I think only the most deluded of Rangers fans would have been expecting a win over Celtic on Saturday.

When the teams were announced you could see that there’s still a gap between them, especially when it comes to squad strength in depth.

That being said Rangers did look slightly better than they did for most of last term against their main city rivals. They looked more organised for the most part and worked that wee bit harder. But in the end the Hoops once again showed their superiority and they also made their confidence count as they eased to a 2-0 victory.

In all honesty it won’t be about the Old Firm fixtures for the Gers this term.

Yes I expect them to improve against Celtic but in terms of going for second place they need to find consistency against everyone else in the Scottish Premiership.

The loss to Celtic has left Rangers sitting in fifth place and they’re now six points behind second placed Aberdeen.

The Dons held on to secure a win over Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday. They didn’t dominate proceedings and the Lanarkshire club will be disappointed not to have at least received a point from the game.

In the end though all that matters is the win and Aberdeen managed to get that.

Rangers need to get secure more results like that. It’s all very well out-playing teams and having the greater slice of possession but if you don’t put away chances or protect leads then you’ll drop points.

That’s what has happened so far this term for the Light Blues. They’ve played seven times in the league this season and only won three of them.

They had leads against Partick Thistle and Hibs, yet they failed to pick up the victories. Against Hearts they created the baulk of the chances yet couldn’t find the back of the net and it ended in a goalless stalemate.

No team in the Premiership fears going to Ibrox or playing against Rangers, they believe that they’ll get chances and that Rangers will struggle to put away most of their efforts on goal. That needs to change!

I think Pedro Caixianha needs to figure out away to consistently out gun opposing teams. He cannot afford to go down the Mark Warburton route of just waiting for things to change naturally as that rarely happens.

It will help once the team gels a bit more and when new signings such as Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera fully settle in to life in Glasgow. You can see glimpses from both of them that they have something about them but they still need to do more and hopefully that will come in time and with more exposure to first team football.

In Alfredo Morelos, Rangers certainly seem to have found a fine goalscoring threat. But they can’t solely rely on the young Colombian to get the goals, others need to step up and score more too.

The defence is still working to find the right balance at the back.

Bruno Alves looks to have settled in from the start but you’d expect that from such a veteran. They missed the Portuguese international against Celtic.

I still think that the full-backs need to work more on their defensive contribution to the side. Going forward they look good but tracking back has been suspect and they leave big gaps.

Pedro still has work to do on the training ground and if he can iron out those slight isues then Rangers will move another step forward.

They really need to now go on a long unbeaten run if they want to succeed this term and they need to start that on Friday against Hamilton Accies. 

Posted on September 25th, 2017 by scott
Filed under: Article