DJ: Rearguard revival is reason ransom went unanswered

Zaliukas, the former Hearts centre-half, in particular. The Lithuanian internationalist is a top quality player.

But McCoist has got plenty of cover in that department if, as will almost certainly happen, the team pick up injuries or suspensions in that area.

Lee McCulloch and Bilel Mohsni have been playing there recently as Emilson Cribari has been on the bench.

There are also youngsters, Chris Hegarty and Ross Perry, who will be able to slot in once they regain full fitness.

Luca Gasparotto, too, is an extremely promising young player who has a bright future at the back.

I think Ally should be applauded for trying to bring Marius in. He would not have cost Rangers any money other than the wages they would have had to pay him.

But I am told he was looking for astronomical sums to put pen to paper and the club refused to meet his excessive demands.

Ally will just have to go with what he has got at his disposal. It is quite sufficient for SPFL League One.

He has now got a very, very strong squad. There is competition in every position and that is what he was looking for.

Last season the Light Blues manager had no options. He had a small squad with a lot of inexperienced young players in his side.

If somebody had a bad game they knew they would still get selected in the next match as there was no alternative.

Now, though, there are a host of players bursting to get into the team. If an individual's standards drop then they will be out of the side.

There may be a few changes to the starting line-up for the league game against Stenhousemuir at Ibrox tomorrow. I think Ian Black will certainly return.

The performance against Forfar last weekend was not the best. Having said that, there were mitigating factors. The plastic pitch was not that great and the wind was horrendous.

Yes, Rangers were under pressure by Dick Campbell's team at times. But it all came from big high balls hoofed up the park.

nobody should be too despondent about the display. The team had won its previous five league games and scored 24 goals in the process.

They play badly in one game - which they actually won - and they get slaughtered for it. Sorry, I don't understand that.

A lot of people have been bemoaning the fact Rangers toiled to overcome part-time opponents. They should, their critics have said, be hammering these teams every week.

But Morton beat a very strong Celtic team at Parkhead in the League Cup in midweek and there has been none of the same sort of hullabaloo about the Scottish champions' performance.

They are second bottom of the Championship! They have only won one league game so far in the 2013/14 campaign. Celtic should have thrashed them no matter who they had in their side.

But teams in the lower leagues raise their games whenever they play one of the Old Firm clubs. Rangers have to handle that every week.

Many pundits and fans predicted Rangers would go the entire league season undefeated when they started off so brightly. But nobody inside the club said as much.

It would be disrespectful to their rivals to suggest that. Yes, they have got a strong squad but there are going to be many more tricky away fixtures to negotiate.

I think Rangers will struggle to play much football on the artificial surfaces many clubs in the lower levels now favour.

The display against Airdrie last month, when they romped to an emphatic 6-0 triumph, was the exception to the rule.

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