A 9 for Butland as Rangers players rated v Panathinaikos | OneFootball

So Russell Martin wins his competitive debut as Rangers manager, with a slightly surprising 2-0 dispatch of Panathinaikos. We decided to let the dust fall instead of a post-match reactionary ratings.

Suit or no suit, Martin gets off to a victory, and Ibrox Noise offers our verdict with Rangers match ratings:

Butland:

MOTM already, Butland was back to his old best. Top reactionary saves which won Rangers the match, and stopped a 0-3 hammering inside the first half. 9

Tavernier:

An absolute mess for a long time, he didn’t know his role and was sweeping, being caught, and playing as a borderline DM some of the time. Got a bit better in the second half. 6

Souttar:

Did very little wrong, but suffered the system as he struggled to link with his team mates. But his own contribution was very solid. 8

Djiga:

Solid debut – started a little nervous but grew in and didn’t really do much wrong. 7

Aarons:

If you remove his initiating the counter for the second goal, he was horrendous. But he’s not a LB so we don’t really know what Martin was doing playing him there. Or wherever he was supposed to be. Yet again. 5

Raskin:

Had some bright driving moments in this one but maybe seemed a bit distracted? 6

Rothwell:

Lots of energy and fans falling all over themselves praising him but all we’re seeing so far is a slightly better Connor Barron in his early stages before he fell away. We weren’t quite as impressed as many are, and the stats back that up. We also know we’ll get abuse for not immediately loving him. 6

Diomande:

Dio seems to rise to the occasion in Europe, it’s where most of his best performances have been. This was no exception. 7

Dowell:

Oh what a horror. Anonymous, and barely touched the ball, and seems to have something on Martin to make him keep selecting him. A captain? Give me a break. 4

Danilo:

Not suited to the lone striker role, and was subdued and unable to play his match. 4

Curtis:

Was absolutely terrible till his goal, but goals are what count. A dream for the lad. 7

Subs:

Dessers:

Had very little impact. 4

Gassama:

His debut couldn’t have gone better. What a goal. 8

Igamane:

Like Dessers, little impact. 4

Bajrami:

After the socks farce, he was alright when he came on, but again, no major impact. 5

Manager:

This is the one you waited for… we didn’t see much in this match to indicate Martin has any idea what he’s doing. He started a horrendous XI like every predecessor loves to do, and got a massive slice of luck that his goalie saved the day and the Greeks hit the post.

He then got a bigger one when they lost a man when they were a goal down. The system was incoherent, and in the first half lord knows where Tav and Aarons were meant to be playing. Starting Dowell was just embarrassing, yet again.

Nothing about this night won us over, but Walter also played some rotten football and kept winning. Football is about goals and winning, whether you know what you’re doing or not. If Martin keeps on winning then we’ll forgive the mess of a system we saw last night. We’re not sure he will keep on riding his luck like that though. Oh, and put the shirt and tie on please. 6