Connor Goldson revealed "tough conversations" were held at Rangers after their season suddenly skidded off the rails.
The Ibrox side entered Wednesday night's Champions League clash with Napoli having shipped eight goals without reply in two bruising defeats to Celtic and Ajax. Giovanni van Bronckhorst 's side gave a better account of themselves against the Serie A leaders before a James Sands red card opened the door for the Italians to eventually run out 3-0 victors.
Despite recent setbacks, Goldson insists belief they could trouble Luciano Spalletti's team was high. And although they came up short in the end, the centre-back was adamant he and his team-mates had given it everything. He told BT Sport: "When you're playing for a big club you don't expect to lose two games in a row in the manner that we did. We had to look at ourselves in the mirror. There are some tough conversations that've been had in that training ground.
"I thought the boys came out tonight and gave it everything we had. We knew it was against a tough team. We watched the clips of what they did last week to Liverpool. But at the same time we were here, at home, with our own fans and we really thought we could get a result."
He continued: "It is tough to take but compared to last week I thought it was a lot better. We had our chances in the first half and then I think one decision changes the game. VAR is there, so it must be right, but I think going down to ten men, especially in this game, was tough.
"But I can't fault the effort from anyone today. I thought everyone gave everything they had but unfortunately it wasn't to be. We can actually look at ourselves in the mirror and say we gave it everything that we had. I look at my teammates in there and they've gave everything, they're knackered. But at the same time it's the level that we're at.
"We competed a lot more today, I thought we were in the game for a lot of period and unfortunately in the end we have to take the pill and swallow."
Sands' dismissal also resulted in a Napoli penalty, one that was retaken after Allan McGregor produced a stunning save as VAR ruled Matteo Politano had encroached into the box too early to fire home the rebound. McGregor saved a second spot-kick from Piotr Zielinski but Napoli were later awarded a third when Borna Barisic handled in the area.
But looking back to the re-take, Goldson confessed he's baffled by the rule which allows the penalty to be taken again despite the infringement coming from the attacking team. He said: "I don't understand it to be honest. There are so many rules in football now that you don't understand.
"I didn't expect it to be retaken but Greegsy saves it again. But then we had another penalty which meant that we conceded a goal and lose the momentum in the game. But I think as soon as we went down to ten men it was always going to be tricky.
"It is hard. The spaces started opening up. Even at 1-0 we tried to give it a go, we had attacking players on the pitch. But then there were even more spaces and obviously we give another two goals away. It's hard to take. We are in a tricky patch at the moment, but we need to give that same effort and that same belief on Saturday (against Dundee United) and hopefully that can give us a win and get us back on track"
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