BRUNO ALVES hopes Rangers can respond in the right manner this weekend as they attempt to bounce back from their shock defeat to St Johnstone.

Graeme Murty's side lost 3-1 at Ibrox as they were leapfrogged by Aberdeen and fell to third in the Premiership standings.

Now the Light Blues have turned their attentions to the trip to Kilmarnock this weekend.

Read more: Rangers want Michael O'Halloran to return to Ibrox in January

Alves said: “It is important after the result we had at the weekend that we have a strong and good reaction. I think the most important thing is for us to prepare the week well and give our best again in the next game.

“Losing at home is very difficult to accept, but it is important also to move on and not think that everything is wrong when we lose but keep believing we are doing things the right way.

“We need to see the mistakes we did and try not to do them again.

"I think the team is going to be ready to fight and to get the results that we want.”

The defeat to the Saints ended a four game winning run for Rangers and piled the pressure back on Murty and his squad ahead of the meeting with Steve Clarke's side.

Rangers have dropped 16 points on home soil already this term as they have struggled to find any form at Ibrox.

And defender Alves believes patience will be a virtue for the Gers as they attempt to meet the demands of an expectant crowd.

Read more: Kilmarnock's Steve Clarke: I won't leave for any other Scottish team​

He said: “Even sometimes when we are not having the result that we want, we need to keep playing and have patience.

"It is normal to have pressure when you are playing in a big team, but you need to handle that type of pressure better, and manage the situation better. When we start a game winning 1-0, but then end up losing it 3-1 is really disappointing, especially at home.

"It is something that, especially after scoring first, we shouldn’t concede so many goals after.

“We need to play, have the patience and try to find the right solution on the pitch, and try to move the ball faster.

“Everybody wants to do it faster and try to get a goal that makes us more comfortable in the game.

“Sometimes we don’t make the best decisions so we need sometimes to wait more and play the ball because if we have the ball we cannot let the other team play.

“It is important for us to keep calm and patient and try to find the best solution. Sometimes it is difficult because want so much and this is not helping us.”

After seeing off Aberdeen, Ross County and Hibernian in recent weeks, Rangers turned in one of their poorest performances of the campaign against St Johnstone.

Read more: Stephen Robinson hoping Motherwell can round off positive year with a bang​

The manner of the goals they lost to Blair Alston, Denny Johnstone and Graham Cummins saw the Light Blues come in for heavy criticism from all quarters and Alves knows Murty's side must become a more cohesive unit this term.

“I think this is not a problem for the defenders," he told RangersTV. "It is a team. The defence can be good if all the team makes a good work for the team in general.

"The first person to defend is the striker, that is the first to pressure the other team. After it is the midfielders and the defenders.

"This is a team work we need to build more, this helps everybody to cover and not be so close to our goal. This is a collective work that we should do together. it is not a problem or a mistake for somebody, I think it is a collective.”