Rangers showing unwanted traits 'teams that win titles' don't do as Ibrox hero recognises familiar sloppiness

Former Rangers defender Alan Hutton thinks ‘teams that win titles’ find a way to win tight games - unlike his old side at Dundee on Saturday night.

The Ibrox side weren’t at the races but found themselves a goal up through wonder-strikes from Badredine Bouanani and Nico Raskin. However, a costly error from Dan Neil in the 69th minute gifted Dundee’s Callum Jones an equaliser as the spoils were shared at Dens Park. The result was made worse by Celtic’s 7-1 thumping of Hearts the following day, meaning they extended their lead at the top to four points.

Seeing games out has been a problem for Rangers in recent years - but not recent weeks. Before their Tayside slip-up they’d won seven games on the bounce domestically. Still in October, it’s not panic stations just yet for manager Derek McInnes, however Hutton believes if they have any title ambitions, then they can’t afford a repeat of Dens Park.

Why was the Dundee stalemate concerning for Rangers?

Speaking alongside fellow pundit Michael Stewart on the Scottish Football Social Club podcast, Hutton said: “To have two really good bits of quality and score two goals but then be sloppy with certain passes and taking too many risks. Dan Neil, we've spoken about him a lot. He’s come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks and months - but to then get caught and you give away a goal is obviously poor. Rangers needed to be better.

“When Raskin scores that goal you're winning 2-1. You give no opportunities away. You play the right passes. You're all dialled in on what you have to do. You're not taking risks and you see games through. That's why teams win titles because they go to difficult places and they get the three points. It doesn't really matter all the time how you play.

“I think fans will probably look at a lot of the home games and expect them to play with a little bit of style and score goals but when you're maybe a night-time kick-off, mid-week or whatever it may be, through at Dundee or wherever, it's about winning. Getting three points and seeing the game out. That's something that I think this group has to be better at.”

Rangers needed first goal to ‘kick them into life’

Another worrying aspect of the display at Dundee was Rangers’ lack of attacking intent in the early stages. The visitors created next to nothing before Dark Blues striker Bradley Fink opened the scoring in the first half. Ex Hearts captain Stewart explained that this could be a ‘concern’ going forward.

He added: “Rangers needed that first goal for them to concede to actually kick them into life. It was only after that, towards the end of the first half, that they looked like, all right, we need to actually do something here, which would be a wee bit of a concern. Second half, they were far better as well - but a draw was a fair result.”

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