Rangers' Season Progress: A Step Forward Against Aberdeen

Rangers finally found a foothold, but it has taken far too long.

The start to the season has been a mess: recruitment dragging, a European campaign that barely deserved the name and a manager, Derek McInnes, shuffling line-ups, systems and substitutions like a man searching for a light switch in the dark. The club have looked unsure of themselves, on and off the pitch.

Against Aberdeen on Sunday, something at last resembled a plan.

McInnes’ side were solid, disciplined and – crucially – got over the line. It was the kind of performance many expected from day one: pragmatic, organised, not pretty but finally coherent. This cannot be the exception that proves the rule. It has to be the template.

Two players carried the attacking threat. Kim Min-Su played as if he wanted the entire team to orbit around him, demanding the ball, showing for passes, trying to knit everything together. Djeidi Gassama brought the spark, busy and direct, the one willing to run at defenders and ask questions. In a forward line that has too often looked blunt and disconnected, they at least offered shape and intent.

The controversy, as ever, arrived online rather than on the pitch. Kevin Nisbet’s disallowed goal has already been fed into the usual outrage machine, but the big calls from referee Matthew MacDermid stood up to scrutiny. There were two clear issues in the incident: a shove on Dujon Sterling and an offside. Either one was enough to chalk it off. Together, they left little room for argument, despite the noise.

This win, built on comfort and solidity rather than chaos and improvisation, now faces its first test: Falkirk on Wednesday. A step forward only matters if it’s followed by another. Rangers cannot afford to slip back into the uncertainty that has defined the early weeks.

And then there is the squad itself. It is still short, still incomplete, still nowhere near the level required. The club have been heavily linked with a striker. They also need another right winger and two midfielders. That is not fine-tuning; that is core surgery.

There is plenty of work to do before the window closes. The question is whether Sunday was the first sign of a team finally taking shape, or just a brief pause in a season that has started on the wrong foot.