We’ve had our worst league start in nearly half a century, a humiliating 9–1 drubbing in the UEFA Champions League, and we sit closer to the relegation spots than the title. Yet last night’s limp 1–0 home defeat to Belgian side Genk was Russell Martin’s biggest sin of all: he has turned magical Thursday nights at Ibrox into a boring chore.
After Saturday’s much-needed but ultimately unimpressive victory over Hibernian in the Premier Sports Cup, many supporters hoped, against all evidence, that it might, just might, be the turning point for the faltering Martin regime. But it needed to be followed up by a sustained run of wins. Instead, almost predictably, he and his side failed at the very next hurdle.
Speaking pre-match, the head coach said: “We’re going to try and build on the performance and the result we had on Saturday.
“Now we have to take another step to where we want to be by winning the game and putting in a performance, we’re happy with.”
Once again, though, the performance was dreadful. The tempo was slow and pedestrian, the shape all wrong, the midfield non-existent, and too many players hid in plain sight, refusing to show for the ball and staying tucked behind their markers.
John Souttar had a header cleared off the line from a set piece, but once again we created nothing from open play. Youseff Chermiti, handed his first start up front, was left completely isolated and devoid of service. The one bright spark this season, Djeidi Gassama, came close with a curling effort from range, but that was the full extent of our attacking output.
At the back, we were far too open again. Souttar and Derek Cornelius were repeatedly exposed by the high line Martin insists on enforcing. Former Celtic forward Oh Hyeon-gyu found himself in behind on several occasions, and Rangers were fortunate he only scored once after being handed chance after chance.
Martin’s team selection continues to baffle. Mikey Moore, raw and out of his depth since arriving on loan from Tottenham, was given another start over our own prospect Findlay Curtis, who has actually contributed during his limited minutes this season. Chermiti also came in despite Bojan Miovski finally getting off the mark at the weekend with our first open-play goal against Premiership opposition.
In midfield, Mohammed Diomande and Thelo Aasgaard joined Nicolas Raskin, but you’d have thought the Belgian was on his own. Aasgaard looks a shadow of the player who scored four for Norway; in a Rangers jersey he drifts wide, avoids dangerous areas, and plays negatively, it took him 26 minutes to make a forward pass last night.
Diomande was even worse: constantly caught in possession, running into cul-de-sacs, and playing like a man desperate to be subbed. His frustration culminated in a reckless red card before half-time for a studs-up lunge on Zakaria El Ouahdi, despite there being no real danger in that area of the park.
On paper, this squad is an improvement on recent years. In practice, we look worse, and that’s down to the style. Despite Martin’s bravado after Hibs, we do not look coached. The players look uncomfortable, disjointed, and unfamiliar with each other, as if they had only met ten minutes before kick-off.
Even Jack Butland, who saved a penalty to spare Martin further humiliation, couldn’t prevent another calamity at the back. For Oh’s goal, Tavernier and Meghoma were caught high up the pitch, Cornelius inexplicably drifted inside and left Oh free, and once the Korean broke through we lacked the pace to recover.
His celebrations may have been excessive, but they reflected something Celtic instil in their players that we don’t: a burning hatred of their rivals. Our squad lacks that mental edge.
A Europa League nightmare at Ibrox, something we haven’t seen since the days of Pedro Caixinha and Progrès Niederkorn. Steven Gerrard turned Ibrox into a fortress in this competition, and that aura continued under his successors. Yet somehow, Martin has managed to end it in a single match. He is regressing us in every conceivable way. Chairman Andrew Cavanagh was in attendance, and surely after witnessing that horror show he must realise the scale of the decline and make the change every Rangers supporter is calling for.
Predictably, Martin’s post-match comments were full of excuses. He blamed the red card: “We had ten men for a long time and I think Jack only had two real saves to make in the second half as well. So yeah, the red card changes a lot.”
It was pure gaslighting. We were never on top. We were cut open time and again, and we didn’t look comfortable even with eleven men.
Does he think we don’t pay attention, that we can’t analyse a game? Our eyes don’t lie, Russell, and your words won’t change what we see. It isn’t working. You refuse to adapt. It is over. End it now, before it’s too late.