Manager Mark Warburton has now previewed the game against Dundee this weekend, and he’s called on the team to stick together and score more goals.
Going into Saturday’s tie at Ibrox against Dundee, we went into the break with a disappointing one all draw with Ross County, and the gaffer is hoping to see a solid reaction tomorrow.
Speaking to the Official Site in his pre game press conference, Warburton said that he believed both unity and togetherness would see Rangers to a ‘good place’ this season, and part of that unity is in keeping players who aren’t in the side, happy.
‘You have to get unity. I had a chat with Philippe who has a fantastic CV, and he is frustrated at the moment. But, as he said, Rob Kiernan and Clint Hill have done very fell. Danny likewise falls into that category. But Philippe wants the team to do well, so there is a balance. Selfishly they want to be in the team – Waggy wants to be in the team scoring goals – but the most important thing is the team does well and if we get that unity and togetherness right, then we will be in a good place.’
Warburton also said that for players out of the first team, taking their Development Squad run outs seriously was also a big thing for him, as Senderos, Waghorn, Danny Wilson, Barrie McKay and Matt Crooks were in reserve duty on Tuesday against Ross, and Warburton was pleased with their efforts.
‘Their reaction is important – it`s a long coach journey up there on the day of the game. We had five players involved and they needed pitch time. They want pitch time as professional players, and I think Ross County had five first team players as well, so it was a good test, and hopefully a really worthwhile exercise.’
As for Dundee more specifically, Warburton was asked what the side needed to do differently this time round, and the answer was simply take our chances and put games out of sight.
‘We were frustrated at Ross County and after a great result performance against Kilmarnock we were right to be frustrated after getting the early goal and that has been well documented now. We are at home this weekend and are looking for an intensity and quality of performance against a Dundee team that we know.’
He went on to say.
‘We have to score goals, we didn`t have a good second-half performance against Ross County but in truth we had two, three or four attacks that should have meant we were out of sight. That is no disrespect to Ross County but had we taken those chances and got the second goal then I think their confidence was as such that the game was over and we would have been in a very strong position. Unfortunately it remained at one goal and then it was a clever block for their equaliser and it was game on in the second-half and it shouldn`t be that way. We have to recognise what we do well but we have to look at what we must do to get the performance and the three points and deliver consistency week in and week out.’
As for the opposition a bit more specifically, he added.
‘Dundee have had a few poor results but they`re coming off the back of a good result now and they will be tough opponents. They are well managed and Paul will come here and set their stall out but we know what we`ll face and it is about us applying ourselves, trying to dominate the football and get the three points.’
Again, Warburton ended with praise for the fans but he does accept they’ll be frustrated with the wobbles we’ve had this season.
‘The fans have been fantastic; we have to recognise the level of support we get every week, which is outstanding home and away. I understand their frustration and I have said many times that this is a fan base brought up on big European players, success, title and trophies. We have to recognise that and all these players feel the weight of expectation but that is part and parcel of being a Rangers player.’
