Following Wednesday’s draw away to Dundee United, Danny Rohl was stressing the positives – a greater goal threat and general sense of urgency that led to a point-saving penalty equaliser deep into stoppage time.
However, underneath it all, the German had the startled look of a man who has now fully realised the scale of the problem with the Rangers squad that led to predecessor Russell Martin being sacked.
When the former Ibrox defender’s reign came to an end after only 17 games, his side were 11 points behind leaders Hearts.
That gap has been reduced to nine, but only because Hearts have also stumbled, while Celtic have restored the nine-point advantage they enjoyed over their Old Firm rivals at the time of Martin’s exit.
Indeed, the deficit has increased from the five points that separated the Glasgow sides when Rodgers was replaced with O’Neill at Celtic Park.
With a now revitalised Celtic hoping for an additional new-manager bounce after Nancy’s arrival, Rangers’ own new head coach is in even more urgent need of finding a solution to the Ibrox side’s struggles.
Rohl’s side have won just twice in seven outings, with the latest three all being draws they could easily have turned into defeats given the balance of play.
Now Rangers head to Rugby Park to face a Kilmarnock side who have shown their own green shoots of progress – albeit just two draws after six straight defeats.
The Ayrshire side only have to go back until October 2024 for their last win over Rangers – 1-0 at Rugby Park.
Rangers will, of course, remain favourites considering they have won their three meetings since by an aggregate score of 13-3, including 3-1 in the reverse fixture two months ago.
However, although the visitors rank second highest for goal attempts-per-game in the Premiership this season (15.2, behind Celtic’s 16.5), they have the third-lowest conversion rate (8.9%), netting 19 times from 213 attempts, and improving that will be one of Rohl’s priorities.
Well, that and shoring up a pretty shaky defence shorn of its two main centre-halves through injury too.
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