IT’S easy enough to work out one of Rangers’ biggest problems when you realise Kenny Miller is their top scorer in the league with a mighty four goals.
Too often, this team get themselves into decent positions but the final cross, pass or shot is either woeful of absent. More of a cutting edge wouldn’t win them the league but it would have meant the gap to Celtic being more manageable.
Rangers will need to score at Ibrox to at least draw because Celtic will get at least once goal. They always find a way. This explained why, we pressed on what his players need to do, Mark Warburton’s answer was simple
He said: “Score more goals than them. It’s as simple as that. I don’t mean that in a sarcastic way, it’s just that goals change games. At the Parkhead game, Celtic were undoubtedly the better team. But just after half-time, if Barrie Mackay curls that ball in, and it misses by nothing, is it a different game?
“Did we deserve to win that day? No, but that’s football. How many games have you watched when a team dominates and lose to an 89th minute goal?
“We have to be more clinical. At St Johnstone, again, we were not clinical enough, we didn’t test the keeper enough after moving the ball into good areas. That is something we have to focus on. Goals change games. It’s as simple as that.
“We had 20 shots on goal and 63 per cent possession. We got into good areas but were we good enough with our final shot, pass or cross? No. the final pass, shot and cross can be better and that’s what we have to work on with this group of players.”
The veteran Miller has played well this season and could do with a hand from some of his team-mates. Jason Holt hasn’t scored once this season in the league, he got one in the League Cup, while too many others have not chipped.
Warburton said: “It’s not about the strikers, it’s about the team in general, getting our rewards. We haven’t taken the rewards which our good play has deserved. We have to look at that.
“You can look at the semi-final when Celtic were the better team. They dominated possession and chances. But if Jason Holt scores on the 53rd minute, and it was a great block, well… that’s the nature of the game. It’s why we love it so much.”
“Last year we had full-backs scoring for fun. It’s just the way it goes. Can we be better? Of course we can. Everyone can be better. It’s not about a striker or a wide player, it’s about the team. It could be centre-halves at set-pieces; we have to be better as a team.”
Warburton was reminded that is has been said before that a Rangers striker should target 20 goals a season in the Premiership.
He said: “The key word there is before. ‘It’s been said before.’ Was that before the club went down and came back?
“Again, they cost a lot of money. So there are not many 20-plus goal strikers. Martyn Waghorn got 38 last season but at a lower level. I don’t know who said we would have a 20-goal striker but it wasn’t by me.”
Rangers need to win. At worst not lose. Or for the more pessimistic bluenose, a decent showing if their team are to go down, as many expect.
“A good performance. That’s respectability,” said Warburton. “We are at Ibrox and it doesn’t matter who we are playing. If I can speak to you the next day and say it was a good performance then we’ve had a good afternoon.
“I want us to deliver a good performance, get the right result in front of our fans. It’s from the point of view of the supporters who have been magnificent. This is our fourth home sell-out in a row. The backing we have received has been first class and if we can give them a victory then that would be fantastic.
“For the players, it would mean taking 16 points out of 18 going into the break. That would be tremendous. To cement second place would be tremendous. The positives are countless but that fact is we want to give our supporters a great day out at Ibrox on Saturday.”
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