Let’s be honest it’s been a poor start to the season from Rangers.

Performances have been sub-standard and players look short on confidence but let’s take stock.

Last night the club qualified for the Europa League group stages for the fourth successive season, the display against the second bottom team in Armenia was lacklustre, to say the least, but it’s all about results and the Light Blues, by hook or by crook, managed to avoid an embarrassing upset.

Yes, the Champions League exit was bitterly disappointing but Rangers aren’t simply at that required level to compete at the top table just yet.

Domestically, they sit level on points with their only challengers for the title going into Sunday’s Old Firm showdown.

As much as August has been a rocky start to the season, Rangers are still in a decent place.

There is growing concern amongst supporters that this early season malaise shows no sign of shifting and it’s clear the champions haven’t been firing on all cylinders.

There could be a multitude of reasons for this drop in form, a disrupted pre-season, COVID cases, injuries, suspensions and perhaps the emotional high of achieving 55 has had a bigger impact on the players than we all thought.

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Certainly, the upcoming international break will be a welcome one, assuming a positive result is achieved at Ibrox on Sunday.

For as much as Celtic have started to string together a run of decent results under new boss Ange Postecoglu, they are still suspect at the back and a Rangers victory would bring about a real shift in momentum.

Steven Gerrard’s men blew the Parkhead side away last season, winning three of the four league encounters and knocking Celtic out of the Scottish Cup and they should go into Sunday’s game with a degree of confidence as a result.

The variables are slightly different this time though, there’ll be a close to full Ibrox and Celtic are a much-changed outfit to the car crash of a side under Neil Lennon and John Kennedy.

But Rangers are still the team to beat and if they turn up at Ibrox they should have enough to win the game.

Suddenly heading into the international break, the outlook looks a little brighter.

It was vital Rangers secured Europa League group stage football again, the finances are a drop in the ocean compared to the Champions League but it’s still millions of pounds of revenue being pumped into the Ibrox coffers.

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The success of the team on the continent in the last few years has accelerated Rangers progression, 55 may still have been a pipedream without it.

That being said, the best thing about yesterday’s goalless draw with Alashkert was when the transmission cut to a startled guy wearing a face mask in a BBC studio, for a brief second in the Clark household there were concerns there was about to be an imminent nuclear attack but we were transported back to Yerevan to endure the remaining minutes.

It’s fair to say we won’t be seeing the Alashkert DVD special on the shelves any time soon but the performance will be quickly forgotten about when the likes of Lyon, Sparta Prague and Brondby come to town.

Today’s draw is an interesting one. It’s almost a Champions League group disguised as a Europa League group but it’s one supporters should relish and look forward to.

A return to Lyon, albeit in a brand new stadium, will bring back memories of arguably Rangers most impressive result on their travels when Lee McCulloch, Daniel Cousin and De Marcus Beasley stunned the then French champions 3-0 on their own turf.

Sparta Prague destroyed Celtic home and away last season so they are no mugs and Brondby have just won the Danish Superliga title for the first time in 16 years.

It’s a tough-looking group but you can bet the other three teams won’t fancy taking on this Rangers team given their achievements in Europe in recent years.

So yes it’s been poor, yes there is legitimate cause for concern but Rangers are the champions for a reason, they’ve almost navigated a turbulent month where they’ve ensured European football up until Christmas at least and an Old Firm win on Sunday would ensure they could go into the international break top of the Premiership pile.

Win, lose or draw on Sunday however, the break comes at the right time for Rangers given the events of the last few weeks and the fact several players have been affected by COVID.

It’ll give the squad an opportunity to reset, evaluate and ultimately look to improve upon their ropey but not disastrous start.