Russell Martin on the brink – Five things learned from Rangers’ draw with St Mirren
Russell Martin’s miserable start to life as Rangers manager continued with a 1-1 draw away at St. Mirren on Sunday.
The Gers had endured identical results against Dundee and Motherwell to open their Scottish Premiership campaign, already leaving many fans disillusioned with Martin as manager.
Things got even worse, with Jonah Ayunga putting St. Mirren ahead in the 32nd minute following some shocking Rangers defending.
A late equaliser from teenager Findlay Curtis salvaged a point, but the boos still rained down from an unsatisfied Rangers fanbase at full-time.
As if things weren’t tough enough, Rangers welcome Celtic to Ibrox for the first Old Firm derby of the season next week. But first, here are five things we learned from this 1-1 draw at St. Mirren that really felt like a defeat.
1 – Russell Martin struggling to influence games
Russell Martin needs a break after his shocking start to life as Rangers manager, but there was none to be found here. In fact, if anything, his case to remain in the Ibrox dugout was dealt an even bigger blow here.
Of course, Martin needs help from the players he selects, but it’s also on him to find the right blend and give those players the tools to succeed.
On Sunday, while St. Mirren were ahead and didn’t look too threatened by Rangers, it was still the visitors who dominated the ball and looked on the verge of turning the screw throughout the first half.
The second half was a different story.
Half-time introductions for Danilo and Mikey Moore did nothing to improve Rangers’ prospects. In fact, they — alongside bringing on Mohamed Diomande in the 65th minute — only served to make the Gers worse, with Martin’s side losing their entire structure with the ball.
Passing became disjointed and off-the-ball runs disappeared, and it was only in the final 15 minutes when St. Mirren sank toward their own goal that Rangers finally reasserted dominance. And even then, it took them ramming a square peg into a round hole on set-pieces to finally draw level.
Martin is already cutting a desperate figure on the sidelines in his search for answers as Rangers manager.
2 – Thelo Aasgaard is not a striker
A lack of goals has been a real problem for Rangers at the start of this Scottish Premiership season, with the 55-time champions’ only two goals prior to Sunday coming from right-back James Tavernier — one of which was a penalty.
It was just the one goal again on Sunday as teenager Curtis bailed out his teammates and manager.
That seemed an unlikely prospect in the first half, and it’s safe to say Martin’s experiment in fielding Thelo Aasgaard as a striker failed miserably.
This was the Norwegian’s first start since arriving from Luton in the summer, and it’ll likely be his last as a No.9.
Aasgaard’s close-range miss in the 38th minute was a shocker, given a 0.83 xG value by Fotmob.
But it was his overall play that was most worrying, with Aasgaard having just two touches in the opposition box and two shots during his 65 minutes on the pitch, while he failed to create a single chance and had just 30 overall touches of the ball.
| Stats vs St. Mirren | Thelo Aasgaard |
| Shots | 2 |
| Big chances missed | 1 |
| Chances created | 0 |
| Touches in the opposition box | 2 |
The runs were wrong, the link-up play was nonexistent, and the finishing was woeful when the chances actually came.
At least Martin now knows that strikers are strikers and attacking midfielders are not.
3 – Souttar-Fernandez pairing ripe for the picking
St. Mirren had picked up just one point from their opening two games of the season, failing to score a single goal.
And yet, they posed a serious threat to Rangers, who made them look like a side full of attacking confidence and gifting them 12 shots on the day.
Much of that was down to the haphazard pairing of Emmanuel Fernandez and John Souttar at the back.
The former looked at sea positionally, while the latter completely lacked the pace to make up for his partner’s misgivings.
That issue was laid bare on St. Mirren’s goal, with Fernandez completely losing track of Jonah Ayunga, while Souttar was too deep and kept the forward onside for Mikael Mandron’s ball behind.
Souttar was unable to make up the ground on Ayunga, who applied the finish beyond a stranded Jack Butland.
Martin needs to find a cohesive centre-back partnership ahead of the visit of Celtic next week, or things could get very ugly, very quickly.
4 – Findlay Curtis is a gem
It wasn’t all bad for Rangers, with a point just about salvaged thanks to Findlay Curtis’ 78th-minute equaliser.
There was a stroke of luck, with the strike taking a massive deflection off a St. Mirren defender on its way in.
However, Curtis earned his luck with a well-hit strike from the edge of the box in what was just one moment in a quality cameo for the 18-year-old.
Curtis completed all nine of his passes from the bench and almost won the match just a minute after levelling with another effort that was saved by Shamal George.
The teenager had more touches in the opposition box in 15 minutes (3) than Aasgaard did in 65 (2), while also winning three of his four ground duels.
All of this comes off the back of Curtis scoring against Panathinaikos in the Champions League and Alloa Athletic in the League Cup — showing that even amid a miserable start to the season, Rangers have still found another gem.
Could Curtis be thrown into the Old Firm bear pit from the start next week?
5 – Rangers fans are livid
The boos and jeers from the Rangers fans present at SMISA Stadium were audible at half-time, and deafening at full-time — even after Curtis’ equaliser.
But if Martin didn’t like that, he’d better stay away from Rangers’ social media channels today, with fans furious at this latest stalemate.
Many are already calling for the former Saints boss to be sacked, with Martin admittedly needing a serious stroke of luck to turn things around.
Celtic at home next week really could be make or break.