Rangers Post Old Firm - How Will They Fare for the Rest of the Season?

Mark Warburton’s Rangers went to Celtic Park on Saturday and were heavily beaten 5-1, it was Celtic’s biggest Old Firm win since winning 6-2 in 2000. Further humiliation came from a Moussa Dembele perfect hatrick – right foot, left foot, header - Rangers new signing Philippe Senderos being sent off after a horrendous performance was capped by a bizarre handball and even assistant manger Davie Weir being sent off from the dugout.  Celtic fans celebrated jubilantly while Rangers couldn’t hear the final whistle soon enough. This result leaves Rangers 4 points behind Celtic having played a game more after a generous first 5 fixtures. Rangers have a problem.

 

Does Warburton know who his strongest 11 is yet?

 

Mark Warburton said in his post-match media conference that he does not believe there is a gulf in class between Rangers and Celtic, which many people criticised him for. I personally do not buy into the ‘huge gulf between them’ claim when we are only 5 games into the season and with over 30 games still to be played. Mark Warburton now has serious questions to answer – will he turn this situation round, after only winning 2 matches in the league since winning the Championship title in April. Does Warburton know who his best 11 players are?  It’s is a big question, personally I’m not convinced Barton and Krancjar can play in the same team as they slow down the previous attacking tempo in the midfield from last season. It will be interesting to see the starting line-up picked by Warburton before Saturday’s match against Ross County at Ibrox, now a must win game in my opinion, before a difficult clash with Queen Of The South in the League Cup and, most important of all, a trip to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen. This is the first time Mark Warburton has had to face any real pressure since taking charge last summer. He doesn’t appear to be upset by claims of how far behind they are and unsure about multiple things.

Rob Kiernan should be 'dropped immediately'

I am very confident of Rangers securing 2^nd spot in the premiership this season. They are a good side, despite what many are saying, and play good attacking football and are a match for anyone on their day. They are unfortunately still trying to find their feet at a higher level and it’s time for the manger to accept that the defence is not good enough and hopefully despite his disaster debut Philippe Senderos will come good in the end and Rob Kiernan will be dropped immediately.

I boldly predict a 3-0 victory for Rangers against Ross County as I think Warburton and Davie Weir will drive the players to results in coming weeks. I could easily see Rangers going on to taking maximum points in most of their next matches. However Rangers have not lost like this before, at least since tumbling down the leagues, so it will be interesting to see what lies ahead and how they respond to this. Rangers have to put faith in their young vibrant players such as Josh Windass, Andy Halliday, Jason Holt, etc. to get back to their previous attacking flair. I do think Kenny Miler still has a lot of goals in him and Joe Garner is an exciting prospect, the man who scored against Celtic and will give Rangers some aerial threat for the first time in years. It shouldn’t be all doom and gloom despite Rangers fans feeling hurt after a thrashing at Celtic Park. You can’t sit and feel sorry for yourself after an Old Firm loss, Rangers must get back to winning and end this woeful form and who knows maybe even go on and challenge for the title.



by Luke Randall