WHEN a team puts in their most convincing overall performance of the season and still draws at home to a much smaller club then something is wrong.

But that is where Rangers are at this moment in time, a side too one dimensional whose togetherness, such a powerful element of last season, has been threatened by a bigmouth who is up here for an ego trip.

No Joey Barton meant Rangers played better, much better in fact, against Ross County and they should have won, but once did not. They are drifting and Aberdeen and Hearts are heading towards them from over the horizon.

Read more: Jason Holt: Keep playing the way we are and the goals will start to flow for RangersGlasgow Times:

Actually, Queen of the South in the League Cup on Tuesday is no gimme. The men from Dumfries are good and have made a superb start to the season. They will fancy winning at Ibrox and quite right too.

Mark Warburton is a changed man. He is under pressure and knows it. How he handles the Barton situation is key.

Read more: Rangers vs County: how the Ibrox side rated

If the manager and club as a whole is seen to cave in to someone who clearly doesn’t fancy being in Scotland, the cynic in you would suggest he made the move to sell more copies of his upcoming autobiography, then it would send out a hugely negative message.

Barton has to go. Former Rangers player Derek Ferguson said on the radio on Saturday that there was no way back for the Englishman. Willie Miller claimed that Rangers had “brought this on themselves” given how Barton has conducted himself over the years.

Warburton thinks we are all too negative in Scotland and perhaps there he has a point. But it is hard to pick out too many positives from this season so far, two wins from six games is not a great start, and the supporters now realise their team can do little to stop Celtic winning six titles in a row.

And there will be some who will feel that six will become seven, eight and then...

Rangers should have won out the park at the weekend. Scott Fox, the Ross County goalkeeper, made some terrific saves, the best came on 57 minutes when he got his fingers a shot by Martyn Waghorn whose curling effort was an inch away from a goal.

From the resultant corner, Clint Hill had a header cleared off the line by Martin Woods. It was that kind of day.

“It was definitely frustrating for the boys, the stuff and the fans,” said James Tavernier who is one player nobody could accuse of never giving his all.

"It was probably one of our best performances of the season. We dominated the ball. County didn't have many chances. We kept on going at them and our luck just wasn't in.

"I had one at the back post that I thought was going in but the foot came out of nowhere and it got deflected wide. It was one of those days where the ball wasn't going in the back of the net.”

The thing is Rangers did play some good stuff. Andy Halliday, cheered loudly by the crowd, was back and did well and while Jason Holt needs games, it was no coincidence that the midfield worked better with these two in it.

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"In the previous games, we hadn't really played the way we did against Ross County,” said Tavernier. You'd have to say that this was our best performance of the season so far.

"We looked almost like the Rangers we were - being on the front foot and dominating the ball. We created chances but just didn't get the luck to put it in the back of the net.

Read more: Jason Holt: Keep playing the way we are and the goals will start to flow for Rangers

"If we play with the same intensity, we will win games. Sometimes you get the luck and get the first goal and they keep flowing.

"County defended well on Saturday but we didn't get the luck. We kept probing so we are disappointed that we didn't get the three points.”

It is Queen of the South next and it could be a big night for Rangers. Lose and with a game at Aberdeen coming up, Warburton especially will be under pressure and the signs so far is that he doesn’t like that one bit.

It’s not as if his team are bad – they aren’t – but something is missing and they need to starting wining matches.

Tavernier said: “We are a strong enough group to stay calm and focus on Tuesday. We've spoken about it, we will look at it and then put it behind us.

"We will focus on Tuesday now and obviously the next league game. That's all we can do. Look forward, take positives and work hard on the things we have to improve - and take it into the game.”