Following a humiliating 1-0 loss to Celtic at the beginning of the month, Michael Beale cut an irate, worried figure. As was to be expected, the fan reaction rapidly gained heat and began to burn with the intensity of a fierce firestorm. After all, this wasn’t simply a loss to a competitor at home; it was a loss to an injured team that would never again be as weak as they were at that particular time. Brendan Rodgers regained some of his bombast and mischievous sparkle after the game, but Beale appeared to be fully aware of the storm of suffering he was about to be sucked into.
The Englishman did well by gritting his teeth and returning to the practice field’s coal face.
When observers were present, it was the process that most stood out, not the outcome. Any idea that these players aren’t working hard for the boss had to have taken a hammering in the brisk Govan air. This was the display of a group fighting for one another while playing a level-up opponent.
After the game, Beale himself addressed this subject, saying: “There are parts of our game we need to improve on, but in terms of work ethic, drive, and passion tonight, I will take that. It’s a fantastic place for us to start. He continued to emphasize his point by mentioning the decisive goal from a set-piece, where Rangers were the first to make
Beale frequently stressed the value of strength in both boxes while serving as the team’s manager. This point has almost ever been raised in anything other than a lament. Here, the mood was much more upbeat. An aspect of the Rangers’ performance that has been difficult to identify so far has been their newly discovered deadly instinct. They had 25 minutes to counter Brad Lyon’s goal against Killie on the opening day but were unable to mount anything even remotely like a siege. In an effort to tie the game against Celtic, they fought valiantly but failed to take advantage of numerous opportunities, giving Liam Scales the appearance of Paulo Maldini in the process. Since there were legitimately serious concerns about this new team’s ability to perform under pressure,
It was always going to take time to integrate all nine new players who joined in the summer. The true extent of change has been further concealed by players like John Souttar, Ridvan Yilmaz, and Tom Lawrence, who barely played at all during the previous season and are now practical newbies. Beale’s failure to manage the narrative of how long it might take these individuals, who were recruited from various locations, to gel as a team may have been his biggest mistake. It’s possible that the likely painful reality of putting the jigsaw puzzle together was allowed to be partly glossed over amid the summer optimism brought on by the many new faces joining. Walter Smith, a seasoned activist who was familiar with the highs and lows of the Old Firm
