It might be all new to Giovanni van Bronckhorst but Rangers have been struck down by this condition before.
If they’re not careful this latest variant of second-half-of-the-season syndrome could quickly develop into something more nasty than the new manager could possibly have expected when he first arrived to give the champions a much needed shot in the arm.
Having dropped points at Pittodrie in their first game back after the shutdown, Van Bronckhorst saw his players give serious consideration to tossing away another two before sub Scott Arfield pulled a stunning winning goal out of the bag to lift them out of their own mediocrity.
With one delicious flick of his right boot, Arfield succeeded in knocking a hole in Livingston’s heavily manned defences and Van Bronckhorst must now hope, with Celtic Park on the horizon, that the side effects of this sluggish return to action do not linger too much longer.
His starting XI added weight to the notion the manager is still feeling his way around this squad at a critical moment in the campaign. Without Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Joe Aribo, he had to be creative.
Even so, there was an element of suck-it-and-see to the team he sent out and to the midfield trio in particular.
Despite having Scott Arfield, John Lundstram and Ryan Jack available for selection, van Bronckhorst gave youngster Alex Lowry the nod to carry on where he left off as a replacement for Ianis Hagi against Stirling Albion.
That was a big decision but he doubled down by giving a starting berth to another new boy, American young gun James Sands. Up front, second chancer Cedric Itten was chosen to spearhead the attack flanked by Fashion Sakala and Scott Wright.
While Rangers are being reinvented by their boss, Livingston remain reliably predictable. Stuffy, robust and defensively drilled, David Martindale does what it says on the tin.
This then, always had the makings of a long shift on a filthy night on Glasgow’s south side.
Sakala and Lowry could have lightened the load in the opening minutes when the striker darted on to a stray ball and set up the youngster for an early pop at goal.
Lowry’s connection was too weak to trouble Max Stryjek from 18 yards and the keeper saved comfortably.
There was an early scare at the other end too when Allan McGregor shanked a messy clearance straight to Odin Bailey then had to scamper back to pluck the midfielder’s clever first-time effort from under his own crossbar.
Following this flurry of activity, the contest settled into the expected pattern, plenty of Rangers possession but precious few chances created against a brick wall defence.
That was all coupled with a curious lack of intensity given what’s at stake.
Yes, Sakala looked bright in flashes and Lowry floated around the midfield showing the trickery and nous of someone twice his age but - those two aside - Rangers seemed strangely flat.
Wright would have opened the scoring in 25 minutes had Jack Fitzwater not got back in time to hack clear off the line.
Lowry very nearly put one on a plate for Itten after river-dancing his way through a cluster of white shirts inside the box.
The youngster then flashed a ball across the face of goal but Itten’s reactions were just too slow to get him a tap in.
Then, seven minutes before the break, Sakala was snuffed out by Stryjek at the keeper’s left-hand post as the Zambian moved on to a menacing cross from James Tavernier. Van Bronckhorst resisted the urge to make changes at half-time, surprising given the lack of oomph in the middle of the park, where Sands and Glen Kamara were making heavy weather of it in the driving rain.
It was Lowry who was taking it upon himself to make a difference. He sent Tavernier off down the right at the start of the second half to create the next half chance with a cross which Itten headed wide from six yards.
A long night was now becoming a nervous one too as frustration began to boil over in the stands.
Sakala could have popped the tension in 54 minutes had he not fired another effort straight at Stryjek after turning smartly on the edge of the box.
With grumbles now growls, van Bronckhorst replaced Sands and Itten with Arfield and Kemar Roofe.
It was Sakala who continued to pose the greatest threat.
He came close again just after the hour when he tricked his way inside the penalty box and then caught Stryjek out with a quick shot which flew through the keeper’s legs and flashed across an open goal.
Then, in 70 minutes, he forced a terrific fingertip stop out of the keeper after setting off on another blistering gallop. When the breakthrough did eventually arrive, in 25 minutes, Sakala played a part in that too.
He combined with Borna Barisic and sent the full-back to the byline.
Barisic conjured a cross into the box but the real magic touch came from Arfield who, with the outside of his right boot, managed to flick an exquisite finish over Stryjek and dropping down inside the base of the far post.
