RUT FEELING

Gers are in familiar territory and Jack knows only major improvement in performances will ease fans' frustration

- BY ANDY NEWPORT

JACK BUTLAND appreciated the question.

The trouble is that finding the right answer remains as elusive now as it was last season.

Just why is it that this Rangers side find it so hard to start games with an intensity, hunger and drive to score goals?

Last season, a Gers team at the time being damned as the worst in living memory averaged an open play xG - the figure used by club analysts to work out how many clear-cut chances they create during a game - of 1.43.

This year, the number posted by a side that has sunk even lower in the estimations of the punters has crashed to 0.85 - that's less than the 0.86 boasted by the Falkirk team they found impossible to cut open during Sunday's goalless draw.

Butland refused to insult the intelligence of the fans by offering platitudes and soundbites.

The only acceptable response is action - but as the fed-up supporters are now used to seeing, that's far from guaranteed.

Butland said: "I think it’s a brilliant question.

"Coming from the changing room, it’s not something I see from the majority as a problem.

"It’s one thing we've been speaking about a lot.