Rangers Find a Footing: The Hard Part Ahead

It has been a wretched start to the season for Rangers. The recruitment has dragged, the European campaign collapsed in embarrassment, and Derek McInnes has spent the early weeks rifling through his tactical toolbox, hoping something – anything – might click.

Against Aberdeen on Sunday, something finally did.

This was the version of Rangers many expected to see from McInnes on day one: organised, disciplined, and just cynical enough to get over the line. It was not spectacular, it did not need to be. It was a performance built on shape and resolve, a win of comfort and solidity rather than chaos and panic. For a side that has looked brittle and uncertain, that alone felt like progress.

In attack, only two players truly rose above the grey.

Kim Min-Su played as if determined to drag the team towards him, demanding the ball, trying to be the fulcrum around which Rangers could turn. He offered purpose where there has too often been drift. Out wide, Djeidi Gassama brought the edge and energy that this front line has been crying out for, stretching Aberdeen, running at defenders, forcing mistakes. While others flickered, they burned.

The flashpoint, inevitably, arrived with Kevin Nisbet’s disallowed goal. The noise online was instant and predictable, but the reality on the pitch was simpler. There were two clear issues in the build-up: a shove on Dujon Sterling and an offside. Referee Matthew MacDermid called it correctly. On the big decisions, he got them right, despite the contrived outrage that followed.

Rangers, for once, did not crumble after that moment. They held their shape, managed the game, and saw it out. That in itself marked a change from the fragile, uncertain side that stumbled through Europe and the opening weeks of the campaign.

Now Comes the Real Test

This cannot be an outlier. Falkirk on Wednesday has to look like a continuation, not a one-off. The platform is there, but it is thin, and everyone inside the club knows the squad is still short of what is required.

The transfer picture underlines that. Rangers have been heavily linked with a striker and still need another right winger. On top of that, two midfielders are on the shopping list. It is a long to-do list for a club that has already wasted too much time.

Sunday offered a glimpse of something more stable, more serious. Whether it becomes the start of a season reborn or just a rare moment of calm before the next storm will depend on what happens at Falkirk – and who walks through the door before the window slams shut.