Why Rangers are struggling to click into gear as Russell Martin told to fix problem or risk further damage
Light Blues told they have Jack Butland to thank for saving them too often already this season
Goalkeeper Jack Butland has already spared Rangers blushes with a string of superb saves and things could’ve been a lot worse for Russell Martin without his No.1’s early season heroics.
That’s the view of former Ibrox shot-stopper Cammy Bell, who reckons Butland has prevented his old club from dropping out of the Champions League and more domestic points.
The experienced ex-England international was rested during the 4-2 Premier Sports Cup win over SPFL League One side Alloa Athletic on Saturday with a view to next week’s European play-off first leg against Club Brugge.
Butland came up trumps again in his side’s 2-1 defeat to Viktoria Plzen in the previous round, making a series of top saves to help secure a 4-2 aggregate triumph over the Czechs.
Bell - ‘Rangers could be in a worse position than they already are without Butland’
And Bell admitted: “Listen, Jack’s in incredible form and Rangers have got to be thankful he has found his form again. Because if it wasn’t for him there could have been some really damaging defeats in there for Russell Martin.
“He’s played a huge part in the positivity that’s still there. If it wasn’t for Jack, Rangers could have been out of Champions League football and they could have been in a worse position in the league than they already are.
“That stat (facing 101 shots in six games) is really worrying, they’ve faced so many opportunities against them and Russell Martin needs to sort that out as quickly as possible.
“It just can’t keep happening because they are ultimately going to concede goals. You can’t give up that many opportunities to the opposition. You look at the level of opposition Rangers have faces so far, it’s not the highest standard and that’s no disrespect to the teams they’ve faced in European action and domestically.
“They’re going to face better teams. Listen, if they give opportunities up to better teams they will concede goals. They’ve already conceded goals to these sides they’ve faced. It’s just not good enough.
“They need to find a style and you can have the style that Russell Martin does but it’s so important you don’t turn the ball over. They’re just not clicking, not getting it. That’s a real worry.”
Rangers need drastic improvement to overcome Belgians
Meanwhile, ex-Gers striker Steven Thompson insists Martin’s men need to improve drastically for their make-or-break £40million showdown with the Belgians over the next fortnight.
Speaking on BBC Scotland, he said: “They’ve played two games against Panathinaikos which weren’t brilliant performances but they got through the tie. But they cannot afford to play like that in the play-off game.
“Motherwell was a poor performance, Dundee was poor, Plzen away was a poor performance. They had a good performance against Plzen at Ibrox when things clicked and they looked a slick team.
“But that’s five of the six games they’ve played so far and you’re saying the performance level isn’t really what it’s needed to be. That’s got to be the concern.
“Plzen had 27 shots in the game, so that’s an awful lot and if you give Brugge that amount of shots on goal you can be assured they’re going to score more than one.”