Barry Ferguson nails Rangers 'players need to learn' rant after Dundee close shave

03/30/2025 02:00 AM

Ultimately, the score line is all that really matters, a concept that Walter Smith mastered when he was in charge at Rangers.

It is also something that interim Rangers manager Barry Ferguson has got his head around and, at least, appears to be trying to impart this concept onto his players.

In the last three seasons, the fundamental difference to Celtic has been in the Old Firm games, this year though, it has been games like facing Dundee away from Ibrox at the Scot Foam Stadium.

There have been flashes of good football all season, however, the charge of having a soft centre is one that is been proven guilty on too many occasions.

If Ferguson wants the job full-time, he has to prove that he can toughen up a Rangers squad culpable of being bullied.

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Barry Ferguson wants Rangers to lose soft centre

Ferguson's pre-match press conference saw the Gers boss once again comment on the need to win as a priority, rather than any focus on style or philosophy.

Post match, he's was fuming, even though three points had been delivered.

That Jose Mourinho had a similar dig at Philippe Clement shows exactly how obvious a problem it was previously.

"It’s going to be tough as I said. It's not about playing nice pretty football at times," reiterated Fergie.

"And my group of players need to learn that. And certainly they’re starting to learn that.

"You’ve seen that in performances over the last two or three weeks that sometimes you need to dig deep to get results. And that’s maybe going to happen Saturday.

"As I said, I would love to go and guarantee everybody that it’s going to be nice, free flowing attractive football. But that’s not the way it is in Scotland."

Did Rangers dig deep against Dundee?

Yes, and no.

It took for them to be 3-1 down and with about 20 minutes left to play for Rangers to start to dominate.

Until that point, Dundee could easily have scored a fourth, a fifth or even a sixth goal, such was the level of performance.

Dundee were more physical, they looked sharper, hungrier and caused problems all evening.

However, Rangers did dig deep.

At 2-0 down, Dundee were the better team and at 3-1, there only looked like one winner.

A great example is Cyriel Dessers, a 2/10 player rating was fair, given that he had 12 attempts at goal, with his 12th earning the points, but also the hardest of the game.

But he kept going.

What Rangers need to do now, is dig deep from the first whistle, not when they go two goals down.