‘They need’ - Former Rangers forward Rory Loy explains what Danny Rohl should change to succeed at Ibrox
Danny Rohl faces a huge task to get Rangers back on track after succeeding Russell Martin at Govan
New Rangers head coach Danny Rohl shouldn’t be looking to carry out major surgery on the Light Blues squad in January and should instead focus predominantly on trying to get the best out of the existing crop of players, says former striker Rory Loy.
Loy, who played for boyhood club Rangers between 2006 and 2011, feels the club already have a strong crop of strikers at the club and believes there’s no need to panic and introduce a whole host of new signings at this stage.
Rohl inherits a Rangers team that are sixth in the table with just one win in their opening six matches, winless in Europe after successive defeats to Sturm Graz and Genk, and 13 points behind leaders Hearts at the top of the table.
He’s had experience of crisis-management in the past after spearheading a great escape with Sheffield Wednesday under the wacky ownership model of Thai tycoon Dejphon Chansiri, but has never managed a side that’s been expected to win silverware to quite the same degree as Rangers.
Rory Loy discusses area Danny Rohl needs to address
Rory Loy believes Danny Rohl’s first task as Rangers manager should be to address the club’s leaky defence. The Ibrox outfit have managed one clean sheet so far in the league this season and were notably ripped apart in Europe in their Champions League play-off with Club Brugge.
Loy appeared on BBC Scotland’s Football Podcast alongside Scottish coach and analyst John Walker.
Walker said: "I think there's plenty of good players in the frontline that can get Rangers goals. What you need to stop doing is giving an uphill task where you need two to win games. You need to be able to win games scrappy 1-0.
"I think there's a lot of uncertainty over whether defenders are meant to be stepping, whether they're to be dropping, where they're meant to be, what the positional space is meant to be.
"You've got very experienced players there. You've got a good midfield to choose from, with Joe Rothwell, Mohamed Diomande, Connor Barron, Nicolas Raskin, Thelo Aasgaard. It's good enough to be good in Scottish football.
"Rangers need to start shutting games out and it's working for you back to front. It's coach your backline, sort your backline, get everyone fighting for everything. And even if it's not pretty, the top end of the football is not right, it buys you time."
Loy added: "They need a centre-back to join in with Derek Cornelius and John Souttar because Nasser Djiga's not good enough in my opinion.I think Jayden Meghoma's got potential. He's shown in fits and starts, but he needs a spell in the team.
"I don't think it should be a case of looking towards January. Rothwell has shown signs in the last few weeks, same with Aasgaard. Bojan Miovski is a good signing, and you've got Raskin in there. Oliver Antman has shown in glimpses, Djeidi Gassama does look very good.
"I don't think there's this need to panic and go, we need a full new squad. There's potential there. They just need somebody to get the potential out of them."