Rangers Find Solidarity in Victory Against Aberdeen
Rangers finally found something that looked like a starting point on Sunday – but it has taken far too long to arrive.
The opening weeks of the season have been grim. Recruitment has dragged, the European campaign was a humiliation, and Derek McInnes has spent too many games tinkering – line-ups shuffled, formations ripped up, substitutions that felt like guesses rather than plans. It has looked like a manager throwing pieces at the board and hoping a picture appears.
Against Aberdeen, at last, there was a shape. A purpose. Rangers were solid, disciplined and, crucially, got over the line. It was the version of McInnes’ team many expected to see from day one, not weeks into a campaign already stained by failure.
The performance wasn’t sparkling, but it didn’t need to be. It needed to be reliable. It needed to look like a team that understood its job. On that front, Rangers delivered.
In attack, only two players really stood out. Kim Min-Su played as if he wanted to own the role of fulcrum, constantly showing, demanding the ball, trying to knit moves together. Djeidi Gassama brought energy and directness, a livewire presence in a forward line that has too often looked flat. Between them, they offered hints of what this side could become if properly built around a clear idea.
The talking points, as ever, didn’t end with the football. Referee Matthew MacDermid found himself dragged into the post-match noise, but on the big calls he was right. The online outrage around Kevin Nisbet’s disallowed goal has been as predictable as it has been contrived.
The incident was straightforward. There was a shove on Dujon Sterling and an offside. Two infringements in the same move. The flag and the whistle went the correct way, and the goal was rightly ruled out. Strip away the tribal fury and there is very little to debate.
What matters more for Rangers is what comes next.
This win – built on comfort and solidity rather than chaos and panic – has to be a base camp, not a one-off. Falkirk on Wednesday now becomes a test of whether McInnes’ side can repeat the fundamentals: organisation, control, and a hint of attacking cohesion. Anything less, and Sunday slips into the category of anomaly.
Off the pitch, the scale of the rebuild remains stark. A striker has been heavily linked and is badly needed. So is another right winger. On top of that, two midfielders are required to drag this squad anywhere near the standard demanded at Rangers.
There is plenty to do and not much time to do it. The window is closing. The question is simple: was Aberdeen the first step in a revival, or just a brief pause in a season that has already gone badly off course?
