Rangers must overcome issues and start performing

Friday’s disappointing 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park summed up Rangers’ season so far.

Mark Warburton is big on his side learning from every fixture regardless of the result and performance.

The only thing he will have learned so far is that this side is quite a bit away from putting up a credible title challenge on the basis of the first four matches.

When the fixtures came out, Rangers couldn’t have asked for a kinder start. Most, if not all, Rangers fans looked at it as a chance to ease their way back into top-flight football and pick up maximum points heading into the Celtic fixture at Parkhead.

However, that hasn’t been the case. And it has raised questions of Mark Warburton and his ability to recruit adequately for the problem position of centre-half.

Friday’s defensive horror show which saw Clint Hill and Rob Kiernan being outpaced, outfought and bullied by ex-Rangers striker Kris Boyd only heightened the need for Rangers to strengthen that area of the team.

That much has been obvious since the end of last season. Deals for Joleon Lescott and Adrian Mariappa have fallen through for a number of different reasons and the search for a defender has now become desperate.

One centre-back is not required – we need two. Rob Kiernan and Clint Hill haven’t started the season well at all and Danny Wilson’s form has proven to be quite erratic. Failure to add at least one defender before Wednesday’s midnight deadline could prove to be a massive problem for Rangers as they look to put their inconsistent start behind them and push on.

The defence isn’t the only early-season issue that needs quickly addressed. The formation and the lack of a settled starting XI isn’t helping the side with the bedding-in period.

Warburton has tinkered between his favoured 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 system, and so far he has yet to find a suitable blend within any of those systems to help Rangers reach any sort of performance level that lasts longer than 45 minutes and that has to change.

Warburton is all about using the squad – and that’s the nature of modern football. You will need every member of your squad to contribute over the course of a long, hard season if you wish to have some success. But having a settled side breeds familiarity and helps build partnerships within every area of the side, yet this side, on current form, looks low on confidence and is completely disjointed; they are failing to play as a cohesive unit.

Having Martyn Waghorn come back from injury should help the misfiring forward line. Any side would feel it if a 28-goal striker was removed from their line-up and we are no different. Waghorn will be able to resume his successful partnership with James Tavernier down the right flank and that will add another dimension to the attacking play, which is badly required.

Similarly, Josh Windass and Jason Holt returning from injury will only help the midfield. Their energy and willingness to run beyond the striker – and in Windass’ case – run at defenders and give them a different problem to deal with. Those qualities have been absent from the midfield during this campaign.

The Celtic fixture is next on the calendar. It has become a must-not-lose fixture even this early in the season – a defeat would be damaging and leave Celtic four points ahead with a game in hand.

With trips to Aberdeen and Hearts to come before the end of October, the pressure is on Mark Warburton – rightly or wrongly – to find the solutions that will enable Rangers to regain confidence and gain some much-needed consistency of performance.

If he is unable to achieve that, then this season may turn into a long, hard slog.