It’s system error so far from Gers
Ross says new stars need to bed in
Maurice Ross says Rangers’ failure to sign players who are better than their first- team stalwarts is one of the reasons why they’ve yet to hit top gear.
The former Ibrox defender was blown away by the performances of Steven Gerrard’s side last season as they went unbeaten to win the Premiership title.
Ross admits it was always going to be difficult for Gers’ stars to take their game to another level this year.
And he feels the additions of John Lundstram, Fashion Sakala and Juninho Bacuna have beefed up the squad but not improved the first XI.
Lundstram, signed on a free from Sheffield United, was the only new recruit to start their 2-0 Europa League defeat to Lyon in midweek.
Despite being top of the Premiership, even Gerrard admitted on Thursday night that so far they’ve not hit the standards they set last season.
And Ross, who won a Treble at Ibrox in 2003, said: “When you win a league you’re in a position of strength so that’s when you strengthen again.
“But to do that, you have to displace someone who’s in the starting XI.
“For Rangers to be better than last season, they had to sign two or three boys who were going to take them to the next level by starting every week.
“Lundstram has only played sometimes. But he’s a link-in-the-chain player not a guy who’s going to break lines with cute passes.
“He’s decent but for Rangers to improve they had to sign players for the starting XI.
“At the moment, the ones who have come in are basically subs to come on.
“Rangers put so much energy into winning the league and they were sensational – not just domestically but in Europe as well.
“But it takes special types to go again the following year. And I just feel there’s one per cent missing at the moment.
“Whether it ’ s that ext ra, gut-wrenching run into the box or something like that. It’s just not there right now.”
Ross, who is now a coach and one of Scotland’s most modern thinkers on the game, feels new players like Lundstram have still to get up to speed with a system Gerrard has drilled into his team over a three-year period.
The English midfielder didn’t get close enough to Toko Ekambi in midweek as the Lyon
wide man fired the French side in front from distance.
But Ross is convinced that Rangers will improve in time, with tactical tweaks from the coaching staff.
He said: “When you bring new players in – even though there’s not many – it takes them time to get used to the team’s’ shape.
“When you look at the first goal they conceded against Lyon, Lundstram got back at a decent pace but couldn’t put the brakes on quick enough.
“That just gave Ekambi half a yard to get a shot off. So there was a bit of system failure there for that goal.
“It takes time. Rangers took a couple of years to get this system so slick. So it’s not a massive problem.
“They’ve got a brilliant coaching staff there who will be working ever so hard to get it right again.”
Rangers face in-form Motherwell at Ibrox today and Ross has had a foot in both camps, having worked alongside former Fir Park boss Stephen Robinson.
He believes the Steelmen’s biggest threat will come from set-pieces with dangerous DutchmanDutchm Kevin Van Veen.
Ross sa i d : “Motherwell seem to gget a lot of success ffrom corners and aattacking free-kicks.
“I don’t see them ouout-playing Rangers at anany point in the game.
“But when Van Veen plaplays well, he’s as good as II’ve seen this season outoutside the Old Firm.
“RRangers will need to be cacareful with him.”