Rangers’ players are “human beings, not robots”, says manager Phillipe Clement, after they toiled to an unconvincing win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.
Despite a quick start, which was rewarded with an early Cyriel Dessers goal, Clement’s side failed to build on their early breakthrough and limped to victory to return to within nine points of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen.
Dessers’ 10th of the season, and third in three games, was the difference as both sides showed signs of a midweek European hangover.
The returning James Tavernier – who started on the bench against Olympiakos on Thursday – tore down the right and struck goalwards, and his effort appeared to be diverted past Craig Gordon by Dessers’ deft close-range touch.
“We made too many wrong choices with the ball and became too sloppy,” Clement said. “It’s the end of a very busy period, though, with a lot of travelling and they’re all human beings, not robots.
“We missed scoring the second goal and we know that until you get that goal the other team stays in the game, so I want us to kill the belief of the opponent faster.”
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Given Hearts haven’t won in Govan in over a decade, it would have been easy for Neil Critchley’s side to fold.
But, after their early punishment for a shaky start, the visitors found their feet and frustrated the Ibrox side and support.
The home crowd took a collective intake of breath when John Souttar sold Jack Butland short with a backpass and invited Kenneth Vargas to pounce, but the goalkeeper stood strong to thwart the Costa Rica international.
The lack of quality was consistent throughout, and Vargas squandered a superb chance seconds after the break as he watched an effort bounce back off a post when through on goal.
Substitute Beni Baningime came close, too, for Hearts but Neraysho Kasanwirjo went even closer for Rangers, crashing against the crossbar in added time.
But it proved immaterial as Rangers stretched their unbeaten run against the Tynecastle side – who remain second bottom – to 17 games.
Disjointed Rangers get job done… just
This was an all too familiar show for the restless Rangers support.
They had reason to be optimistic after a hard-fought and potentially precious point in Greece, and a sharp start here, but that positivity soon dissipated.
Instead of going for the jugular, Rangers retreated further and further and welcomed Hearts into their final third. Luckily, the visitors weren’t up to much once they got there.
The deeper the home side got on the pitch and the deeper the contest got, the more frustrated the fans and Clement grew at the disjointed and disappointing play.
Rangers know they can’t afford to lose anymore ground on the top two, and while they didn’t do that this weekend, performances of this ilk will not be enough to claw back the gap. And neither will they be tolerated.
Frustration at another missed chance
The takeaway from Thursday was that losing to Heidenheim was an opportunity missed for Hearts. There’s a case they’ll see this as one, too.
They started far too slowly and stuttered through the first 20 minutes or so, but then became the more dominant and commanding side, without troubling Butland’s goal all too much.
Doing the former at Ibrox is rare, the latter is all too familiar. And that’s where the frustration lies.
On the journey home, many in maroon will be left thinking a combination of ‘What if? How did that happen? And when will Lawrence Shankland score again?’.
