GRAEME MURTY insists he retains the full backing of his Rangers squad in the aftermath of a tumultuous week at Ibrox.

The Gers boss has come under fire from all quarters in recent days following the embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Andy Halliday and Daniel Candeias both vented their fury when they were substituted at Hampden, while Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller have been suspended pending an internal investigation after an alleged dressing room bust-up.

Read more: Rangers Q&A: Graeme Murty on the Old Firm fall-out, dressing room dynamics and his Ibrox future

Rangers host Hearts tomorrow afternoon aiming to take a step towards securing second spot in the Premiership and Murty has called for unity from his Light Blues ranks.

He said: “The guys have trained well. The guys have regained focus and focused inwards on what we have to do for Sunday.

“It would have been really, really easy to let things outside of our control and outside of our gates dominate and they haven’t. They have focused on the training.

“They have trained really well. That leads me to believe they have got their minds set on putting in a performance on Sunday which is all I need to see.

“I said to the guys ‘this is what is going to happen moving forward, we need to make sure everyone is going in the right direction, now is the time to choose.

“Do we want to be getting second? Do we want to pull together?

“Because there is nothing stronger than this football club when everyone is pulling in the same direction.

“From me, to my staff, to the players, to the fans, when everyone is pulling in the right direction this place will take some stopping. We have to make sure we get back on track’.”

Read more: Rangers squad owe boss Graeme Murty against Hearts, says Declan John

Rangers produced an abject display last Sunday as Brendan Rodgers’ side eased to a comfortable Old Firm win and to within 90 minutes of a second successive Treble.

Murty was frustrated that his players seemingly didn’t execute their pre-match plan against Celtic and admits he has done some soul searching in recent days.

He said: “In previous games they have [followed the instructions]. We have had good success from it.

“So I am looking at the team and their capacity. Their capacity is to go and press.

“We are a high tempo team. In my opinion we have got good legs in the team. We have reiterated it this week.

“I have said to the players ‘we need to go and get in people’s faces’. I can’t do it.

“They need to go and do it. They need to go and be aggressive on the pitch. But they didn’t.

“Of course you [question yourself]. But I question myself if we win. I question myself for everything that goes wrong.

“I question myself all the time. So naturally and humanly, I questioned myself. Absolutely. I questioned everything I did in the week.”

Read more: Rangers Q&A: Graeme Murty on the Old Firm fall-out, dressing room dynamics and his Ibrox future

Wallace and Miller could have played their final games for Rangers and the ongoing situation has dominated the agenda in recent days.

But Murty hopes there will be no adverse reaction on the rest of his ranks as he prepares for a huge Premiership clash against the Jambos.

He said: “We’ve got to put in a good performance on Sunday. The club is and always will be the most important thing.

“Come Sunday, you have to make sure you go and have prepared yourself properly throughout the week regardless of personal attachments or friendships.

“I’m sure Kyle Lafferty and Steven Naismith will be on the phone to Russell Martin. But our players have to make sure that come Sunday they are ready to go and put in a performance for us.

“We have to win. This is a team with a winning history and culture. We have to make sure we get back on track.

“We’ve got five massive games between now and the end of the season to try and claim second place. That’s the target.”