Rangers’ interim boss Barry Ferguson may have enjoyed a winning start in his new role, but pundits are already sounding the alarm about the struggles that plagued Philippe Clement’s tenure reocurring.
After a tense encounter at Rugby Park, where Rangers had to fight back from a 2-0 deficit to secure a 4-2 victory over Kilmarnock, former SPFL midfielder Stephen McGinn warned that these players may not have the resilience needed to maintain consistency until the end of the season.
Ferguson, who previously captained Rangers as player, got the response he asked for given his side’s disastrous opening 30 minutes before he made the bold call to hook young defender Clinton Nsiala from the action.
The one-time AC Milan kid was consistently overwhelmed by the Kilmarnock attack at every opportunity, and this defensive vulnerability from a whole magnitude of players has been a recurring issue throughout the league campaign, particularly during Rangers’ away games.
And even though their forward players helped dig them out of what would've been another underwhelming result and reduced Celtic's Scottish Premiership lead to 13 points again, McGinn thinks there's a long way to go until the Ibrox club eradicate their rash domestic form.
"This current group of players I think will let Barry down at some point between now and the end of the season," he suggested on the Go Radio Football Show.
"He'll be sitting there with the best will in the world and say that's one ticked off, a real hard one.
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“But this is a side that for all the credit they got for the 3-0 Celtic game and a team that qualified for the next stage of the Europa League, that was their one win in five games domestically.
“This is a side that's just went down to Rugby Park and scored four, went to Tynecastle and scored three, but in the same period, don't score at home to Queen's Park and lose, don't score at home to St Mirren and lose.
"For a new manager, as much as it was be great to take him into the summer and see what he needs, I think this group of players will have another bad one. It's round the corner - we don't know when, but it will be another bad one.
"I think Barry recognised that on Wednesday night with the early sub. He said he made minor tweaks to it but he named the same team that played against St Mirren and had to change it after half-an-hour.
“One or two are really going to have to step up. That's why I think maybe a Leon King might get a chance because he has to find 11 or 12 that can group together and not have that disaster between now and the summer."
