Danny Rohl tells Rangers bottle smashers the truth and tells worried fans that star signing will get better

Rangers appeared on course for a huge win after leading 2-0 at the break thanks to a brace from striker Youssef Chermiti. However, their levels dipped significantly in the second period and Celtic took full advantage, with Kieran Tierney and Reo Hatate scoring.

Rangers remain in second place in the league standings, but are now six points behind Hearts and could fall behind Celtic if they - two points adrift of them - win their game in hand over Aberdeen on Wednesday.

Rohl was asked about his team’s character in his post match press conference and the German coach was emphatic with his response.

“I don’t accept this about mentality,” stated Rohl. “Everyone who has played football knows there is a story in every game. There is momentum for one team and for the second team it’s important that we continue our performance for the whole 90 minutes. We need to do this. We have done this already and we have shown character to comeback before.

“So the gap is now six points, but I have said this time and time again. This will go to the final matchday and we will fight and fight for every point until the end,

We will try and improve against them next week and we will go again, I think this is key. There are nine games to go, it’s massive. There are a lot of things still to play for and I truly believe in my players.”

Why Rangers lost control against Celtic

Rohl was asked to explain why his team lost their grip on proceedings after such a dominant first half “I think there were some moments where we lost the ball in areas that we shouldn’t,” he explained. “We gave them some transition moments and allowed the game to become stretched when we wanted to keep it compact.

“We tried to stabilise the midfield with a third midfielder and then football is about energy. But you felt that we couldn’t really get this momentum back and we had an opponent who tried everything. I’d need to look back but and count how many chances they had because apart from the penalty I can’t really think of how many shots they had.

“But in the two situations I don’t think we always had the right positioning in our box. For example at the pen, it was a five against three situation. If we have the right body position then I think we can defend this situation. But this is football, we have to learn, we have to take it. We will speak about it and then next week we will try to make it better next time round.”

Rohl was also probed on marquee January signing Andreas Skov Olsen, with the Danish winger assisting Chermiti’s opener but also playing much of the match on the periphery. His coach says he is improving week on week.

“He is on the way to being better and better,” added Rohl. “He has had some good assists. He becomes better and better. It is all about us. There is no player who can be too much in the comfort zone. We have to increase and be better and better and better in every game. I have said this many times.

“I see direction, but today we couldn’t keep our performance in the first half going in the second 45 minutes and that is the reason we are disappointed. We have to be disappointed about us and then we move forward.”