‘Brainless’ – Rangers star slated for costly error against St Mirren
Russell Martin’s poor domestic start to the season at Rangers took a further blow as after being held to a draw against St Mirren on Sunday afternoon.
Rangers had drawn their opening games against Motherwell and Dundee, and Martin is facing increasing pressure at Ibrox.
A humbling midweek loss to Club Brugge in Champions League qualifying left Rangers fans stunned and Martin’s position at the club was questioned.
Fans were seen leaving Ibrox early after disastrous defending left Rangers 3-0 down after 20 minutes, and it was more of the same against St. Mirren in the first half.
Defending in question as Rangers behind again
St. Mirren’s Jonah Ayunga was played through by an incisive pass from Michael Mandron and it was all too easy for the hosts to carve Rangers apart to go 1-0 up in the first half.
While Martin’s side did battle back to earn a draw in the second half, the first-half defending was called into question.
Analysing the game at half time for Sky Sports, Chris Sutton described Rangers’ defending as: “Brainless.”
New signing Emmanuel Fernandez was the focus of the criticism due to his positioning, with Kris Boyd saying: “He’s got to be inside, he’s got to be closer and he’s got to match the run [of Ayunga].”
Sutton added: “It’s brainless defending, where’s the danger? Where’s the defensive instinct? […] Russell Martin will be furious with both Fernandez and [John] Souttar.”
Defensive woes compile as Rangers under threat of further poor results
Football Insider verdict
This weekend it’s Fernandez, in the week it was Nasser Djiga, who failed to deal with a ball in behind by Brugge, allowing Romeo Vermant to beat Jack Butland from 30-yards, putting the Belgian side 1-0 up inside three minutes of their Champions League qualifier.
Defensive imperfections have been a theme of Rangers’ early form under Martin, and in a league campaign where the Glasgow side have struggled to find consistent attacking threat, the 39-year-old can’t afford to fall behind many times this season.
| Games | Goals conceded |
| Motherwell (A) | 1 |
| Viktoria Plzen (H) | 0 |
| Dundee (H) | 1 |
| Viktoria Plzen (A) | 2 |
| Alloa Athletic (H) | 2 |
| Club Brugge (H) | 3 |
St. Mirren have continuously threatened Rangers in behind their defence, which Boyd described as “way too open” and the Ibrox side look incapable of dealing with set pieces into their box.
While they’ve managed to find goals to respond to set backs in their early fixture, Martin will have to shore up his backline as his side head to Brugge facing a two goal deficit in their Champions League qualifying second leg, before welcoming Celtic for their first Old Firm derby of the season next weekend.