Walter Smith shares in blame as Rangers lose their edge

WHILE Walter Smith cannot quite agree with the contention Rangers are lurching towards the Scottish Premier League title, he does accept a bit of edge has been missing from his team's performances of late.

Normally, the visit of Aberdeen might be the perfect medicine to treat such lethargy. Nacho Novo yesterday described meetings with the Pittodrie club as the most intense outside Old Firm clashes. But perhaps not even Novo's presence on the pitch will be enough to enflame those Aberdeen supporters prepared to make another long journey south tonight following Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock.

That result consigned Mark McGhee's side to the bottom six but they have proved their usual awkward selves as far as Rangers are concerned this season. The Pittodrie team handed out one of only two defeats for Rangers in the league, and drew their only other meeting at Ibrox in September. Indeed, they are only the league opponents the Ibrox side have not beaten during the current campaign.

This could be the extra incentive required by Smith's side as they struggle with the concept of being so far ahead of their rivals. It was different last season, when both Rangers and Celtic battled for pole position until the final day. This time around Rangers have had to summon the motivation to continue winning from within themselves. This has been proving difficult of late, with last week's 4-1 defeat to St Johnstone having been a particularly startling indication of a team beginning to stutter. A far from straight-forward 1-0 home win over Hamilton Academical on Saturday further highlighted the difficulties involved in maintaining high standards in the absence of challengers.

Smith yesterday pointed out that Celtic had faced the same problems in the season when he returned to Rangers midway through a campaign that had been defined by the Parkhead side's dominance. But even then Gordon Strachan's side won only three of their final nine league games. Celtic still secured the title by 12 points from Rangers. The Ibrox side are currently 10 points ahead of Celtic, in second-place. They remain just three league wins from the title.

Smith said it was "unfair" to describe his side as lurching towards the finishing line. However, he acknowledged the difficulties involved in completing the job and confessed that he might be partly at fault.

"Last season there was a pressure on the team the whole time to go and win and catch up with Celtic," he explained. "This season, we have a situation where we have managed to get 10 points in front. I think we have seen in a couple of games recently that a wee bit of edge has come off our team. The players are aware of that aspect. A high percentage of our squad has been here for three years now. This is a difficult club to have continued motivation to play and it can be a difficult environment to work in."

"But the players have had that desire and their attitude has been really good," he continued. "It's a natural thing that when there is that wee bit of comfort then you maybe get a bit of a drop-off. But you have to take it in the context of the environment we work in. We have only lost two games in the league. There have been a couple of games when you are looking for them to show that wee bit of spark to get to the finishing line. Maybe we have just relaxed a little bit too much."

Smith did not absolve himself of blame for this. He has already stressed how this has been a new experience for him too, despite his veteran status.

"I am responsible for the overall motivation of everyone," he noted. "Maybe I haven't been pointing out to them enough exactly what they need to do. Everyone takes responsibility for that. I include myself. It's not a physical thing. It's purely a mental aspect. It might happen in any walk of life, where you are trying to achieve something and then all of a sudden you are nearly there."

Another obvious reason for Rangers' much-less dynamic form of late has been the lack of goals from Kris Boyd. The striker has not scored a league goal from open play since the beginning of February and has been substituted in his last two outings. Smith is not overly concerned about his side's top goal-scorer, and he is expected to be in included in the starting line-up this evening.

"He'll have gone through wee spells like this before, when he's not been getting goals," said Smith. "But he'll always come back and score. That's what he does. We just have to hope it's in the next few games."