Cyriel Dessers concedes Rangers need to stop turning in performances which require apologies following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat by St Mirren which piled more pressure on Philippe Clement.
It was a first return to Ibrox for the Gers since the humiliating Scottish Gas Scottish Cup defeat to Championship side Queen’s Park but the home team were again abject, with second-half goals from striker Mikael Mandron and substitute Toyosi Olusanya handing the Paisley side their first win in Govan since November, 1991.
Clement and his players were booed by those fans who forced themselves to stay to the end and as they remain 13 points behind William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic, a trophyless domestic season is all but guaranteed, albeit Rangers have a Europa League last-16 tie against Fenerbahce to come in March.
Dessers was asked if the players were letting down their manager – who described the performance as the “worst” since becoming Ibrox boss in October, 2023 – and the 30-year-old Nigeria striker said: “I don’t think so. Nobody has this in our mind. We are letting ourselves down, we are letting the club down, we are letting the fans down.
“Obviously as we have said a few times in the last months.
“We need big performances, we need to straighten our backs so we don’t have to apologise to the fans anymore for these performances.
“It hurts (to see fans leaving early). But I can understand it.
“The last home game was a very tough one, we bounced back against Hearts (3-1 win) but wanted to bounce back again on Saturday, to give the fans something.
“Clearly we didn’t so there’s an understanding for that situation.
“It’s time for us to stick together and hopefully we don’t need to make these apologies anymore in the near future.
“These players showed already they belong at a club like Rangers. All of them have the quality to be at a club like Rangers.
“But it’s more than quality alone. Quality is also showing it on a consistent basis, twice a week, I think that’s real quality.
“You can say talent is technical ability but for me it’s showing it every week.
“We need to make a step there as a group to show it twice a week – the real quality and real mentality. I’m talking about technical, tactical and physical. There are still steps to be made there.”
Dessers agreed with Clement’s claim that more leadership was required as attention turned to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Wednesday.
He said: “Definitely. As one of the more experienced players we try to, me, Tav (James Tavernier), Jack (Butland), we all try that.
“But it can be better, more convincing, more motivating to the whole team and the younger guys to take them with us.
“We have had these moments in our careers, we need to take them with us and pull them through the hard moments in games and maybe then you get a goal, an advantage. So I can agree with that.
“That’s the hard thing but also the good thing about playing for Rangers.
“On Wednesday we have a difficult and important game. We have to bounce back, we don’t have a choice.
“We need to stick together as a team. You probably heard this before.
“But against St Mirren we never stuck together on the pitch enough.
“But definitely in the next days we will need that if we want a good performance on Wednesday.”
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