Rangers

The predicted "bump in the road" forecast by Rangers manager Philippe Clement has given him and the team quite a jolt these past few days.

Clement was keen a while back to stress that long undefeated runs, or stretches of successive victories, don't last all season. He’s been proven correct.

Not that the weekend humbling in the Highlands should be filed away under ‘one-offs’. The trend behind the latest disappointing result points to a more worrying dip in form at just the wrong time.

Recent results tell a worrying tale for Rangers’ title prospects. Coming to the crunch of the Premiership campaign, the Ibrox side seem to have run out of steam.

In their last four Premiership matches, they’ve picked up just one win. Five precious points spilled at home to Motherwell and Celtic, a further three left behind in Dingwall to an inspired Ross County. Four points from their last available dozen simply won’t cut it at this, or any, stage of the season.

Broadening things out a little doesn’t make for much better reading either. Rangers have won just twice in their last seven outings across all competitions. Has the effort to reel in the seven-point Premiership deficit Clement inherited taken its toll, given the added burden of a successful League Cup campaign and a run to the Europa League last 16?

Luckily for Clement and Co, Celtic’s form these past four months has been patchy. In 17 league matches since early December, Celtic have dropped 15 points. However, were it not for Rabbi Matondo’s fabulous stoppage-time equaliser at Ibrox, the champions would have had a perfect record in their last four outings.

The pendulum has swung back in Celtic’s favour but Rangers are still the masters of their own destiny. That only continues to be the case, of course, if no further points are spilled on the notorious Dens Park pitch.

So much has been said about this fixture and that patch of grass already. If Rangers can’t find a way to win on it, their title tilt falls flat on its face in the mud.

That bump in the road could very quickly turn into a car crash unless Clement can steer his side back to winning ways.

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Ex-Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson believes next month's post-split Old Firm encounter is set up to be a "winner takes all" derby - as long as his former side don't slip up again.

Thomson feels Celtic are now in the driving seat given the Ibrox side's shock defeat at Ross County on Sunday, but victory in their game in hand at Dundee on Wednesday will move them within a point of their rivals.

Rangers have four fixtures, including a Scottish Cup semi-final with Hearts, to navigate before the final league derby of the campaign.

Providing both the top two win all their Premiership games until then, the Govan club may well have to claim a rare victory at Celtic Park if they are to win the title.

"The Ross County defeat was a sore one," Thomson said on the Scottish Football Podcast. "It was a dagger to the heart for all the fans because now the onus is on Rangers to not slip up again.

"In recent times it looks as though Celtic are starting to hit a bit of form as well. But I still think there are going to be lots of twists and turns.

"The third [Old Firm game] after the split could be a winner takes all, so what an exciting climax there could be, but I certainly don't think it's over at all."

Goalkeeper Jack Butland says Rangers' title bid hasn't "gone out the window" after defeat at Ross County on Sunday as they look to bounce back with victory at Dundee on Wednesday night.

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Dundee’s Diego Pineda returns from a thigh injury, meaning Owen Beck (groin) is the only absentee.

Rangers midfielder Mohamed Diomande will again miss out after having an operation on his thumb and Ridvan Yilmaz remains sidelined along with Ryan Jack (calf).

Danilo (knee) and Oscar Cortes, who had surgery on a muscle injury, are likely to miss the rest of the season.

Goalkeeper Jack Butland has backed James Tavernier and Connor Goldson to silence their critics after the Rangers defenders came under fire following the 3-2 defeat to Ross County. (The Herald)

Hearts should be "smelling blood" in the Scottish Cup semi-final after Rangers' shock loss in the Highlands, says former Tynecastle midfielder Ryan Stevenson. (Daily Record)

Heart of Midlothian could have to fork out about £150,000 for guaranteeing they would sell 21,000 tickets for Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final with Rangers - because the total sits on 17,500. (Scottish Sun)

Ex-Celtic striker John Hartson was minutes away from signing for Rangers on the same day as Netherlands legend Ronald de Boer - but an ankle scan meant the deal was called off at the last minute. (Scottish Sun)

Former Rangers striker Jason Cummings scored a late goal to clinch the Indian title for Mohun Bagan - his fourth league championship in four different countries. (Scottish Sun)

Read the rest of Wednesday's gossip.

