THE adoption of the winter break in the Scottish Premiership lends itself nicely to compiling half-term report cards for each side. And as Rangers assistant manager Gary McAllister looks back on the first fledgling months of his and Steven Gerrard’s tenure at the club, he admits there are areas where they must do better.
Overall though, he considers the effort expended by the Rangers players through a gruelling domestic and European schedule as heroic. Through their desire and their application, he believes they have given of their very best.
Sometimes, that hasn’t been quite enough, but he is heartened by the notion that in the New Year, there is plenty of scope for the Rangers management team to squeeze more out of this group.
"From arriving we tip our hat to the players,” McAllister said. “There's been a lot of change and they've given us everything.
“We're talking about halfway through the season but at the beginning of that we've had 14 European ties to deal with and the domestic league. They've given us everything.
"There have been times when we've gone down to 10 men, it's probably happened too often. We've gone down to nine men. So there have been occasions when they've gone over and above. They're properly emptied, proper heroic stuff. That's what we're seeing.
“Others might see it differently but when the backs have been against the wall people have really stood up and that's been impressive. If the coaching staff see the players giving everything, OK at times the performance level has maybe dropped, but across the big picture we're delighted. But we can get better and we'll look to get better.”
One thing that may aid them in their quest to reap a greater points return in the second half of the league campaign is the absence of European football, however an unwelcome development their exit from the Europa League may have been at the time. Celtic, of course, still remain in the competition.
As part of that, the chance to take some time on the training field that isn’t solely focused on recovery should also benefit the development of the team.
"We'd still like to have that distraction of playing in Europe and getting through to the last 32 but the fact we're out we can really focus,” said McAllister.
“The thing you have to remember is that a week or so ago we got passed 100 training sessions since we came here - but of that 100, most of them have been recovery.
“We were in Spain [in pre-season] where it was more tactical and about what we were looking for. But from the start of Europe the training has been guided by sports science and the guys who do the numbers. Most of the sessions have been about recovery and getting ready for the next game.”
For now, though, the next game seems to always be approaching fast. Rangers travel to face St Johnstone this lunchtime, and while some minds may already be drifting towards the tantalising prospect of the Old Firm fixture on Saturday, for McAllister, the focus has to very much be on the task of taking on Tommy Wright’s men.
McAllister considers Wright the most underrated coach in the country, and knows that his team will have to be at their best to win maximum points.
“Prior to coming back to Rangers and looking from afar, it has always amazed me how well he has done,” he said. “Even in the little period that I worked with BT sport going through there to Perth, they don’t have massive crowds and each year you look at the squad and there isn’t a great deal of change.
“I’d imagine there isn’t a great deal of money to recruit, but he does amazing. I watched them earlier in the season and they started pretty slowly, but from the 6-0 against Celtic they’ve been fantastic. The clean sheets – you have to praise the goalie and the back four and the people in front of them.
“Barring the result against Motherwell, he’s done amazing. It’s a small squad so it’s not as if he can flip things around, so the work he’s done from that Celtic result and the effect that must have had on the players, to get the reaction he’s had, it’s all testament to the guy. And he just keeps repeating it.”
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