St Johnstone ‘becomes’ critical must-win for Rangers | OneFootball

While it’s natural to want to be balanced, ‘them lot’ dropping points yet again at their home patch against a tough Killie who will likely finish a strong season this campaign was yet another indicator that Brendan Rodgers’ Midas touch from the first time around was more or less a fluke and he lacked a quality Rangers pushing him.

He of course won a treble or two, but with no opposition worth a damn, and he more or less went unchallenged with a massive budget.

This is not to say he’s a bad manager, he actually isn’t – with a better break or two he would have achieved incredible things in the Premier League with both Liverpool and Leicester, but as with it all in his career, something always derailed him.

This time around, however, he hasn’t even got on the train.

See, up against a shambolically-managed Michael Beale Rangers, Celtic didn’t have to do much to get that 7-point gap, 8 including goal difference – but now that we have Philippe Clement, Rodgers’ side has completely crashed under the pressure.

That was pressure he didn’t face until the Belgian took over at Ibrox, and now the picture of Scottish football is changing.

It only takes that 3 points on Sunday against a St Johnstone side with just 2 wins in their last five and Rangers will, for the first time in two years, be definitively clear at the top of the table on both goal difference and for the first time points.

This, in four months, is a huge deal.

But unlike the last times when we had this opportunity and wasted both, Ibrox Noise is not going to pressure the team too much.

It’s really very simple – Clement is the one who knows how to get the best out of them, and he is the one responsible for fielding the team tomorrow he believes can score the most goals and win the match against the Saints.

A missed opportunity in Perth would frustrate Rangers fans immensely – it goes without saying that we simply must win – these are the absolute must-win matches that are bread and butter in this league, and a win on Sunday would be the first real indicator Rangers might be ready to win the league.

Anything less and it’s admittedly under ‘bottle-merchanting’ for sure.

The door has been opened for this team, it would be sacrilege if the squad and manager don’t walk through it.