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Rangers manager Philippe Clement is confident James Tavernier will cope with the criticism coming his way because he's well aware the Rangers captaincy can be "heaven or hell".

Long-serving skipper Tavernier has come in for flak from some supporters after the shock 3-2 defeat at Ross County on Sunday that put a big dent in Rangers' title bid.

As he prepares for Wednesday's trip to face Dundee, manager Clement said: “That’s part of being captain and I’ve been in that position also in the past.

"As captain you’re a symbol of the club and when things go well you’re the main man and you get all the praise and all the spotlight.

"When things are not well, and in this time and age it’s different from before because it’s every three days, heaven or hell, so you get more stick. That’s part of the job and Tav is ready for that, it’s not his first experience in that way.

"He also got a lot of praise this season, what he deserved for what he’d been doing. Was he good on Sunday? No. He was also the first one to recognise that. There was not really one (player) on the pitch who was really good.”

Rangers will travel to Celtic Park for the Scottish Premiership's final Old Firm derby of the season on Saturday, 12 May.

It is one of three post-split away games for the Ibrox side, who begin with a trip to St Mirren and end the season at Hearts.

Rangers' post-split fixtures (All times BST):

• St Mirren (A) - Sunday 28 April, 12:30

• Kilmarnock (H) - Sunday, 5 May 13:00

• Celtic (A) - Saturday, 11 May 12:30

• Dundee (H) - Tuesday, 14 May 19:30

• Hearts (A) - Saturday, 18 May 12:30

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Rangers manager Phillipe Clement says Dundee can play with no pressure against his side in Wednesday night's rearranged game at Dens Park after securing a top-six finish at the weekend.

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Rangers manager Philippe Clement has been facing the media as his side look to make amends for their defeat to Ross County when they face Dundee on Wednesday.

Here are the key points:

• Very happy the Dundee fixture is going ahead at Dens Park as planned. Those making the decisions must be “200% certain” the game will go ahead.

• Dundee have a “free ride” against Rangers now they have secured top six. That wouldn’t have been the case had they played a week ago.

• The Rangers players were “disappointed in themselves” for their performance against Ross County, which the Belgian views as a positive reaction to the Dingwall defeat.

• Clement has been watching documentary about Man City’s treble-winning season and notes even they had off days. Ross County loss was this team’s only off day in six months, he says.

• The criticism levelled at James Tavernier comes with the territory of being Rangers captain: "It's heaven or hell". Clement adds the defender would be the first to admit he didn't play well on Sunday and he's experienced enough to deal with the noise.

• Leon Balogun is ill and a doubt for Wednesday night. Ridvan Yilmaz is back training and will feature before the end of the season, but it could be a few days or two weeks before the Turkey international is fit.

I was full of praise for Rangers after their second-half revival in the Old Firm derby last week.

On Sunday, however, the performance lacked energy, belief and shape. A 3-2 loss to Ross County feels pivotal in the title race, and not in a positive way from a light blue perspective.

The starting line-up looked good on paper, but it turned out to be a shambolic showing from the midfielder.

Time and time again it emptied, allowing Ross County to break on us with John Lundstram on his own trying to deal with several Staggies players running from deep.

The manager didn’t change it at half-time. Dujon Sterling should have been on for Kieran Dowell to give the team a bit more physicality in there. It was the wrong call bringing on Tom Lawrence and a similar pattern followed.

Frankly, we deserved nothing from the game. Going forward, we need to solidify the midfield. We need pace, legs and power in there. We are far too easy to play through, especially when the opposition create turnover opportunities.

But with six goals conceded in the last two matches and just one win in our last four matches, we seem to be hitting a poor patch of form at just the wrong time.

I’d be surprised if we go on to win the title now. But as fans, you cannot have an impact on anything. All you can do at this point is hope that Rangers finally manage to play that Dundee game and pick up the three points ahead of the top-six split.

