Nine games into his Rangers career and Kim Min-su still doesn’t have a goal or an assist to his name. Stats, however, don’t tell anything like the full story.

The headline take from this affair was Kevin Kelsy returning to the Ibrox starting line-up after being left on the bench for last weekend’s 2-2 slip-up at Dundee and scoring twice to get his side back on an even keel.

It was the display of Min-su, however, that laid the foundations for what was a dominant victory in the face of some pretty brutal weather conditions.

With Djeidi Gassama being removed from the first-team to permit Kelsy’s inclusion, Min-su was moved out to the left side and that’s really where he should stay. He built a reputation playing in that kind of role with Girona and excelled there in this game.

The South Korean is technically strong, direct and showed in parts of this encounter that he is mindful of his defensive responsibilities too. At one point early in the second half - with Rangers wobbling just a little bit, believe it or not – he tracked back, won a tackle and punched the air in celebration.

It was in his work going forward that the 20-year-old caught the eye most, though. He played a fantastic pass that allowed Ryan Naderi to set up Kelsy for his first, delivered a shot that rebounded into Naderi’s path for Rangers’ second and then took the corner-kick that allowed Kelsy to score again.

By the time substitute Tochi Chukwuani made it 4-0 towards the end, he was off the park and resting up, having been replaced by Bojan Miovski with 10 minutes to play and been afforded a warm reception by the home support.

Keep playing like this and those goals and assists will surely come in time. With him on the left and Badredine Bouanani on the right, Rangers carry real danger. There is also a powerful argument to be made that the team which started yesterday is the strongest set of players available to manager Derek McInnes.

Min-su can play in a No 10 role, of course, but Naderi has been going through a real purple patch playing just behind the main striker and doesn’t have the skillset to be the main man in attack.

He needs to stay where he is and that’s why Min-su is best used on the flank when everyone is fit and available. He maybe isn’t quite as fast as Gassama, but he’s better equipped in almost every other metric.

He was most definitely the man who made the difference here and the architect behind so much of the fine play and chance-creation exhibited by Rangers.

Of course, both he – and the team, in general – could do with being a little more clinical, but that’s a conversation for another day. He deserves nothing other than praise for his display here.

This was one-way traffic for most of the afternoon and the tone was set right from the beginning with Bouanani, outstanding early doors before fading, seeing a lovely turn and shot deflected wide after just a matter of minutes.

From there, it was wave after wave of attack from the home side.

Bouanani played a clever one-two with Min-su and screwed an effort wide of the far post when it seemed easier to score. Kelsy then linked-up with Min-su before seeing a shot from distance spilled by visiting goalkeeper Toby Steward and sliding wide.

It looked like Rangers could have had a penalty when Ryan Naderi went down in the area following a challenge from Cheick Diabate, but VAR Andrew Dallas took a look and said no.

Even so, in the gathering gloom, Rangers kept pushing. Bouanani played in Min-su midway through the opening 45 only for the advancing Steward to deny him with a fine close-range block.

Steward delivered again moments later when denying Bouanani after some lovely lead-up work by Min-su and Kelsy, but there was only so long Saints could withstand such pressure and the levee finally broke on 28 minutes.

Min-su was the brains behind the goal. He picked the ball up on the left, cut inside and delivered a wonderful weighted pass behind the visiting backline that Naderi anticipated and then made a well-timed run to move onto.

The recently-recruited Czech internationalist had given himself time and space to weigh up his options on the left of the area and picked out Kelsy at the back post with a square pass. The Venezuelan couldn’t miss and celebrated his return to the starting line-up in fine style.

When Min-su then cracked the base of Steward’s left-hand post after being teed-up by Kelsy, it looked like we might be in for a cricket score, but, with ten minutes of the first period to play, came the first warning. The first reminder that this Rangers side can be got at. That, although things are considerably better than they were at the start of the campaign, there is still a vulnerability there at times.

The backlot got themselves into a bit of a fankle and Jamie Gullan played a terrific sliderule ball through to Josh Fowler. He was one-on-one with Ivor Pandur and should most certainly have hit the target. Instead, he put a poor effort into the side netting – and that might well have contributed to him being removed at the interval.

Kelsy should have scored again before the break when shooting straight at Steward after being set up by Naderi, but Rangers were peculiarly shaky after the break and had manager McInnes having kittens in the technical area at times.

Visiting head coach Simo Valakari had shaken things up at the break by bringing on Kai Fotheringham, Danny Schmidt and Bozo Mikulic for Fowler, Josh Campbell and Daniel Finlayson and a host of chances followed.

Fotheringham put a first-time effort wide from a deep cross from Gullan, forcing McInnes to race from the dugout in anger. Moments later, Dujon Sterling denied Gullan with a tackle inside the area and Enes Alic then saw a shot from distance tipped over by Pandur.

When Liam Smith then saw a shot saved from the Croatian keeper, there was a sense of the natives becoming restless. That’s why the intervention of Min-su just after the hour was so important. It took the sting out of things and allowed Rangers to complete the comfortable victory their overall play deserved.

Dan Neil drove up the field, fed Min-su on the left and he cut inside before forcing a save from Steward with a crisp low shot. It squirmed out of the keeper’s grasp in the greasy conditions, though, and Naderi was in the right place at the right time after following in to convert in unorthodox fashion from a matter of yards.

On 66 minutes, it was 3-0. A Min-su corner from the left hit off Olwethu Makhanya in the area and Kelsy converted with a left-footed effort from close-in.

That killed any hopes of an unlikely Saints comeback and a miserable afternoon for them was made complete 16 minutes from time when Fotheringham was sent packing for serious foul play after VAR had taken a look at a foul on Nico Raskin.

Chukwuani wrapped it up at the death when converting from six yards after Gassama had put a ball in from the left in Min-su’s absence.

Kelsy might have been given the Man of the Match award by the sponsors, but Min-su was the guy who stood out amid the gloom.

Rangers (4-2-3-1): Pandur; Sterling (Godfrey 80), Fernandez, Makhanya, Penrice; Neil (Rommens 69), Raskin; Bouanani, Naderi (Gassama 69), Min-su (Miovski 80); Kelsy (Chukwuani 83). Bookings: Bouanani.

St Johnstone (4-2-3-1): Steward; Smith, Finlayson (Mikulic 46), Diabate, Alic; McAlear (Holt 80), Campbell (Schmidt 46); Gullan (Chalmers 64), Cotterill, Steven; Fowler (Fotheringham 46). Bookings: Steven. Sent-off: Fotheringham.

Referee: Chris Graham. Attendance: 50,214.