MARK Warburton has indicated he is content with the attacking options currently available to him and will not seek to strengthen the Rangers squad with another striker during the January transfer window.
Warburton has also stressed he will not alter his side’s attractive style of play and adopt a more direct game plan - despite dropping points in two of their last three Ladbrokes Championship matches.
The Ibrox club lost to Hibs at Easter Road earlier this month – the first time in the 2015/16 campaign they had failed to win a league game – and drew with Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Stadium last weekend.
Those results have prompted many supporters and pundits to question whether Rangers should change their approach to games against opposition who pack their defences and look to score on the counter attack.
However, Warburton, whose side is now level on points with Hibs at the top of the second tier table with a game in hand, has revealed he will not be looking to bring in a target man, of even another centre forward, at the start of next year.
Asked what positions he would be looking to bolster, he said: “You have to look at the what-if scenarios. What if we get an injury here? What if we get a suspension there? Where do we have cover?
“Up front we have (Martyn) Waghorn, (Kenny) Miller, (Nicky) Clark and (Ryan) Hardie, so centrally we are strong. Wide left? We have (Barrie) Mackay. Wide right there is Nathan (Oduwa). So maybe width is an area we might be looking at for example.
“It’s just looking around the team and saying where do we think we need to add quality to have that strength in depth to get us through the heavy months of the season. It’s just tweaking.”
Rangers have earned plaudits for the way they have endeavoured to playing passing and attacking football in the 2015/16 campaign and crowds at their games have increased significantly as a result.
Yet, their rivals have become increasingly defensive as the season has progressed and, after narrow wins were scraped over Dumbarton, Falkirk, Livingston, Queen of the South and St. Mirren, points have been dropped in two of their last three outings.
Warburton, though, was pleased with the number of chances his side created in their loss to Hibs and draw with Livingston and believes more quality and composure in the final third, not a change of approach, is all that is required.
“Our style of play will never change,” he said. “We’re not going to be a team who launches a 60-yard ball to a 6ft5 centre forward. That’s not going to be our style, we won’t be doing that. As long as I am here we won’t be doing that.
“A lot of bigger teams play the same way and aren’t going to play the way we want them to. If we were to have teams open up and play expansive football against us in this league I think we would do very well. We would come out on top.
“But teams aren’t going to play the Rangers way. Teams are going to do what they have to do to get something out of a game of football and all credit to them. They are fully justified in doing that. They are adapting their tactics.
“We have to break down eight, nine, ten players behind the ball and it’s difficult. They are compact, they are solid, there are bodies blocking us. But we have to deal with it.”
Andy Halliday backed up his manager’s comments and stressed the players, who can pull three points clear of Hibs at the top of the Championship if they win their game in hand against Dumbarton at Ibrox on Tuesday evening, believe they are on the right track.
“I’ve got faith in the way we’re trying to play,” he said. “When we’re on our game, playing that way, I don’t think anyone can stop us. We’ve not really got the personnel to go to that target man. We’re doing the right things and don’t need to change anything just now.
“Our style of play will never change, but the shape can sometimes change. We went to Hibs and went three at the back. Our 4-3-3 shape is quite expansive in terms of the rotation of the midfield three and the front three, so it’s not a rigid shape.
“It’s not just been the last three games (that teams have sat back in), it’s been the last eight. In the first five we got wins out of them. We’ve got the quality to break them down. Last Saturday I think that penetration was lacking a little bit.
“We just need to get back to that. I still think we did the right things in terms of playing our style, because we think it’s good enough to break teams down, but on the day the quality wasn’t good enough.”
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