Davis holds his hands up for defeat and vows Rangers will bounce back
RANGERS have lapped up the plaudits in the opening weeks of the campaign. Now, Steven Gerrard and his players must take the criticism that will rightly come their way.
This was no Old Firm humiliation like some that have come before at Ibrox, but the way that Rangers gave up their unbeaten start to the season and fell three points adrift in the title race will frustrate as much as it will anger supporters who, correctly, expected and demanded much better.
As the wins have been racked up in recent weeks, the momentum has built and Rangers went into the derby clash on a high after a jubilant and dramatic victory over Legia Warsaw.
There was no perfect end to the week, though. Rangers were the favourites, but it was Celtic who were deservedly victorious.
And Steven Davis – one of the few in Light Blue to earn pass marks – knows the lethargic, uninspiring showing will bring harsh critique and comment from all quarters.
“I don’t think we seen ourselves as favourites and I have played in enough Old Firm games to know that each and every one is different,” Davis said.
“I don’t think it was a case of us coming in over-confident or anything like that. That might have been the way it was portrayed in the press but that certainly wasn’t the feeling in the dressing room.
“We know we have got to earn the right to play and to win in these games and there were too many of us off the boil. You can’t get away with that in an Old Firm game and we got punished for it.
“We got plenty of plaudits recently for the way we played so we need to take the criticism and that is natural when you lose a game like this here. We have got to take our medicine and make sure we improve going forward.
“It is obviously a huge disappointment, but it is three points and there is still a long way to go in the season. We need to make sure we get back to the levels that we know we are capable of.”
In their wins over Midtjylland and Legia in the Europa League, and at home to Hibernian on Premiership duty, Rangers have produced some thrilling moments this term.
But there was a lack of quality, a lack of cutting edge, about their play here as Gerrard’s side barely laid a glove on Celtic. A telling blow was never going to be landed, never mind a knockout one. Gerrard insisted afterwards that he and his players would deal with the flak that will inevitably fly and come back stronger from the setback after their first defeat of the campaign. That process will begin immediately, but Rangers now need to wait a fortnight to get it out of their system.
Davis added: “Hugely disappointed and the most disappointing thing is that we didn’t reach the levels that we know we are capable of.
“I think it was a bit of a scrappy game and we are obviously disappointed in the goals that we conceded.
“Celtic came with a game plan and they will be happy with how they executed it. I don’t think we did enough, I don’t think Fraser [Forster] had a save to make.
“We need to try and play, we were too easily pressed at times and went too long at times as well.
“It is obviously a bit raw straight after the game and difficult to analyse but when we get back off the international break we will look at it and see where we can improve.
“There are obviously a lot of areas where we can do better than what we have shown.”