Rangers are still coming to terms with having an expanded squad.
Their performances have faltered since nine players signed as free agents after the club's registration embargo ended, even if sheer bloodymindedness has still delivered results. Accommodating new arrivals can be awkward, but Ally McCoist is still pursuing further additions.
A contact has been offered to Marius Zaliukas, the former Hearts defender, who spent a week training with Rangers and has now returned to Lithuania to consider his options. With the transfer window having closed and club generally having filled their squads, Zaliukas may not have several offers, although joining Rangers would involve a significant drop in wages from the contract he was on at Hearts.
McCoist intended to speak to the player yesterday, having been impressed by his fitness and conditioning despite the defender missing a structured pre-season routine. The Rangers manager has also sought informed opinion about the centre-back's qualities.
"I spoke to the manager a couple of times earlier in the season," said Lee Wallace, a former team-mate of Zaliukas at Hearts. "[Marius] was in training last week and I caught him just at the back of the international break. I've known him for a number of years. He's got a wealth of experience in the SPL and has lifted the Scottish Cup with Hearts. He's a great centre-half and he's good in both boxes so we know his qualities. if he comes in, he'll certainly add strength to the team.
"The manager knew about him and we've spoken about him. [Marius] would add a significant piece of solidity to the team because he's a powerful defender who is very dominant in the air. I remember when he first came over, I was still a young boy at the time and he was a wee bit raw to start with, but he quickly adapted and he played a great amount of games for Hearts and lifted the Scottish Cup a few years ago so he will certainly add that bit of quality."
Zaliukas would provide greater strength in depth, but also add more of the mental resilience that McCoist felt his squad required after last season's inconsistencies. Although the displays have not been as slick or persuasive as they might have been in recent weeks, the team have still ground out victories. Rangers have lost only once all season and made amends for that defeat when thy overcame Forfar Athletic at Station Park last Sunday. It was a grim contest, given the gusty conditions, but it was on occasions like that last season when Rangers were dropping points.
"When we are not playing well, we try to keep solid and not concede goals and that's what we did [against Forfar] and we're happy with that," said Wallace. "[Against] Airdrie away, I thought we were tremendous. I think [better] performances will come, but we just need to keep winning games and go onto win the league and do well in the cups.
"It's probably down to experience and we've got that extra bit of resilience and solidity that we've probably got in the team. The guys who have come in have probably got that wealth of experience and quality and they know that when we are maybe not having the best of games technically with the ball, we just have to be resilient and be solid and not concede."
Rangers are still developing, and McCoist himself admits they are some distance from the club's old standards, but the manager is attempting to put building blocks in place for the future.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article