Michael Beale continued his 100% record as Rangers manager with an emphatic 3-0 win over Motherwell at Ibrox.
Alfredo Morelos ensured the visitors bright start would count for nothing as he nodded in the opener after 13 minutes. Connor Goldson met a Borna Barisic header to double the lead with half-time looming before Malik Tillman rounded off the scoring in the second half to seal all three points.
It was a professional performance from Beale's men as they dominated the bulk of possession and tallied up 19 shots at Liam Kelly's goal to keep on Celtic's tails - who kept their nine point Scottish Premiership lead in tact with a convincing victory against Hibernian. But the overriding feeling from those with blue tinted glasses on is that the intensity will have to go up another few notches if they stand any chance when Celtic come to Ibrox on Monday night.
Here’s what the Rangers pundits had to say after the full-time whistle.
Kevin Thomson
They were a wee bit reserved tonight I felt as well in terms of how they pressed the game and maybe that's been an instruction. Maybe he's keeping the foot off the accelerator slightly because of the nature of the importance of the second of January game here against Celtic. So maybe that's a reason why. It might be the case he's maybe said to the players to exert yourself, they've had two horrendous travels, up to Aberdeen then back again then back up to Dingwall and to come away with four wins would have been absolutely delightful for the board, Mick Beale and his coaching staff, everybody, the players and the supporters but what a few days they have now.
Rory Loy
I think offensively they were excellent at times, really really good. However, I still do think going the other way defensively there were signs of being a little bit frail. Motherwell, without [Kevin] van Veen at full fitness, struggled to really hurt them and on another night maybe they could have. But overall all things said and done, it's good minutes inside the legs for the Rangers players and a 3-0 win.
Shelley Kerr
He will be delighted with the clean sheet. He will be delighted with the three goals but I still think he will be challenging the players in terms of the amount of turnovers. I think in both halves, it was equal and the players that he's got, they need to execute their passing much better. I think that will be a concerning element of the game for him.
Neil McCann
You aren't doing that in the Celtic game and coming off unscathed and that's only one game away. I don't think it was the perfect performance but I think it's the perfect return which he would've loved to be looking at in tact in terms of that respect. But as Shelley rightfully says, I thought the performance was well-below what he will be searching for. It's a lot of football, a lot of travelling over a very very busy period.
The Christmas period generally when you are a footballer, it doesn't maybe get taken into account but it does take a lot of responsibility and effort to make sure you are doing the right things. But I think they looked leggy at times, I thought sluggish playing.
I know Malik Tillman said you can't play with the handbrake off all the time but I think forward players can, absolutely, all the time. I think you get into a shape out of possession but in possession of the football, there shouldn't be any handbrake and that's the defenders job. I think they have a lot more of that to come so I think it will be pleasing, tick box and improve for Monday.
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