When the chips are down, we seem to crumble. This season appears to be no different, unfortunately.

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• Dundee have won just two of their last 33 meetings with Rangers across all competitions (D3 L28), though both victories did come at Dens Park (2-1 in February 2017 and 2-1 in November 2017).

• Rangers have won each of their last six league games against Dundee, their joint-longest active winning run in the league against a current top-flight opponent (also six vs Hibernian & Ross County).

• Dundee have dropped 10 points from winning positions at home in the Scottish Premiership this season, with eight of these dropped points coming in their last six home league fixtures, all of which they took the lead in but they failed to win three of them (W3 D1 L2).

• Rangers have won 18 of their last 19 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) games in the Scottish Premiership (D1) since a 3-0 loss at Celtic in February 2022.

• Luke McCowan has scored in each of his last three home league games, while the last player to score in more successive top-flight appearances at home for Dundee was Kane Hemmings in February 2016 (5).

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Captain James Tavernier is demanding Rangers bounce back from their Ross County shocker by dispatching Dundee on Wednesday night.

The Ibrox side's title hopes took a major hit on Sunday when they lost 3-2 in Dingwall - a first defeat to County in 16 meetings - to stay four points adrift of Celtic.

Rangers play their game in hand against Dundee on Wednesday, a game that will be moved to Perth if Dens Park fails a Tuesday pitch inspection, and Tavernier knows his side can't afford another slip-up.

"Since the gaffer came in we have been solid defensively but we have to look back at this as quickly as possible, learn from it and really focus for Wednesday," said the right-back.

"I have to look back on the goals and how we defended as a team but obviously to concede a goal in the second minute after half-time, it is not what you want to do, you want to start the second half positively and we obviously didn't do that.

"We have to react to every single game and show the fans the performance levels that they know we can put in. Wednesday is a big game and we know we need to rectify it."

With just six games remaining including a trip to Celtic Park after the split, Tavernier insists Rangers have the mentality to respond positively.

He added: "I think we have shown it plenty of times, the mentality. But you have to earn the right to win games and we didn't do that [on Sunday].

"That is the disappointing factor. When you do get the chances in front of goal you have to be more clinical and put the ball in the back of the net.

"We are obviously going into these six games and win every single game, that's the Rangers mentality to win games, we go to win games in Europe so nothing changes there.

"We obviously have to earn the right to deliver the performance that we know that we can."

Scotland manager Steve Clarke is sweating on another possible injury blow after ex-Rangers right-back Nathan Patterson was forced off with a "serious" hamstring injury at Chelsea just minutes after returning for Everton. (The Herald)

Former Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst is in line to take charge of Besiktas next season - just a few months after he turned down the chance to manage the Turkish club. (Daily Record)

Ex-Rangers midfielder Nigel Spackman says the Ibrox squad must find a way of coping with the "expectation you have to win every game" after the Ross County defeat "piled the pressure on for the run-in". (Daily Record)

Read the rest of Tuesday's gossip.

After Sunday's defeat at Ross County, Rangers have a trip to Dens Park (or McDiarmid Park) to contend with.

Who should get the nod to start on Wednesday night?

Put yourself in Philippe Clement's shoes and pick your XI here.

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Rangers' away fixture with Dundee will be held at St Johnstone's McDiarmid Park if the Dens Park pitch is again deemed unplayable.

The SPFL confirmed its contingency plans for Wednesday's meeting after two previous call-offs for issues with Dundee's surface.

A pitch inspection will be carried out by the match official on Tuesday morning, with a decision on the venue to be made later that day.

A statement read: "The SPFL has appointed an experienced pitch consultancy, which is regularly used by UEFA and other sporting bodies, to report back to the league with guidance on the condition of the pitch in advance of Wednesday’s match.

"Dundee were also informed on Thursday that they must provide the pitch consultants, SPFL and Rangers with daily updates on the playing surface and weather forecast, and immediately report any concerns regarding Wednesday’s match being played at Dens Park.

