DJ: McCall must move quickly to solve Rangers problems

Six points have been lost against Queen of the South, Livingston and Alloa in just seven days - and all were dropped from winning positions.

The draw with Alloa on Tuesday night will have given Stuart McCall plenty of food for thought about what he needs to do to breathe fresh life into his side this season.

After coming back from losing a sloppy goal as Nicky Clark scored twice, Rangers couldn't hold on and lost another late goal in Stuart's second match as manager.

Once again, the players were booed off the park as the fans let them know in no uncertain terms that they were far from happy with what they had just seen.

Rangers need to be patient when they are trying to break teams down but it is not always easy at Ibrox.

The fans are just so frustrated at the moment. They are desperate to see this team playing better and getting into the Premiership.

They want to see them scoring more goals and that has been one of the problems recently, we have not been good enough in the final third.

There is a frustration and disappointment at Ibrox, of course there is. It is maybe easier away from home when teams attack them and leave a bit of space for Rangers to play in.

It can be easier for players to play in those circumstances, rather than at home when the fans can get on your back and you are being booed off the park.

You can hear the crowd grumbling, you sense that mood as a player. Even though Rangers started well on Tuesday, moving the ball well and creating chances, there were still groans of discontent.

It does get to some players. It is fine when you are at a smaller club and you can't really hear it, but when you are at Ibrox and playing for Rangers, it is loud and noticeable.

It is down to whether the players can block that out and get on with their game, and a lot of them can't. All of a sudden, they start to hide and they don't want the ball.

That doesn't help the team and it frustrates the crowd. It is up to the players to appease the crowd, to entertain them and to win games and that hasn't happened often enough recently. The fans are quite right to vent their anger.

You can tell a lot about a player when you see how he handles that pressure and that is why I was so encouraged by the performances of Tom Walsh and Andy Murdoch on Tuesday night.

They went out, they were determined to do well and they were willing to try things. Not everything came off, but they had no fear playing in front of a crowd that isn't happy.

Situations like this is when you find out the players that are cut out to play for a club like Rangers. The stick is flying around, but those lads were giving their all, still trying their heart out and still looking to make things happen.

As long as the fans can see you are rolling up your sleeves, they will cut you a bit of slack and they will back you. If you are not, then they won't be long in telling you.

Stuart was at a few Rangers games as a television pundit over the last few weeks so he had seen the team at close quarters and would have known what to expect when he was appointed as manager last week.

It is different when you have got to go in and coach, though. He will have seen things and thought 'I can change this'. But you can't change players.

The players have got into a malaise and it is hard to break that. If you looked at the last few games, there were three fixtures against the bottom three clubs in the Championship, and you would have expected to take nine points from those games to get back above Hibs in the table.

All of a sudden, you have taken three from nine and you are left stranded in third place.

Stuart hasn't had that many days of training with the squad so I doubt he knows what his strongest team is at the moment.

There were another handful of changes on Tuesday night and he will want to give everyone a chance to see what he has got.

What he will have realised is that there is no winning mentality in this squad. It is not like his nine-in-a-row team. That would disappoint him.

The signs were slightly more encouraging going forward on Tuesday, even though we didn't test the goalkeeper enough, but defensively it was poor again.

Up front, we are not sharp enough and we don't have enough pace. Chances are being created but they are not being taken. That is the two basics - defending and attacking.

At this moment in time, it is very poor. The midfield is struggling as well, they are getting outplayed in there.

Stuart will want the side to defend better, to close down quicker, as teams are doing to us, and to be more clinical in the final third.

When a new manager comes in, normally you get a bit of time to sort out these problems but Stuart doesn't have that luxury. He needs to fix Rangers quickly.

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