Join up the dots and picture becomes clear: Rangers are a mid-table team
Ross County captain Andrew Davies believes his side can finish the season ahead of Ibrox men
ANDREW Davies, the Ross County captain, wouldn’t have meant to sum up the state of Rangers when he spoke about how his own team would do this season but unwittingly did just that.
After Saturday’s goalless draw at Ibrox in a match where the hosts should have won but were denied a goal by bad finishing, great goalkeeping and some desperate defending that somehow worked, Davies was asked if his team could finish above Rangers.
“I think we can, yes,” he said. “I don’t see why we can’t. We have new players and over a long season when people will pick up injuries, we will have guys who can step in and do a job. We have a belief within the group that we can compete with teams like Rangers. Saturday was prime example.”
Davies then admitted the aim was to finish “fifth or fourth”, which is absolutely possible for such a tight-knit group of players who are well managed and coached.
So when you join the dots together, the County player felt his team could end up fifth and also ahead of Rangers when the points are tallied in May. Do you want to know something, this is pretty spot-on.
Mark Warburton’s side put in their best 90-minute performance of the season at the weekend, created plenty of chances, at least one should have been taken, and at times played some decent football.
But they didn’t score, they didn’t win, and have just two victories from six league games and a goal difference of minus two. These are the statistics of an average Scottish Premiership side whose best bet is to finish top six.
Rangers were never going to challenge Celtic this season. Anyone who thought that needed their head examined. However, they should be better than they are and it is hard not to look at the manager for fault because he has brought a lot of this on himself.
My own feeling is the toxic Joey Barton will be off soon enough and good riddance to a once okay player and not particularly nice person. His behaviour towards his manager, teammates and the club over the last week has been appalling.
His decision to go on Rangers TV, sorry TalkSPORT, was his way of saying I’m a celebrity, get me out of here. He has walked, slowly, into the wrong movie. He’s not the first to come up from England thinking it will be a breeze and then realise the demands at a big club are different to those down south where a draw is a good result and finishing 12th is considered a decent season.
Andy Halliday was back on Saturday, as was Jason Holt, and the midfield moved the ball about far better without a 33-year-old with a bad attitude in their way. Josh Windass is as quick a player as they come, he’s raw but the lad has something about him and will do well.
Rangers should have won out the park. Scott Fox, the Ross County goalkeeper, made some terrific saves, the best came on 57 minutes when he got his fingers to a shot by Martyn Waghorn whose curling effort was an inch away from a goal.
From the resultant corner, Clint Hill had a header cleared off the line by Martin Woods. It was that kind of day.
Rangers had no luck but then you could argue they should not have to rely on fortune to win a home match against even a stubborn Ross County side.
Warburton’s team are so one dimensional. Teams have worked them out. He has to tweak his formation or there will be plenty more weekends that will leave the supporters feeling cold.
He said he would walk out of the postmatch press conference if he was asked one more question about Barton. It was politely put to him that it was a public matter, Warburton didn’t agree and therefore he left. It was, according to the manager, an internal matter.
Except it isn’t. Nobody was expecting him to spill his guts about what he felt about Barton, not when there might have to be some deals done to get him out the door, but he had to say something.
Warburton doesn’t look as if he is enjoying himself. If things don’t improve both on and off the park, would anyone be hugely surprised if he left?
As for Ross County, you always know what you will get with this team. Even on a day when they didn’t do much in the way of attacking, they worked hard, kept together and put their bodies in the line to prevent a goal and win a point.
“The manager did say that if we kept it tight for 20 or 30 minutes then the crowd could turn,” revealed Davies. “You did hear them mumbling and grumbling a bit which was good for us. But you have to give Rangers respect, keep on your toes because I am sure they will do really well this season.
“Our aim is fourth of fifth – you want to finish as high as you can – we need to finish better than last season.”
Right now, that is the most Rangers can expect.