Mark Warburton: Rangers can't '˜over react' to Celtic loss

Rangers boss Mark Warburton stressed the importance of remaining calm in light of Saturday's 5-1 hammering at the hands of Old Firm rivals Celtic.
Mark Warburton's side were defeated 5-1 in the first Old Firm game of the season. Picture: Michael GillenMark Warburton's side were defeated 5-1 in the first Old Firm game of the season. Picture: Michael Gillen
Mark Warburton's side were defeated 5-1 in the first Old Firm game of the season. Picture: Michael Gillen

A hat-trick from Moussa Dembele along with goals from Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong made it a miserable day for Rangers, who mustered only a Joe Garner header in reply.

The defeat leaves Rangers with only two league wins from their first five games, leading to fans and pundits calling for radical changes in the starting XI.

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Warburton, though, insists it would be foolish to “over react” to the loss. He believes Rangers just have to get back to playing their game.

He told the club’s official website: “We have to look at it, and you have to self-analyse and be self-critical, and you have to react to Saturday but the danger is you over react.

“There is a fine balance there. We were very aware of being split as a unit, and we didn’t press on the front foot as we normally do - we didn’t show that high-pressing desire in our game, and again that could be a mixed message.

“If it is, that’s my fault, nobody else’s fault. But the point was we wanted to try and stop balls being fed in and press, and I think we were maybe caught between the two for periods on Saturday. When we did what we do well, Niko had a couple of great balls out to Barrie and Lee got forward.

“Did we test the goalkeeper enough? No, but we got in good areas to hurt him. We need to look at the individual errors and recognise it was a tough place to go and you have to enjoy those experiences - but you can’t afford to make individual errors, and that comes down to the whole team taking collective responsibility for that.”

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