PEDRO CAIXINHA admitted this week that he was ashamed by the performance that Rangers put in against Celtic at Hampden on Sunday.

He will be hoping for a reaction from his side this afternoon and he won’t be the only one. Every single Rangers fan will be demanding, and expecting, it as well.

When you lose an Old Firm game, the spotlight is on you. The fans are criticising you and the media are questioning you and you have to be able to handle that.

Rangers got caned, and rightly so, after the semi-final defeat and the manager was clearly unhappy with what he saw from his side. He has put the onus on the players and it is up to them to go out and perform this afternoon.

Pedro will have learned an awful lot during the few weeks he has been here, I am sure. He knows what the fans want and what the media are about and he will know that the only way to get everyone off his back is to win games. He has got a big chance today.

He has told the players what he demands and Rangers have to compete with Celtic in all areas of the park. Few people will expect them to win but the effort has to be there and we have to have a real go.

That is what the fans want to see because, as the manager has said, that passion was badly missing at Hampden.

This is their last chance to do something against Celtic this season. We have seen the nice side of the manager, and I enjoy listening to him, but now we have seen that angry streak in him as well.

I would hope that the players have seen that over the last few days. The fans will be expecting a far, far better performance, and a gutsier performance, this time around.

It was interesting to hear Pedro’s comments about how the players behaved during the warm-up and the fact that Helder Baptista told him to go a bit easier on them in his pre-match team-talk.

The coaches will pay close attention to how the players react before the game and if they are too tense then that is not good.

Everyone gets nervous before an Old Firm game but as soon as you get out on the park you can’t wait to get going. The fans are coming in all the time, the noise is building and that gets you going.

Whether Pedro feels his team-talk was right or not, only he knows. But Rangers then went out and never kicked a ball.

He will have learned from that and I would think he will have them fired up this afternoon. That doesn’t mean ready to go out and make rash tackles, it means closing down players, closing the space and showing far more effort than they did at Hampden.

I think the fans will see a far different side at Ibrox. There should be professional pride at play here as well. It is one thing being at a big club, but it is another being able to handle being there.

All a manager can ask is that you give your all. If it is not your day, it is not your day. But a lack of commitment is not acceptable.

If anyone deserves a performance, it is the Rangers fans. Given what they have watched at times this season, the players owe them one today.

The supporters have heard the same things all season when we haven’t got results and we haven’t played well. It has been ‘we will learn from it and move on’.

The fans are paying big money to watch their team and the least they expect, and deserve, is to see a bit of heart when the players pull on that blue jersey.

You can’t win every game and you can’t play well in every game, but you have to do your best every time you represent Rangers.

The fans don’t want to hear excuses, they have heard them all before. These players know what is required at Rangers, but can they handle the pressure?

If they didn’t go home after the game on Sunday embarrassed and determined to make up for it, then they shouldn’t be at Rangers. If they don’t perform better this afternoon, there is something far wrong.

The manager is looking at every player as he considers how he will approach the summer transfer window.

If you get a shirt, you have to prove that you deserve to be here next season. Time is running out for them and they have the Celtic game and the rest of the Premiership fixtures to show they want to be here.

If you are not going to do what the manager is asking of you and show the commitment that is required, then he will take you off and you might not get another game.

For some of the players in that squad, this will be their last Old Firm fixture. If they don’t want that to be the case, then they have one final chance to prove themselves.