Winning at Celtic Park should have been the hardest part of Rangers’ autumn. It was a second Old Firm derby victory in the space of a week, secured by Ryan Naderi’s goal. For a club that spent much of recent seasons chasing the narrative, that was a statement. Yet the mood among those who follow Ibrox most closely is not triumphant. It is watchful. The derbies were never the real examination. The real one starts as domestic football returns.
That was the conclusion of the panel on the latest Rangers Review Morning Briefing. They said Rangers’ title credentials will be tested by how well the team breaks down opponents who sit in a low block. The emotional peak of a fixture like an Old Firm game tends to produce open, high-tempo contests. Titles are usually decided by the grinding afternoons in between, when a side that would rather not lose parks itself in front of goal and dares you to find a way through.
This piece looks at why that test matters, who is best placed to help Derek McInnes’ side pass it, and why one summer arrival, perhaps not the flashiest, has already been singled out as the most influential.
Fans understandably read a derby double as proof of quality. It is proof of something, but not necessarily of the qualities a long league season demands.
Big games play to certain strengths. Both sides commit bodies forward, the crowd drives the tempo, transitions become chaotic, and individual moments decide matches. A winger with a burst of pace, a striker with a clean finish, or a goalkeeper on his best day can swing everything. Ryan Naderi’s winner at Celtic Park fits that pattern. It was decisive and rooted in an individual moment.
Games against sides who defend deep are different. Space is scarce. Passing lanes are cut off, the ball has to be moved patiently, and the risk of a single counter-attack hangs over everything. A team can dominate possession for ninety minutes and still lose to a set piece or a breakaway. Frustration creeps in, crosses get hurried, and the crowd gets edgy. Rangers supporters will recognise this from seasons past.
That is why the panel framed the coming weeks as a proper check on how good this team really is. The upcoming matches against Kilmarnock, Dundee and St Johnstone were picked out as key indicators of whether McInnes’ side can sustain a genuine title challenge. None of those opponents will be favourites for anything at Ibrox, which is exactly the point. Contenders are made by taking points reliably from teams they are expected to beat.
The panel did not present the task as hopeless. Barie, one of the contributors, suggested the picture may be brighter than in previous years. He said there would probably be a bit more space on offer, implying Rangers might not meet the ultra-defensive approaches that were common in earlier seasons.
There are a few reasons that could be true. Opponents’ confidence often tracks a club’s perceived strength. When Rangers looked fragile, visiting managers had less reason to fear them, and even lower-league sides were willing to attack. When a team looks dominant, opponents tend to become more cautious. Yet a side that has just beaten its biggest rival twice in a week has a psychological hold that cuts both ways. Opponents may sit deeper out of respect, but they may also be forced to come out if they fall behind early.
There is also the question of how many teams in the division actually have the discipline to defend for ninety minutes. Many managers set up to be compact but drift into more open play as games go on, particularly at Ibrox in front of a loud crowd. The line between “hard to break down” and “manageable with patience” is thinner than it looks. Rangers do not need every opponent to fold. They need to avoid being drawn into doubt during the first hour.
Barie’s point deserves some scepticism too. More space is a hypothesis, not a guarantee. The three fixtures ahead will show whether opposition managers really have changed their approach or whether Rangers will need to work for every chance again.
Nobody on the panel treated the early form as flawless. Barie pointed to the nervy second-half performances against Falkirk and St Mirren as evidence that Rangers still have room to improve despite an encouraging start to the campaign.
Those two games are useful because they show what the wobbles look like. A strong first half followed by a tighter, more anxious second is a familiar pattern for teams still working out how to manage leads. It can come from fatigue, from a loss of tactical discipline, or from a reluctance to keep pressing once ahead. In a match against a low block, the same weakness has an equivalent in reverse. If Rangers cannot score early, the anxiety rises rather than falls.
The concern is not that Rangers played badly. The concern is that on days when the opposition sits deep and the goals do not come quickly, the team’s composure will be tested in a way the derbies did not test it. A side with real title aspirations has to be able to win games 1-0 through patience, not only games 3-2 through momentum.
One of the more interesting parts of the discussion was the identification of a standout summer recruit, and it was not one of the attacking players. The panel praised goalkeeper Ivor Pandur, with Barrie describing the Croatian as arguably Rangers’ most impactful summer arrival.
Goalkeepers rarely get the credit they deserve in the summer conversation. Attackers generate excitement, and a £9million striker or a skilful winger draws the headlines. But there is a strong argument that the first-choice goalkeeper is the most important signing a club can make, because his effect is felt in every match and in every part of the game.
A reliable goalkeeper changes how a team can play. When the man behind the defence commands the box, deals with crosses cleanly and distributes calmly, the whole side can defend higher and take more risks going forward. This matters enormously against low-block opponents, because the biggest danger in those games is the counter-attack. If Rangers push numbers forward to break down a defence, they leave space behind them. A goalkeeper who can be trusted to sweep up, save the one-on-one and start attacks quickly gives the team permission to be brave.
It also matters for the psychology of a title race. Teams that expect to concede are often nervous in possession. Teams that trust their goalkeeper play with more freedom. If the nervy second halves against Falkirk and St Mirren did not turn into dropped points, part of the credit probably belongs to whoever is between the posts.
