It’s far too early to write off the Rangers newbies as failures

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat for Rangers at Kilmarnock really was as bad a start to the season as you could ask for.

To some fans, they had worries going into the weekend that things at the club were taking a bit longer to click into gear than they would have liked.

This was off the back of a pre-season in which Rangers failed really assert full control for the duration of any of their games against Newcastle, Hamburg, Olympiacos and Hoffenheim.

So the sight of the side not looking fully sure about their shapes and the passes and movements they needed to make, whilst concerning, wasn’t a complete shock.

Michael Beale’s selection did cause one or two scratches of the heads at Rugby Park, including leaving Todd Cantwell on the bench, but he made the first move to put his money where his month is by fielding five of his eight new signings in his starting 11, with all bar Dujon Sterling being in the squad.

Sadly, not many of them came out with glowing reviews, other than perhaps Jack Butland.

Cue a section of our support already writing them off as a waste of money and not what the club needs going forward.

Personally, I think there is much more to that.

First of all, you have got to take into consideration the fact that these new players first experience of Scottish football was on the plastic Rugby Park, which, regardless of if you are a fan or not of those types of surfaces, is among the worst used at any level.

Beale has chosen to bring in players who are more technically gifted, on paper anyway, than those who had been at the club already. Players who like to play with the ball on the ground.

When you are still getting up to speed with football in this country, you won’t get the best close control at Kilmarnock, or get to play passes as slick as you should be.

This was particularly evident with Sam Lammers, the pick of the bunch in pre-season, who couldn’t really string anything together and looked stuck in tight areas between attack and midfield.

That being said though, you’ve also got to consider the level of service these attacking players got, which after going 1-0 in particular, which really poor.

And when assessing this aspect, you’ve really got to point the finger more at the players who have been at the club for a while, and not those who’ve only been in the country a matter of weeks.

It’s exactly why those who have got to look critically at players such as James Tavernier, John Lundstram and Borna Barisic, who should be filling pulling these newbies up and helping them do what they do well.

Instead, what we ended up seeing late in the game on Saturday was the old revert back to type so sideways passing along the back and full backs crossing from anywhere.

We want to see a Rangers team that plays quick, expensive football that is enjoyable to watch, and the players brought in are ones Beale believes can do this.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. It will take time for these players to gel and click.

The rebuild the current one was compared to, was the one from 1998 under Dick Advocaat, and that season, we’d also lose our league opener (thankfully for Advocaat, Social Media wasn’t a thing then).

However, we’d go on to win a treble that year, so patience is needed, although a quick response on Wednesday and next Saturday is vital, and that may require either the old guard stepping up, or being chipped off.