Rangers 1-1 Tottenham (Igamane 47′ | Kulusevski 75′)
IBROX — A swish of Dejan Kulusevski‘s left boot and some Fraser Forster heroics mean that the pause button has been tentatively pushed on questions over Ange Postecoglou’s future. For now, at least.
Spurs battled back in Glasgow but the result was far better than the performance. Rangers had looked set to enjoy a rare English scalp until Kulusevski earned the beleaguered visitors a draw. The teams remain level on 11 points in the table in 8th and 9th with two matchdays remaining.
The financial chasm that has opened up between Scotland’s Big Two and clubs south of the border partly explains why Rangers have gone 32 years and seven games without beating a Premier League side. They will rarely have a better chance than this.
On Thursday, one team full of confidence took on another that has become completely unsure of itself.
It was only seven weeks ago that Spurs enjoyed arguably their best back-to-back results of the Angeball era by beating Manchester City and Aston Villa. The Postecoglou project has backpedalled unbelievably since.
Rangers may be third and 11 points adrift of leaders Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table, but they have won four times since Spurs last tasted victory and for much of this pulsating Europa League tie had their visitors on the ropes.
Before kick-off, a banner was unfurled in the Copland Road Stand with “Make Rangers Great Again” scrawled across it.
A sea of blue, red and white flags underneath added to the Trumpian feel as the Ibrox faithful did its best to unnerve and unsettle a fragile opponent. It worked, although to be honest, this Spurs team have been daunted by less.
The atmosphere crackled from the first minute with every committed tackle and foray forward met with roars of encouragement. Nicolas Raskin manhandled the Spurs midfield, barging bullishly into the much taller Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma off the ball before crunching into James Maddison all before half-time.
Forster booed throughout for his ex-Celtic connections, was the busier of the ex-England goalkeepers, making three saves to Jack Butland’s one in the first half including from point-blank range to deny Vaclav Cerny.
The veteran’s fine form in Guglielmo Vicario’s absence has been a rare positive during Spurs’ miserable recent run. He has held the fort admirably, emerging as an unlikely hero to prevent things from getting worse. Spurs have won just one of their last eight matches in all competitions.
Forster aside, there wasn’t much for Postecoglou to be happy about at half-time. There were two telltale signs that he was unsatisfied with his players: they were sent out early for the second half, at least two minutes before Tina Turner’s Simply The Best welcomed Rangers back onto the pitch, and he took off the hapless Timo Werner.
Since joining Spurs, Postecoglou has been fiercely loyal to his players, always taking on responsibility when results have been poor. That made his withering assessment of Werner’s performance all the more striking.
“He wasn’t playing anywhere near the level he should,” Postecoglou said.
“He’s a senior international, he’s a German international. In the moment we’re in right now, it’s not like we’ve got many options. I need everyone to at least be going out there trying to give the best of themselves. His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable.”
Postecoglou’s changes didn’t have the desired impact initially as Spurs fell behind within 90 seconds of the restart. Rangers’ timeless right-back James Tavernier floated a cross to the back post where Hamza Igamane was lurking unmarked to volley in the opening goal.
Ear-splitting celebrations followed, the deafening noise settling and reverberating around scrambled brains of the Spurs players. Attention from the stands soon turned to Postecoglou a one-time nemesis who had inflicted misery upon Rangers fans during a trophy-rich two-season spell across the city.
“Sacked in the morning!” they chanted at Postecoglou as he stood motionless on the touchline, more vulnerable now than he has been since arriving in Scotland on a wave of scepticism three-and-a-half years ago. He survived the night, but for how much longer he does so remains an open question.
Rangers sensed blood and followed the established blueprint for disrupting Spurs by pressing them high with intensity to force frenzied turnovers.
It took the efforts of Kulusevski and Solanke to turn the tide. The Swede both started and finished the move that split Rangers open, freeing Solanke with a clever pass before running onto the return and firing low beyond Butland after Maddison had been upended.
Even then, Rangers should have won when Cyriel Desser spun Spurs’ centre-backs inside out only to be denied by a brilliant sprawling save from Forster.
Spurs’ No 2 thwarted the Belgian again in added time, throwing his arms up afterwards in disbelief that he had had another chance to win it.
Spurs had the 36-year-old to thank for halting a run of defeats. They will hope to be less reliant on him when he returns to St Mary’s on Sunday.
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