Cammy Bell reckons Giovanni van Bronckhorst has to root out and rectify the errors on the park which are wrecking Rangers’ title defence.
And the former Ibrox keeper says questions will be asked both in the dressing room and inside the boardroom as the Premiership slips away.
After the joys of winning 55 under Steven Gerrard, Rangers have fallen apart in their bid to retain under Van Bronckhorst.
The Dutchman’s team led by six points when they returned from the winter break.
Now they are six behind with six games to go as their league campaign has imploded.
Van Bronckhorst’s second straight defeat to Celtic has taken the situation out of Light Blue hands.
And, although Bell says no-one at Rangers will be giving it up, the ex-Ibrox No.1 believes the search for reasons and answers will already be underway.
Van Bronckhorst is taking flak and Bell said: “Rangers managers are always going to get judged after Old Firm defeats. I think that is part and parcel of the job.
“I think Giovanni will take stock after that game and look at where he can improve his side in the summer.
“For me, it is going to be very difficult for Rangers to turn this around with the form Celtic are in at the moment.
“They will not give up. There are still a lot of games to be played and they’ll want to put Celtic under as much pressure as possible.
“But, again, Giovanni has to see where they are making mistakes continually and try to rectify them.
“It was a really damaging display from Rangers and it has put them in a sticky place going into this part of the season.”
As well as the management and team, fans will also be asking strong questions of their directors.
Rangers were in a strong position last summer, but have not been able to press home the advantage they held over their domestic rivals.
Bell said: “There has to be and there will be questions asked behind the scenes at Rangers of where they have gone wrong this season.
“People talk about recruitment, but I just feel as though some of the players this season haven’t hit the highs of last season and that’s been a problem within itself.
“They’ll maybe look at should they have recruited two or three more players to strengthen their squad.
“But for me, it’s the top, top players haven’t performed on the top level and that’s been the difference between Celtic and Rangers this season.”
Rangers looked shattered after the loss to Celtic and Bell admits a feeling of worrying realism swept across Ibrox as Ange Postecoglou’s team took their lead.
He said: “There was a lot of talk beforehand about how fast Celtic start games and Rangers were right on top of them.
“They started fantastically well and it couldn’t have gone any better after Aaron Ramsey scored after three minutes.
“When Celtic scored, they sort of fell out of the game and lost a bit of confidence from that.
“Then the goal just before half-time from Cameron Carter-Vickers really damaged Rangers into half-time and they didn’t react well to it in the second half.
“It is worrying. You could feel it inside the stadium that the fans became really nervous when Celtic scored that second goal and there was probably a bit of realism of where they are in the league table at that point and the gap that had emerged.
“There was that nervousness and I think that spread onto the pitch, but it was just that quality in the final third they did struggle with.
“Kemar Roofe was not as much of a threat as Alfredo Morelos would have been if he’d been playing and it was just disappointing overall going forward for Rangers.
“I think they struggled. They didn’t really create too many great clear-cut opportunities. They had a lot of possession, but going forward, they didn’t have that purpose.
“Their quality into the box wasn’t good enough and I think Joe Hart only had one really clear save he had to make in the second-half from Fashion Sakala that really troubled him.”
Bell, however, believes Rangers have to galvanise themselves.
Thursday brings a huge last-eight Euro tie against Braga, they face St Mirren on Sunday in the league before the second leg against the Portuguese and a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “They have must-win games and big European games. They have a semi-final of the Scottish Cup and massive games in the league. They must them all to have any chance of winning the title.
“All they can do is put Celtic under as much pressure as possible, but Celtic have a game on Saturday and they could go nine points clear. It’s a real uphill task.
“There is a trophy up for grabs that Rangers will be looking for. They’ll be looking to rectify the wrongs in the title race and that’s another competition they need to try and look to win as they don’t want to go out of this season without winning anything.
“It’s a huge match, but so is the next Old Firm league game because that could have a real swing in what happens between now and the end of the season.
“It is a massive week going forward because the European tie is huge for the club.”
