Nico Raskin admits the damaging defeat to Hearts on Sunday was a ‘reality check’ for Rangers in the Premiership title race. But the midfielder has refused to rule out a potential shot at the silverware for Danny Rohl’s side this term.
Rohl suffered his first league defeat as head coach at Tynecastle as goals from Stuart Findlay and Lawrence Shankland clinched the points for the Jambos. A late effort from Youssef Chermiti was meaningless as Rangers fell 12 points adrift of the league leaders.
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Rangers have fixtures with Motherwell – who sit above them in third spot – and St Mirren to come before the Old Firm clash at Parkhead. One match of their double-header with Aberdeen is also a game in hand over Hearts and Rangers will need to be point-perfect in the coming weeks if they are to build any sort of momentum.
Hearts were worthy winners as they saw off Rangers for the second time this season and laid down a marker of their own title intentions. It was another afternoon of soul searching for a squad that has failed all too often this season.
“I think it’s a reality check,” Raskin said. “We are disappointed and very frustrated. We can't throw everything away but we need to be honest, look at the moment and say we've not been good enough.
“We have to learn from it looking towards the next couple of games. Why hasn’t it been good enough? I don’t know, I don’t really have an answer.
“We are trying our best as a team, you can see we are running hard but in the big games we have maybe had a couple of minutes like [against Hearts].
“On Sunday, we had five minutes where we don’t really know what happened - we just conceded two goals. So that’s the thing we need to improve. We are aware of that and are working on that.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating, but it’s up to us to keep our heads up, work harder and make sure we respond well in the next couple of games.
“I feel it a lot, everyone in the dressing room is very hurt by this. We can only work hard, try our best, do our best with the manager and win the games.
“Right now it’s difficult and it’s difficult for our fans also because they always follow us and they want better. The only way forward is to stick together and keep trying to build something.
“There comes a point where we will get back to where we need to be. It’s just some tough times right now.”
Rangers are also six points behind Celtic after new boss Wilfried Nancy earned his first victory at home to Aberdeen. The derby showdown at Parkhead speaks for itself in terms of importance for both sides of Glasgow as Hearts look to go again during the January transfer window.
Rohl was left frustrated as familiar failings came back to haunt Rangers once again, with both efforts from Findlay and Shankland avoidable from the German’s perspective. Those mistakes have permeated the campaign and Raskin knows they must be eradicated once and for all if Rangers are to have any chance of hauling themselves back into contention at the top of the table in the coming months.
Raskin said: “Is it unacceptable for Rangers? Yeah, obviously it’s not great and it hasn’t been like that since I arrived. But that is the reality right now, they are there and are doing some good things that keeps them there.
“It’s up to us to learn from this game and go forward, the season is still very long. But we can’t just keep saying that, we need to really improve.
“Can we go on the kind of run we need to catch up? Yeah, football is unpredictable and you never know what is going to happen. But we are not looking that far forward, we are just looking game to game.
“We need to win every game now, that’s it. We don’t have room for error.
“It’s been like that since the start of the season, we can’t afford to lose more points. It’s just about learning from Sunday’s game. We are not happy, we tried our best and we need to stick together now and improve every game.”
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