will challenge us. I am certainly looking for a performance at home and tomorrow gives us an opportunity to do that.’
It’s hard to disagree with the manager. The excellent displays in Edinburgh set the benchmark for this team, but we haven’t seen the same levels in the games at Ibrox. In six home matches, Rangers have scored 15 goals, conceded six and kept two clean sheets. But some of the performances have been stodgy.
The manager referred to the stadium as ‘iconic’ and that ‘it is a pleasure to go and play there’ but admitted that getting the first goal early in the game is key. He also felt that in the last couple of away fixtures, teams have tried to take Rangers on ‘head on’, but he isn’t sure that they would adopt the same approach at Ibrox.
Although he feels he has ‘a good variety’ in the forward positions, Beale is frustrated that Rangers haven’t scored more goals of late, so we can hopefully expect another forward thinking, havoc-wreaking approach tomorrow. This is another positive sign, particularly given the often-insipid Ibrox displays we witnessed in the latter part of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s reign.
At the other end, there is a desire to concede less goals. While vice-captain Connor Goldson wants to see the team continuously improve, as a defender, he wants to see less goals against too.
‘We want to carry on the form that we are in,’ said Goldson ahead of the match. ‘There’s a lot to improve, but we have had a good week in training and we need to show that tomorrow against Dundee [United]. It will be a tough one. They are tough to break down and have threats going forward.’
He added, ‘I think we should have more clean sheets than we’ve got, certainly since I’ve been back fit. It’s something we need to improve on and we need to start keeping more. As a whole, as a defensive unit, we have been limiting other teams and not giving away too many chances.’
Goldson has forged a fine partnership with Ben Davies since both have returned from injury and it is likely that they will be selected to face United tomorrow. But waiting in the wings is John Souttar, a player who has impressed Goldson right from the start of his Rangers career.
‘[Ben Davies] is a very good player,’ said Goldson, ‘He’s someone I don’t really need to speak to much. He plays his own game and plays to a standard that’s good, and I can just let him play. He’s got a lovely left foot and he knows how to defend.’
He added, ‘We need to keep winning, keep confidence high. We have three Old Firms and we have to show better than we did in the [League] Cup Final. We need to get something out of all three of them if we want to salvage the season. It hasn’t been good enough up until now as we’ve lost the one trophy that’s been there to play for. That was a bad day for all of us.’
Salvage the season? That resonated, and Goldson was also asked if he still felt Rangers could supplant Celtic at the top of the table.
‘It’s not finished,’ was his defiant riposte. ‘One of the main things the manager said when he came in still sticks with me. In one of his first meetings, he said if we don’t win the league this season then we are going to win the league from now. We have to concentrate on us, win games of football, and if it doesn’t happen this season then we know it was our fault from the start of the season. We then need to make sure we win the league from when the manager came in to put us on the right steppingstone for next season.’
Goldson is spot on with his assessment. The league position hasn’t changed since Beale took over. Our record matches that of Celtic, 13 wins, one draw. The gap/chasm that some think there is between the teams isn’t actually that significant. Our current predicament is down to the points dropped against Livingston, St Mirren, and St Johnstone. At that point, we had the likes of James Sands and Leon King at the heart of the defence, and recent results show what the defensive stability offered by Goldson and Davies could have given at that trying time.
While the focus is still very much on the conclusion of this campaign, Beale did allude to the fact that time was taken during the international break to speak to players whose contracts are coming to an end at the end of the season. He’s also been looking at recruitment for next season too.
‘I’m not going to tell you anything today, but we have been talking,’ revealed Beale. ‘As soon as we have something to share, we’ll share it. I think the most important thing is that we have those conversations in house and they remain private until everyone is on the same page.’
This is a refreshing approach. Too often in the past, transfer dealings and contract negotiations seem to have been conducted in the public domain. It has to be hoped that the conversations have been constructive – particularly with the two Ryans, Kent and Jack – and that once everyone is ‘on the same page’ we ha ve a squad in place that will be fit for purpose and ready to challenge on all fronts in season 2023/24.
One of the players who is out of contract in a couple of months’ time is Allan McGregor. McGregor is due to make his 500th competitive appearance for Rangers against United, and for the most part since Connor Goldson came to the club, McGregor has been the goalkeeper that has played behind him.
Goldson said, ‘He’s been amazing. For the length of time that I’ve been here, to have someone who is so consistent in his day-to-day work, not only for me to see but the whole squad [is amazing]. He’s one of the first of the first people in [each] morning, and the standards that he sets every single day in training and the standard of his work is always top standard. I’m really happy that I’ve been fortunate enough to play so many games in front of him.’
The manager was effusive in his praise too.
‘Allan McGregor’s contribution to Rangers over two spells has been absolutely huge,’ said Beale. ‘Some of the performances he has put in over the years have been fantastic. There are too many big saves to name, but I remember one away against Slavia Prague in the time I’ve worked with him that was an unbelievable save. This is someone that is first in [every] morning and he’s got a lot of rituals he goes through and I’m hoping that the younger players in and around him, it rubs off on them.’
The fanbase seem to be split at the moment as to whether McGregor merits another playing contract. I’d say some sort of player-coach role would work, one that would allow McGregor to still step in when required but would also allow him to pass on so many of those good traits to a new number one or the young goalkeepers coming through the ranks.
After the international hiatus, it’s good to be back with a traditional Saturday 3pm kick off. We hope to witness another positive step forward in what is still the infancy of the Michael Beale era, and if we do then that title-chasing flame that is flickering might just burn brightly once again.
