More dropped points ramp up pressure on Gio
Rangers boss casts doubts on his own future at Ibrox
Giovanni van Bronckhorst last night admitted that he doesn’t know if he will still be in a job after the World Cup.
The Rangers manager will have talks with the Ibrox board in the wake of his side’s draw at St Mirren.
The Dutchman’s team have won only two of their last five Premiership matches and, after Celtic came from behind to defeat Ross County, the Hoops are now nine points clear at the top of the table.
Van Bronckhorst said: “We are going to sit down, speak about the last couple of months and which way to go forward. “It’s football, and if you have a run like this, a lot of things can happen.
“I have the backing of the board, and they’ve given me confidence. But, in football, you never know.
“We’ve dropped too many points. When you do it against Livingston, St Johnstone and St Mirren, it’s too many.
“I have no fear. I never have fear. I just see what comes, but I don’t have fear.”
The peg that Giovanni van Bronkhorst hangs his Rangers blazer on just got a whole lot shooglier.
He maintains he doesn’t fear that his time is up as manager but admitted there is an element of doubt.
Another disappointing result and performance from the Ibrox side leaves the Dutchman wondering if he will be back after the World Cup.
He can quite rightly point to a crippling injury list to explain away a run that has seen him fail to win 13 of the last 27 games.
Six of those were in the Champions’ League group stage but the issue about his future isn’t confined to results. It’s also about attitude and too many of Van Bronckhorst’s players didn’t show enough drive or determination in the draw at St Mirren.
Does that mean he will be heading for the exit door soon?
He said: “We will have to see. It’s football and if you have a run like this, a lot of things can happen.
“I have the backing of the board and they’ve given me confidence, but in football you never know.
“We are going to sit down, that is for sure, and speak about the last couple of months and which way to go forward.
“I have no fear, no. I never have fear. I just see what comes but I don’t have fear.”
Van Bronckhorst cut an extremely frustrated figure on the sideline.
Rangers had plenty of possession in Paisley but, not for the first time this season, they wasted a lot of it.
Their performance was littered with square passes, hesitation and crosses that were well wide of their target.
The home side played extremely well but they faced opponents who should
be showing more quality because of the amount they spend on players.
Saints had Main and Ayunga as a twopronged attack, an attempt to exploit the inexperience of the visitors central defenders Leon King and James Sands.
Their movement certainly caused a number of uncomfortable exchanges for the youthful stoppers.
Sands is really a midfielder and he played most of the second half alongside John Lundstram, another man who normally occupies the middle of the pitch.
King was carried off after suffering a neck injury in a collision with Main.
Rangers were so lacking in a threat up top that a manager might normally have thought about throwing a centre-half into attack. That wasn’t possible because they didn’t have a single one on the field.
Which brings us to the woeful performance by Alfredo Morelos.
He was making his first league start of the season and, predictably, his main contribution was to collect a booking.
His caution came for clattering Erhahon straight from the second-half re-start.
He might have collected a second card for diving later on. It looked like the ref was going for his pocket and had a change of mind. Other than that, the Colombian contributed very little to proceedings.
His play was poor and his attitude was even worse.
The Buddies went ahead just after the break when a long throw-in was flicked into the danger area by Main.
Ayunga’s first shot was stopped by a save from McGregor but he hit the net with his second attempt after King failed to clear.
Rangers eventually got an equaliser after VAR stepped in to overturn a decision by referee Kevin Clancy.
He had booked Ryan Kent for a dive after a challenge by Fraser, but was persuaded to look again, eventually pointing to the spot and withdrawing the card.
James Tavernier stroked the kick home. The Light Blues might have got a winner with 20 seconds of nine additional minutes to go but Ryan Jack could only cushion a free header into the hands of Carson.
That summed up the mediocrity that has become a trademark of this Rangers side.