Rangers fans should know by now the perils of jumping to early conclusions.
Had first impressions counted for anything, there’s every chance Ally McCoist and Andy Goram may have been bombed out before they exploded into the Ibrox icons they became. McCoist is able to laugh now about the time he had the entire Copland Road telling him where to go.
He’d managed to hit everything but the back of the net on an afternoon of awful finishing against Dundee not long after arriving at the club in 1983. But back then it looked seriously doubtful he’d ever win over the critics howling from the terraces. There were plenty ready to write off Goram too after his 1991 switch from Hibs when The Goalie compounded a costly Tynecastle blunder with another major mistake in a European Cup clash with Sparta Prague a month-and-a-half later.
Both men had the steel-lined mentality required to survive their testing bedding-in period.
So those ready to issue snap judgments on John Souttar after his torrid debut at Livingston should hold their horses until the former Hearts man is given the chance to prove if he has the resolve required at Rangers. If McCoist and Goram’s tales of caution against reactionary conclusions are a bit long in the tooth, then the Ibrox fan base have more recent precedents in John Lundstram and Calvin Bassey.
There wouldn’t have been many grumbles had Lundstram been shown the door in January but, given time and trust by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, the silky Scouser has earned cult status among the Gers faithful with his displays on the road to Seville.
And the Ibrox board have 20 million reasons to be glad van Bronckhorst and his predecessor Steven Gerrard persisted with Bassey after his part in a shock defeat to St Mirren wrecked hopes of adding the League Cup to their title in the season before last.
It would be some leap to imagine Souttar will ever generate eight-figure profits for the Ibrox coffers given his age and injury record.
But those insisting the 25-year-old is not cut out for Old Firm life are jumping off at the deep end too. It was a day to forget for Souttar as he was given the runaround by an impressive Joel Nouble for 67 minutes before his boss issued the hook. This is a guy, however, who has dug into the depths of his soul and found the strength to recover from not one but three career-threatening injuries.
Anyone assuming he won’t be able to shrug off a bad day at the office needs to give themselves a shake.
No doubt Souttar will be doing that to himself. With Ben Davies readying himself to join van Bronckhorst’s squad, he’ll know he can’t afford another one of those.
There’s no denying how badly he performed on his debut.
With the rest of his team careering forward, Souttar was forced to hold the fort alongside Connor Goldson.
Well, he’s going to have to get used to that and fast. Borna Barisic may have made the first mistake in failing to challenge Nicky Devlin for Shamal George’s long free-kick but Souttar was far too soft as he allowed Nouble to muscle in and lob Jon McLaughlin with five minutes played.
The big Englishman was picked up by Davie Martindale after bouncing around a string of non-league outfits down south and spent the first half of last season on loan at Arbroath.
But he looked Premiership class as he dominated a defence containing three-quarters of the men who featured in the Europa League Final.
Souttar, Goldson and Glen Kamara were all booked while trying to contain the one-man wrecking ball.
Souttar looked relieved Nouble had not inflicted more damage as he clambered back to his feet after being rag-dolled as the Livi ace careered towards goal just after the break.
Goldson did just enough to hold him off and his boss will think “just as well” given how short on ideas Rangers had been to that point.
There has been huge excitement around Ibrox with the arrival of
seven faces but the three who started didn’t do much to justify the hype during an opening 45 minutes in which the away side failed to register a shot on target against Martindale’s
typically well-drilled backline.
Tom Lawrence had a couple of tidy touches but never looked comfortable in his first outing on a plastic pitch.
Antonio Colak was denied a goal on his competitive debut by a dodgy offside call, which ludicrously would have stood had VAR pictures being trialled in the background been available to ref Don Robertson.
The Croatian striker’s header seven minutes into the second half was virtually his first touch of a largely anonymous display.
Granted, the service from wide often sailed over his head but Colak needs to find a way to get involved to have any hope of being more than Alfredo Morelos’ understudy.
The half-time introduction of Malik Tillman offered a spark but training alongside Robert Lewandowski has done nothing to tighten up the on- loan Bayern Munich kid’s finishing as he wasted two big chances to level.
It was two old stagers who came to the rescue and ensured Rangers did not get tangled up on the curtain raiser with their first opening-day loss in the top flight since 1998.
Martindale had warned his team to beware Scott Arfield’s runs from deep. They failed to act and paid the price as the sub glanced a precision header home with 18 minutes left.
The Rangers faithful were still celebrating two minutes later as James Tavernier lined up a free-kick.
The skipper marked the start of his eighth season at the club by sweeping home a trademark set-piece.
It was a pinpoint effort into George’s top corner but the keeper helped make the Rangers captain’s mind up on where to aim with his positioning.
Off and running, Rangers turn their attention to Champions League qualification. Are they ready for Union Saint-Gilloise? Well, we all know the trouble with making early predictions.
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