Fans pile on pressure as Gio berates Light Blues’ poor show
RANGERS 1
Lundstram (90)
LIVINGSTON 1
Nouble (4)
Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst maintains his players are still behind him but he refused to give them any excuse for another poor performance.
The Dutchman is increasingly coming under pressure from the supporters and this result did nothing to improve their mood.
Boos rang around Ibrox at half-time and full-time.
Things have been pretty downbeat in Govan following the 7-1 thrashing by Liverpool and an uninspired midweek Premier Sports Cup win against Dundee that saw the players booed off.
Van Bronkhorst said they cannot blame a busy schedule for below-par performances.
He said: “How many games did we play last year? It’s no excuse if you play three times a week. Everyone in my team can play three times a week with the same intensity and character.
“That’s no excuse for me. I’m not happy with our performance.
“For the whole game, we weren’t in the game. That’s frustrating.
“Normally we start on the frontfoot and on this occasion it was the opposite. It looked like we lost every second ball and didn’t win our duels.
“The way we conceded the goal was, in my opinion, impossible. But it happened and you can see the opponent getting stronger because they are 1-0 up.
“I only saw the aggressiveness, speed of play and the fight after we got it to 1-1.
“I am trying my best. As a manager, you have to stick with your beliefs and with your way of playing. I believe my players are still behind me.”
There was a minute’s silence before kick-off to mark the passing of former
Rangers striker Jimmy Millar. It would turn out to be an afternoon where a bit of his legendary bravery would have enhanced his old club’s performance.
Joel Nouble put Livi ahead after just four minutes.
Montano strode past Tavernier with ease and crossed for his colleague to spin and slide the ball home.
Nouble hit the net 60 seconds earlier than he had done when the teams met at the start of the season.
That game finished in a 2-1 victory for Rangers and the home supporters were looking for a similar outcome.
There could be no complaints about the amount of possession enjoyed by the Light Blues, they had 80% of it, but they didn’t do enough with it to threaten the Livingston goal.
Colak had a couple of attempts that weren’t far away early on but Rangers couldn’t muster a shot on target before the break.
The hesitancy going forward was particularly noticeable in Ryan Kent’s performance.
Too often he elected to take what seemed like an age before deciding how to proceed.
When he eventually produced a quick dip of the shoulder and crossed, it allowed John Lundstram to hammer home an equaliser.
By that time 90 minutes had been played and Livingston were down to 10 men. Morgan Boyes was initially booked for a foul on Morelos and then sent off after VAR asked the referee to take a second look.
The game ended with Colak, Morelos and Roofe all up front for Rangers but it was Lundstram who almost grabbed three points for his team.
He headed over with the last touch of the afternoon and the final whistle prompted jeers from all four stands.
Van Bronckhorst knows a bad run of bad results cannot continue if he is to stay in post.
He said: “That is not just for me. That is for every coach in this profession.
“You see if it is not going well then eventually it is end of story.”