The immediate Rangers realisation Jack Butland needs Philippe Clement’s new boys to grasp quicker
Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Dundee United was another crack in the wall for a club who are now all but out of the title race
Jack Butland gives honest assessment of 1-1 draw with Dundee United
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Once upon a time, standards at Rangers were set as solidly as Ibrox’s famous red brick facade. Nowadays, performances levels are sinking quicker than a botch builders’ dodgy foundations.
Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Dundee United was another crack in the wall for a club who have already seen their title aspirations reach the point of collapse. The roof hasn’t quite caved in on boss Philippe Clement yet but there’s a growing section of the support who would happily bundle the Belgian out the tradesman’s entrance having watched his Rangers renovation fail inside the space of four grim months.
The sight of thousands of seats sitting empty as the second half got underway against Jim Goodwin’s team only underlined the sense of malaise around Ibrox right now. The need to rush home after an almost hour-long delay to kick-off caused by the Tangerines’ late arrival might have had something to do with that.
But it was hard to shake the notion that swathes of supporters decided braving Storm Bert was a more appealing prospect than sitting through another 45 minutes of dismal action. Jack Butland knows if Gers are to rebuild trust with the punters, they need every single player in the dressing room to get on board with the unique job spec at the club.
The keeper insists he cottoned on to what was required from the first moment he walked through the doors and took a look round the Ibrox corridors steeped in history. Asked if the rest of his team-mates had grasped the same, the former England stopper didn’t sound utterly convincing as he said: “I hope so. I hope so.
“It’s something that we try to reinforce all the time. If the building and the training ground aren’t reminders of the success, then I don’t know what can be.
“It’s not like any other club. It’s a special place, and it demands it all the time, day in, day out, from us all. That’s what it needs to be. I think for most, it’s been there the whole time.
Nicolas Raskin at full time (Image: SNS Group)
“Others, if they haven’t learned it, they need to learn it quick. That’s on guys like me, and everybody, to step up and do better, because that’s what the shirt deserves.”
There were few in a blue jersey doing it much justice on Saturday as Gers laboured through yet another awful first half. The only surprise was that it took United 36 minutes to decide they could have a proper go at the hosts, with Sam Dalby exploiting a huge hole in the Ibrox backline to head past Butland.
Rangers eventually got going after the break but only after Mohamed Diomande and Cyriel Dessers paid the price for their substandard displays with the half-time hook. Ianis Hagi and Danilo finally handed Clement’s team a spark and they levelled through Vaclav Cerny’s goal.
But it was all too little and far too late. Asked what had gone wrong, Butland said: “Lack of intensity first half which is frustrating because teams come here to frustrate.
“You have to force it, you have to pry them out of positions and set a statement of intent. And we didn’t do enough of that in the first half. As a result, we get punished for defending our routine situation not very well.
“With an extra runner in the box, not tagging on to him and giving away an easy goal. United came to make things difficult, to get something and hold on. From there, the game becomes what it becomes. As a result, you have to respond, you have to play with intensity that you should have started the game with.
“We then start playing the way that we should have been playing from the get-go. So, obvious frustrations and anything less than a win is not good enough.
“So, that’s where I’m at right now and everyone else is. Why is this happening? You can speak about it until we’re blue in the face. It’s not for the want of trying. It’s not for the reminders.
“People have got to do it. People have got to take the initiative. It’s unfair to point fingers and whatever. Everyone has to just step up, as simple as that. Step up, do your jobs better, track your runners better, get forward better. It’s on everyone.
“We’ve had discussions, unfortunately, already so far this season where we felt that we haven’t done enough of that. In games that we’ve been beaten, in games that we’ve won, where we feel like we need to have done more. So, you can speak about it.
“You can tell people who’ve got to do it. It’s on the individual, ultimately, to push and to make sure that their standards are high enough. Then everything else follows collectively. There’s no one group to blame. We all just have to step up and start doing our jobs better.”
Hagi appeared as a half-time substitute (Image: Getty Images)
The return of Hagi and Danilo at the very least offered a crumb of encouragement for a side short on firepower. If you discount August’s 6-0 drubbing of Ross County, then Clement’s side have averaged just one goal a game in their other 11 Premiership results so far.
On the return of the Romanian playmaker and Brazilian striker, Butland added: “Look, there’s lots of encouragement. I know when you say something like that, it’s given where we sit. We have the tools, we have fantastic players that have been out and have now come back.
“There’s bright spots there. Even the lads that did come off at half-time and the lads that played the whole game, whatever it may be, there’s enough there. But we need to show it more often.
“We should have ultimately ended up scoring more goals, not putting ourselves in a difficult position. Jack Walton made some fantastic saves, he was probably the best player on the pitch, so it ends up being a difficult day. We created enough in the second half, but we can’t put ourselves in that position as often as we have.”
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