ANDY Halliday today hit back at criticism of Rangers manager Mark Warburton and admitted the players were entirely to blame for their disappointing run of form.

Warburton has come in for increased flak from supporters and the media in the aftermath of his side’s 2-0 loss to Hearts at Tynecastle on Wednesday evening.

The defeat meant the Ibrox club were toppled off second spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership table by their capital rivals.

Read more: Graeme Souness on Warburton, Dave King and the future for Rangers

But Halliday feels the Gers players are the ones who are solely responsible and called on them to show more fight in their massive league game against Aberdeen at home tomorrow.

Asked about the criticism, he said: “That’s totally, totally unfair in my opinion. He’s the best manager I’ve ever worked under, he’s a pleasure to work under on the training field every single day. People deserve their opinion, but I’m the biggest believer of what the gaffer is trying to do here.

“It’s certainly nothing to do with the formation or the style of play, it’s just up to us to perform and compete on the park. When you look at the lot of the games where we’ve dropped points this year, fundamentally we’ve not played well.

“We’re using the same system we’ve used over the past 18-months and in my opinion the progress we’ve made since the gaffer’s come here has been significant for all to see.

Read more: Graeme Souness on Warburton, Dave King and the future for Rangers

“If we’re not playing well we don’t deserve to win games. We’re not a Barcelona, we’re not a Bayern Munch, a team full of match-winners. We play well when the team plays well. So if you’ve got three or four bodies that aren’t performing that given day then you don’t deserve to win football matches. So it’s up to us to get our fingers out and start to perform.”

Halliday added: “We talk about styles of play and what we’re good at and what we’re not good at, but you have got to earn the right to play football. You have got to win your own individual battle and compete all over the park and last night we just didn’t do that.

“It was probably one of the most disappointing performances since I have been at this football club against Hearts. We let everyone down. We let the manager down and we let the fans down. We lost the battle all over the park. All credit to Hearts, I thought they thoroughly deserved to win last night.

“It didn’t matter if we were 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 on Wednesday night. If you don’t play well you don’t deserve to win games. In my opinion, there is no bigger believer than me in how we are trying to play football.

“If you’re not performing well and not competing as an individual then you’re not going to win football games. So it is as simple as that and that is why in my opinion last night it obviously wasn’t good enough.”

Read more: Graeme Souness on Warburton, Dave King and the future for Rangers

Halliday admitted Rangers were under pressure to perform against an Aberdeen team looking to bounce back from their Betfred Cup final mauling against Celtic on Sunday, but expressed the hope that would bring the best out in him.

“I know for a fact it’s tough for the rest of the boys,” he said. “We’re all hurting the same today. But I wouldn’t swap this for any other football club. I thrive on this expectation I thrive on this pressure. I love playing for a club as big as this.

Aberdeen are obviously a very good team and they are up there in the league with us so it’s a six-pointer so it’s a massive game for us on Saturday as usual.”