The reasons behind the disparity between Rangers’ European form and their domestic results might be a mystery which would be beyond the deductive powers of the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
A side which has spilled 13 points in a dozen Premiership matches and is presently 11 points behind leaders Celtic already has one foot planted in the knock-out stages of the Europa League.
Booed off at half-time after failing to lay a glove on Dundee United on Saturday, Philippe Clement’s men ripped Ligue 1 Nice apart in their own back yard on Thursday.
By time up, the only question on the lips of the man from Antwerp was why his side had not scored more than four goals. Given they’ve found the net just twice away from home in the league, it’s fair to say the matter won’t have deprived the Rangers manager of too much sleep once his head hit the pillow.
This was a very fine night for Clement as he returned to the Cote D’Azur 18 months after being shown the door by Monaco – one that arrived for him not a moment too soon.
The performance his side delivered belied their struggles at home and strengthened the view that European football – particularly on the road – is more their forte.
Philippe Clement celebrates with his jubilant players after the emphatic victory over Nice
Hamza Igamane grabbed his second – and his side’s fourth – goal to wrap things up
The pressure will now be on Moroccan striker Igamane to recreate that form in the Premiership
An opening night win in Malmo came before Rangers took a valuable point from Olympiakos. With Steaua Bucharest also being dismissed at Ibrox, the 10 points Clement’s side moved on to on Thursday leaves them in an enviable position.
Sitting eighth in the table, they seem almost certain to qualify for play-off round as it stands. If a further five points can be taken from Tottenham, Manchester United and Union Saint-Gilloise, they may yet bypass the next phase and move straight to the last 16.
And all of this from a side which has lost to Celtic, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, drawn with Hearts and Dundee United and struggled over the line in other league matches. The contrast is just extraordinary.
It’s manifest in the body language of Clement’s players. Playing catch-up in the Premiership from the minute the drew at Tynecastle on the opening day, at times they look consumed by expectation and pressure.
Last weekend against United, Mohamed Diomande struggled to make six-yard passes and was hooked at half time.
He played with the shackles off four days later in the Allianz Riviera, delivering a tigerish midfielder performance and calmly slotting home the second goal. The Ivorian typified the improvement seen across five days.
Rangers repeatedly struggle to break down Scottish sides who are content to sit in deep and hit them on the counter-attack. They don’t cope well when the game is compressed into a third of the pitch.
Yet, when teams come on to them and leave space in behind, it suits Clement’s side down to the ground. They have the willing runners who can capitalise. As Nice started to chase the game on Thursday, you lost count of the number of times the visitors had an overload when they moved back up the field.
While Clement’s side were due every word of praise for putting the French to the sword, it must be said that an injury-ravaged Nice were truly awful.
Already hanging on by their fingertips in the Europa League, they played, for all the world, like they just didn’t care.
The tone was set when Hicham Boudaoui was easily brushed off ball by Hamza Igamane as Vaclav Cerny scored the opener.
Next up was Pablo Rosario who completely checked out of the game to let Diomande slide in and make it two. Rosario would go on to pass the ball straight to Igamane as the forward made it four early in the second period.
The Moroccan had already put the contest beyond all doubt in the closing seconds of the first half when he took advantage of Mohamed Abdelmonem’s woeful back-pass without first checking for danger.
But as comical as Nice’s defending was, Rangers showed them no mercy.
The speed with which the narrative can shift in football never ceases to amaze you.
On Wednesday, Clement sat in the media room in Nice and batted off questions about his future. On the back of Saturday’s latest set-back, that was only natural.
A day later, he was reflecting on the most impressive result he’s presided over this season. Those who’d written off his Ibrox tenure were having to suddenly engage reverse gear.
As impressive as the performance was, though, anyone who’s followed Rangers this season has learned that only a fool would assume anything about what happens next.
Rangers lost at Rugby Park but then beat the Romanians. They lost at Pittodrie one midweek then earned a point in Piraeus the following one.
A visit to Perth on Sunday is a game they should win, but we’ve said that several times already.
Only once Clement sees consistency from midweek to weekend will his talk of progress stand up to scrutiny.
‘It’s a different kind of game, of course,’ said defender Robin Propper. ‘We play a bit differently, of course, in the Premiership.
‘You want to have the ball as much as possible, you want to press as much as possible, to show what we can do with the ball.
‘And here (in Europe), sometimes you can drop a little bit, leave the ball at the opponent, and from there play with the counter-attacks.
‘We can do both very well, only we need in the Premiership to have that bit of aggression more to score the goals, to keep a clean sheet. We struggle a little bit, but you see in Europe, we can do that maybe much more. We are really good at it.’
It helps when the man at the helm picks the right men for the job. Dujon Sterling’s selection ahead of James Tavernier came as no surprise and was again vindicated by the former’s excellent display.
Cyriel Dessers may have to get used to the view from the sidelines he had for the majority of the game in France.
On his first European start, Igamane set up Cerny then scored twice to round off an outstanding individual contribution.
Dessers’ failure to hit the target from six yards out after being belatedly introduced felt like the moment when he finally relinquished his place as Rangers’ No 1 striker.
Although Danilo will come back into contention for McDiarmid Park, it’s inconceivable that the Moroccan won’t be given another opportunity from the start.
After a troubling start to the season necessitated him making some radical decisions, it appears Clement has finally worked out his best team.
If they can come close to replicating their European form by showing tangible signs of progress on domestic soil, the Belgian won’t be going anywhere. And there’s no great mystery about that.
‘That’s the big thing,’ Propper stressed. You have to follow up the games. We win now, and in three days we have another game, so we need to be focused on the next game again.’
