THE display against Dundee at Dens Park on Sunday fell way below what is acceptable for Rangers.

Steven Gerrard’s men have set the bar so high with some of their displays this season.

But the players who took to the field at the weekend underperformed against opponents who were rooted to the bottom of the league and only had 10 men for most of the match

Steven clearly knew his team had passed up a great opportunity to pick up three points and was obviously hurting afterwards when he warned them they couldn’t be trusted.

But it you want to have a successful team at a big club then the players have to be told that it isn’t good enough when they fail and warned they will be out of the side as a result.

He was just trying to lay down the law and remind certain individuals they aren’t as comfortable as they perhaps think they are. I don’t have a problem with his reaction at all.

Steven will also have learned an invaluable lesson that will stand him in good stead going forward – that he can’t make too many changes to his starting line-up regardless of who Rangers are playing.

Any time Rangers come into town it is a cup final for the home team. Fringe players need to realise how difficult a game it is going to be whenever they take to the field and make sure they are up to speed.

At the weekend Gerrard made six changes to the side which had lost to Aberdeen on Wednesday night and his side didn’t perform.

The games against clubs like Dundee on a Sunday lunch time are vitally important in the course of a long hard season too.

One of Walter Smith’s great strengths was making sure his players were always right up for the less glamorous games.

But Steven knows about those demands too having played for years at Liverpool.

Some fans are getting a bit agitated after the loss to Aberdeen and draw with Dundee.

But let’s remember that Steven has only had one transfer window here - and has improved the standard of the team greatly.

So let’s keep faith with him and imagine how things will look after he has had two, three or even four transfer windows.

The recruitment carried out by Mark Allen and Steven has been great and I think the squad will only get stronger in time.

It is important to remember that, as painful as the setbacks have been for fans, the last two results are just a blip.

Rangers can still bounce back, beat Rapid Vienna over in Austria and go through to the last 32 of the Europa League.

They will have both Scott Arfield and Alfredo Morelos back and I think they will help the Ibrox club to get the result they need and go through.

Playing Rapid away won’t be easy, but I think that Rangers have given good accounts of themselves on the road in Europe this year and can definitely do it.

They were brilliant against Villarreal in Spain in their first Group G game and played well in spells against Spartak in Moscow. They were also comfortably the better team against Rapid at Ibrox back in October.

It promises to be quite a night. I am sure it is an occasion the Rangers players and their army of supporters will rise to.

WHILE it was certainly disappointing to see Rangers drop five points in two games last week, it was brilliant to see Kilmarnock, another of my former clubs, go top of the Ladbrokes Premiership, even if it was just for a few days.

I was delighted for the directors – not least major shareholder Billy Bowie who has put so much time and money into the Rugby Park club.

I would like to think I laid a solid base for Steve Clarke to build on with the recruitment I did when I was there. I brought in Kirk Broadfoot, Stephen O’Donnell, Alan Power.

When I had them they hadn’t had pre-seasons under their belts. The success wasn’t going to happen overnight. But I think I have to take some satisfaction from how well they have done since.

Especially O’Donnell. He got freed by Luton and I signed him for nothing. is a full international player now. I believe that he and some of the other players, like Eamonn Brophy and Jordan Jones, can kick on now.

They have got pace out wide and goals in them. They are a really exciting team. Hopefully they can keep doing as well and get a European place. I think a top four place is realistic.

It is a great story. It is nice to see another club up near the top of the league above the likes of Aberdeen and Rangers.