NICKY Law, the Rangers midfielder, insists the wheels haven't come off the Ibrox bandwagon but admits they need the club's supporters to help them through their current rough patch. Mark Warburton's side crashed to their second league defeat of the season at the Falkirk Stadium on Saturday, meaning they have dropped ten points in their last six league matches, with only goal difference now separating them from Hibs at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship. The two teams meet at Ibrox on Monday December 28, a match which Law now feels comes into the 'must win' category.
“We need to win that game," said Law. "It is our biggest game of the season but it was always going to be - even before the result on Saturday. It’s one we need to find a way to win and I’m sure it’ll be a great game.
"The fans will be huge," he added. "I am sure they will be right behind us. I remember the play-off game against Hibs last season and the fans were unbelievable that day. They really spurred us on, were fantastic from the first to the last whistle and we’ll need that again. We’ve going through our tough spell and we need everyone to stick together to get us through it."
While the intervention of referee Willie Collum - who awarded disputed penalties to both sides during the 2-1 defeat - was the main source of post match controversy, Warburton was unhappy enough about his team's showing to conduct an inquest for 30 minutes in the dressing room afterwards. While Rangers might not be at crisis stage just yet, Law feels they have to find the solutions against teams who defend deep and counter at pace. The transfer window could be one solution.
“Have the wheels came off?" said Law. "No. Obviously the last month we know we have not been good enough. But you are going to have spells over the season when you are not quite at your best. It’s not going to be rosy all of the time. We spoke amongst ourselves for 30 minutes after the game and we know it’s not good enough. We need to find a solution because teams are making it tough for us. Credit to Falkirk, like Morton last week, but we need to find ways to break teams down because we’ve not done that."
Rather than any tactical issue with Warburton's 4-1-2-3 shape, Law said the players had to take the blame. “We are not as clinical as we were earlier in the season," said Law. "And I don’t think we have been creating as many chances either if I am being honest.
"We created a fair few in the last 30 minutes on Saturday and their keeper was unbelievable," he added. "But in general we’ve not been clinical enough and we are giving away far too many chances at the other end.
“As players we look at ourselves. It’s down to us. The energy is not there that we had at the start of the season, things like the pressing. It’s about getting back to the standards we set early on because we have fallen below them in recent weeks.
“Unfortunately we’ve let teams catch us up. But it’s December - there are five months to go and a lot of football to be played. I know with the quality we have in the squad there’s not doubt it will turn and we’ll come back strong. It’s not good enough at the minute but we will work hard through the week in training for the biggest game of the season coming up. Games like that take care of themselves but we will be right up for it."
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