April 29, 2017 – Ladbrokes Premiership - Rangers 1 Celtic 5
THE second of two Old Firm matches in a week. Losing a 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final final at Hampden was bad enough, but things were about to get much, much worse. Okay, this still wasn’t his team, but presiding over the heaviest ever home defeat to your historic rivals never looks good – regardless of the fact the hiding laid bare to the board exactly how much surgery was required this summer. Kenny Miller provided the only shaft of light that day, but the Ibrox side were already four down by then. Maltese full back Myles Beerman had the misfortune to start things off, his lunge on Patrick Roberts leading to a Scott Sinclair penalty. Leigh Griffiths, Callum McGregor, Dedryck Boyata and Mikael Lustig completed the rout. A dismal day for the club was compounded when a Rangers fan subjected Sinclair to racial abuse.
May 17, 2017 – Ladbrokes Premiership – Rangers 1 Aberdeen 2
AS much as Rangers have their sights on overhauling Celtic, for now it is the failure to even be second best which really rankles. A first home defeat against Aberdeen for 26 years – and one which ensured the Dons finished second behind the Parkhead side – was a body blow. Preceded by a lengthy row with Derek McInnes – Caixinha implied that McInnes was disappointed not to have his job, while McInnes said he should be more “embarrassed that they’ve not finished second” – Aberdeen’s first Ibrox win since the days of Eoin Jess and Brian Grant was secured with goals from Graeme Shinnie and Ryan Christie. Martyn Waghorn got a goal back and Jayden Stockley went for an early bath but this was a dominant performance and a deserved Aberdeen win.
July 4, 2017 – Europa League - Progres Niederkorn 2 Rangers 0 (Progres win 2-1 on agg.)
IN retrospect, the Portuguese manager’s tenure was perhaps doomed from the moment the club’s Europa League adventure came a cropper against the “fourth best team in Luxembourg”. Back in Europe for the first time in years, and leading through a solitary Miller goal from the first leg at Ibrox, Rangers were tormented in the 8,000-capacity Stade Jose Barthel. First Emmanuel Francoise converted a Sebastian Thill corner, then the latter added a free kick nine minutes later. Josh Windass and Kenny Miller both hit the bar late on but neither were able to alter of the most famous results in the history of Luxembourgish football and one of the most infamous ones in the annals of the Ibrox club. Perhaps a few of the manager’s backers began to hedge their bets at the sight of him remonstrating with some of the club’s travelling support afterwards from the middle of a bush. It was a match they had more than a month to stew over before the league campaign commenced.
August 12, 2017 – Ladbrokes Premiership - Rangers 2 Hibernian 3
FORGET European embarrassments, domestic play was agonising enough for Rangers supporters, who could certainly have done without their old nemesis Neil Lennon arriving at Ibrox to lord it over them. Back-to-back early season wins against Motherwell were a form of encouragement and so too was the barnstorming start which gave them an early lead through Alfredo Morelos in this Scottish Cup final re-match. Simon Murray got Hibs back on terms, though, and Anthony Stokes did better than Ryan Jack at staying on the field, the former Aberdeen man’s ill discipline something which was to become a recurring theme. A James Tavernier own goal and Vykintas Slivkas strike gave the ten-man Ibrox side a mountain to climb, and despite Tavernier’s late counter they succumbed to their first domestic defeat of the season.
September 23, 2017 – Ladbrokes Premiership – Rangers 0 Celtic 2
THIS WAS now Caixinha’s team, and he was damned by the fact Rangers appeared little closer to Celtic than they had done last season. Rocked by injury to Bruno Alves before the match, and with Carlos Pena controversially included ahead of Kenny Miller, the Ibrox side at least kept this match alive until half time when the manager found himself embroiled in a confrontation with Scott Brown, who he accused to elbowing Alfredo Morelos and said it wouldn’t have happened if he had been on the pitch. The Parkhead side were a different team after the break, with goals from Tom Rogic and Leigh Griffiths heaping further misery on the Govan side.
October 22, 2017 – BetFred Cup semi-final - Rangers 0 Motherwell 2
THIS brutal, bruising encounter with the Lanarkshire side might have been the knockout blow. Lost in the fog of war may be the fact that Ryan Bowman should have walked for breaking Fabio Cardoso’s nose with a flailing arm, the player having already seen yellow for a similar misdemeanour earlier in the game. Two goals from Louis Moult, a reported target early in the season, did the damage – the first a close range finish from a set piece and the second a fine lob. Caixinha watched the end of the match from the stands after being sent off for a clash with Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson.
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