"It has further been agreed that the match official will carry out an inspection of the playing surface on the morning of Tuesday, April 16, after which, taking weather forecasts into account, a final decision will be taken on whether to play the game at Dens Park.

"If the game cannot be played at Dens Park, the SPFL has confirmed that it will be moved to St Johnstone’s McDiarmid Park on Wednesday, April 17, with Dundee making arrangements for fans of both teams to attend. If the game requires to be moved to McDiarmid Park, it will still be categorised as a Dundee FC ‘home game’.

"The SPFL is grateful for the assistance of St Johnstone and will make a further announcement tomorrow."

Pat Nevin talks to the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast about Rangers' 3-2 defeat to Ross County.

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James Tavernier has apologised to Rangers fans after the Ibrox side lost ground in the tile race with defeat to Ross County on Sunday.

The captain says manager Philippe Clement warned his players that they needed to sharpen up in the second period, instead crumbling as Don Cowie's side caught the title challengers off guard.

"Obviously we knew we could have played better first half," Tavernier told Rangers TV, external. "We knew the performances levels could be raised.

"The gaffer came and warned us, but we started the second half poorly. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

"We know the performance wasn't good enough, which is disappointing. But we've got to put this performance behind us and fully focus on Wednesday.

"Since the gaffer came in, we've done really well defensively. We've got to look back on ourselves and the areas we can improve and learn from it.

"You've got to earn the right to win a game and we didn't do that today. I can only apologise to the fans that travelled. We've got to brush ourselves off with six games to play."

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Rangers lacked "desire" during their deflating defeat at Ross County, says former Scotland international John Robertson.

Philippe Clement's side led early against the relegation strugglers, but were blown away in the second period as James Tavernier's penalty proved to be nothing more than a consolation.

"The big thing today was the lack of desire in the Rangers team today," Robertson told BBC Sportsound. "That is the worrying thing.

"You can see it in the second goal. George Harmon has run the length of the park to get there. That was the desire, hunger, energy and intensity that every County player brought today.

"No one watching on TV, or here in the stadium, could say Ross County didn't deserve to win.

Former Ibrox striker Billy Dodds believes the title challengers never looked like hauling themselves out of the situation after finding themselves two goals down.

"They got in Rangers' faces, they were alert, got to second balls, caused Rangers problems defensively," he said.

"We had a feeling at half-time that if Rangers weren't careful... County came out, went bang-bang, and the crowd got frustrated. It never looked like it was going to happen for Rangers."

We asked for your thoughts after Rangers' title hopes were dealt a blow by a shock defeat at Ross County.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Dougie: Very disappointing. Defence again exposed easily and ripped apart. The points in hand allowed a mishap, but doesn't change the requirement to win at Parkhead. My worry is that it was first team to blink that hands title over, and we blinked.

David: Rangers have bottled it today. Lacked ideas, urgency and their defence was found wanting again. It was a tough enough run in having to play Celtic away and at least get a draw. As it stands we now need to win all our remaining games. Very disappointing!

Tom: Other than Cantwell, we were lethargic and looked like we're waiting for County to make mistakes. Defence was shocking with Tavernier worst of all. Midfield lacked energy and attack was non-existent. We now need to win six games and these players are not good enough.

Robert: Completely unacceptable performance from Rangers today. In my opinion, they turned up at Dingwall expecting to get three points instead of competing to get the three points. Not one player today up to standard. Completely bottled it. Too many players can't handle the pressure of competing for the title.

Elaine: Embarrassing. You’d think we had never played together before. And no one gets pass marks - including the manager. If we don’t win on Wednesday and Sunday, season is over.

Hawk: Absolutely shocking display from a team going for the championship. No heart, no drive, no urgency - need I say more. Down to the players, not the manager. No excuses.

Angus: As poor a performance as I've seen for some time. Only Cantwell, Sima and Butland get pass marks. The rest were woeful. Dessers is a total waste of space. Big Phil needs to get this sorted but his team selections sometimes are baffling.

Martin: Wow, extremely shocked and disappointed with the result today. Simple - six wins bring the title home, but the players have to believe in themselves and do it simple. Big push now, finish the job.