Rangers and manager Micheal Beale have been told by ex-Celtic striker Frank McAvennie that two of their players just aren't up to the standard they require.
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The Scottish Premiership title hopefuls haven't exactly blown away on-lookers with their start to the season, despite a productive 2023 summer transfer window where they brought nine new players to Ibrox. Abdallah Sima, Dujon Sterling, Kieran Dowell, Jack Butland, Leon Balogun, Sam Lammers, Cyriel Dessers, Danilo and Jose Cifuentes put pen to paper on moves to Glasgow, but are seemingly yet to gel, with Danilo also on the treatment table.
It was quite the overhaul at Rangers as they attempt to close the gap between them and their Old Firm rivals, with Scott Arfield, Filip Helander, Ryan Kent, Allan McGregor and Alfredo Morelos also leaving upon the expiry of their contracts in May. So far, the Gers have lost two league matches already; succumbing to 1-0 defeats at the hands of Celtic and a shock one against Kilmarnock.
Rangers were booed off in their last Scottish top flight game at home to Motherwell, despite winning 1-0, which perhaps says it all about the performance in general. The Teddy Bears did manage to knock Livingston out of the Viaplay Cup in midweek, setting up a semi-final tie with Hearts, but Beale certainly wasn't impressed with his side after their league outing last weekend.
"Horrible performance, didn't enjoy the game," explained Beale.
"I don't think the players enjoyed the game or anyone watching it supporting us enjoyed the game. We started poorly, lots of sloppy individual errors, we lose another player to injury which is deeply unfortunate but our quality wasn't good enough, there's no hiding from that.
"It's a win and clean sheet, they're the two positives I can take but that performance is below what's required at this football club. The players know it, I know it, we've got a game in three days to regroup, it's a quarter-final.
"The players' quality is higher than they showed today and the positive is that we kept a clean sheet. Everywhere else we were wasteful. We go home having won the game but I didn't enjoy a moment of it."
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There are certainly things to improve upon at Rangers who are seemingly yet to click into full gear, with pundit McAvennie criticising some of their transfer business.
According to the ex-Hoopes star, Beale has downgraded his options by getting rid of both Morelos and Antonio Colak before summer deadline day. He suggests that the likes of Sima and Dessers just haven't done enough to fill their shoes, and even believes Gers supporters aren't fans of their new boys.
"They got rid of Morelos and Colak but you are not going to convince me at this moment in time that these new boys are better than those two," McAvennie said to Football Insider.
"I like [Kemar] Roofe, he will score goals for you and he has got a bit about him. I am not too sure about these other boys.
“Scoring a goal does you the world of good so maybe he is turning a corner, the likes of Sima and Dessers. I do not think the fans like any of the boys up front because they are not better than what they had.“