That does not mean the case is closed. One panel member’s view, however well argued, is a snapshot, and the season is long. The other signings have had less time to settle, and several of them are attacking players whose true value will only show once they have played regularly. But the choice of a goalkeeper as the summer’s standout says something about where the team’s strengths lie right now: solid foundations, with the creativity still to be proven
The discussion then turned to a more practical question: who in this squad can actually pick a lock? Summer signing Badredine Bouanani was highlighted as a player recruited with such games in mind, and the profile bears that out
Bouanani arrived on deadline day. Rangers confirmed the winger’s loan signing from Stuttgart until the end of the season, with an option to buy understood to be part of the deal. He was the 14th and final signing of a busy summer, and it came after a late twist. Rangers appeared to have missed out earlier in the week before the deal came back to life on the final day.
McInnes was clear about what he wanted. He described a young player who adds quality, creativity and a different dimension to the attacking options, someone who is very good with the ball and a threat in one-against-one situations. That final phrase is the important one. Breaking down a deep defence rarely happens through possession alone. It usually needs a player who can beat an opponent in a tight space, draw two defenders towards him, and create a yard that was not there before.
The 21-year-old Algerian is not a finished product. A Bundesliga source speaking to Ibrox News said he has not kicked on at Stuttgart, that he is quick with a decent first touch, but that he has lacked consistency and end product. Another way to read that is that he has the tools but has never had the regular minutes to turn them into numbers. He made 14 Bundesliga appearances last season without a goal or an assist, though that figure alone does not tell the full story of a young player thrust into a top-five league.
There is also a nice bit of history. He scored the only goal for Nice against Rangers in the Europa League in November 2024, a free-kick, so Rangers supporters have seen what he can do from a dead ball. Against a low block, set pieces and fouls won in dangerous areas become far more valuable, because open-play chances are so scarce.
The transfer window also added other attacking options. The Bouanani move followed the earlier signings of Daisuke Yokota and Kim Minsu, and Rangers recruited Kevin Kelsy from Portland Timbers for £9million after Youssef Chermiti suffered an ACL injury. McInnes has spoken repeatedly about needing more in the final third, and the squad now has more variety than it did. Variety is what breaks down a defence that has prepared for one type of threat.
The other tactical idea raised was subtler. The panel suggested that James Penrice’s increasingly narrow role could help Rangers gain greater control in the midfield areas.
This is a common modern idea. Full-backs who drift infield when the team has the ball can act as an extra midfielder, which produces a numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch. That creates more passing angles, protects against counter-attacks by keeping more players in central positions, and makes it harder for a compact defence to shuffle across.
Against a low block, control of the middle is the foundation of everything. If the opposition sit deep in a narrow shape, they leave the wide areas as their weak point, but they also want you to cross from those positions into a crowd of defenders. A team that can occupy the central zones in numbers can move the ball quickly from side to side, forcing the block to stretch, and then find the wide player in space. In that structure, a player like Bouanani, if he is playing on the flank, gets the ball with room to run at a defender rather than into three of them.
The risk is the usual one with inverted full-backs. If possession is lost in midfield, the team can be exposed on the flanks, and the goalkeeper and centre-backs become even more important. Which brings the conversation back to Pandur.
The schedule the panel highlighted is neatly designed for a test. Kilmarnock, Dundee and St Johnstone are all sides that Rangers should be beating if they are serious about the title. None is a glamour fixture, and none will produce the atmosphere of an Old Firm game. That is the whole idea. There are several things worth watching.
The first twenty minutes. Do Rangers create early chances with intent, or do they pass sideways and wait? Sides that break down a low block quickly tend to do so by attacking with purpose from the first whistle, forcing the opposition to defend actively rather than settle into a comfortable shape.
How the team responds to a goalless half-time. If it is 0-0 after forty-five minutes, does the second-half approach change? Bringing on a different type of attacker, adjusting the shape, or increasing the tempo are all signs of a team with a plan. Growing frustration and hurried crosses are signs of the opposite.
The set-piece output. Rangers’ ability to score from dead balls will matter more than usual. Against deep defences, corners and free-kicks are often the most reliable route to goal.The defensive security. Rangers need to be able to attack with commitment without being caught on the break. This is where the goalkeeper and the positioning of the full-backs will be tested most.
The reaction to the nervy spells. The second-half shakiness against Falkirk and St Mirren was flagged for a reason. If it appears again, opponents and rivals will take note.
There is a tendency, especially at a club with Rangers’ history and expectations, to treat every result as a verdict. A derby win becomes a revolution, a dropped point becomes a crisis. The truth of a title race is usually less dramatic. It is built from dozens of ordinary matches, and the teams that win leagues are the ones that make the ordinary look easy.
What the Rangers Review panel identified is a genuine and reasonable test of that ability. The derby wins show the team has the belief and the quality to beat serious opposition when the occasion demands. The coming games will show whether it also has the patience, the tactical variety and the mental resilience to do the unglamorous work.
The signs are mixed but encouraging. There is a goalkeeper who has impressed enough to be called arguably the best summer addition. There is a new winger recruited specifically for tight spaces. There is a tactical tweak in midfield that could improve control. And there is an honest acknowledgement, from people who watch the club closely, that the second-half performances against Falkirk and St Mirren were not good enough.
McInnes has spoken about strengthening key areas, and by most accounts he has done so. What the squad has not yet had is a sustained run of the kind of games that separate a good side from a champion. Kilmarnock, Dundee and St Johnstone will not decide the title. But they will offer a clearer picture than any derby could of whether Rangers are ready to win it.
If the team passes, the confidence from the derby double will look like the start of something. If it stumbles, the same wins will look like a high point in a season that could not quite be sustained. That is the pressure on Ibrox as the league resumes, and it is why the quietest fixtures on the calendar may be the most important
