Rangers in 'better place' but give 'thumbs up' to Hearts as star admits national team disappointment

The Tynecastle club are the only team to have beaten their Ibrox counterparts in the league this season when they ran out 2-0 winners at Ibrox in September.

Since then, however, Rangers have replaced Russell Martin with Danny Rohl as manager, with the German going on to enjoy an eight game undefeated Premiership streak.

Diomande played in that loss to Derek McInnes’ men three months ago but believes the whole atmosphere has shifted around the club ahead of Rangers’ trip to Tynecastle tomorrow for what could be a pivotal contest in the title race.

The midfielder said: “I definitely think we are in a better place now. We lost that game because of some things that happened but maybe we were not at our best. But obviously Hearts have been doing well and thumbs up to them.

“Hopefully this game is going to be a different one because we are also doing better. I wouldn’t say we are out to take revenge but to win the game.

“The manager is going to tell us what we need to do to break them down, to defend and try and get a clean sheet. So, we are definitely going there looking to take three points.

“There are still a lot of games to go and what is important for us now is to go on Sunday and try and get a result. Obviously we have a tight schedule with the top teams after this game. We have Motherwell as well.

“I am not going to say what is going to happen at the end of the season but what I am focused on now in my team is to go and get the three points on Sunday.”

Rangers’ performances have not always been as impressive as their recent results and Diomande conceded improvements are still needed.

“There is still more to come because we work on it every day. We do video analysis to improve. We have individual meetings to get where you need to be. We are all open minded and we all want to get better day by day.”

Diomande was left out of the Ivory Coast squad for the African Cup of Nations that gets underway in Morocco this weekend but remains hopeful that he could yet push his way into contention for a World Cup squad berth.

“First of all, I am grateful because when I joined Rangers that is when I made a step to be an international player,” he added. “Obviously that is a bit of a disappointment [not to make the squad this time] but I am happy that I am here at one of the biggest clubs.

“I am going to support my national team and hope we can be successful in the African Cup. I am happy that I can improve myself here and hopefully I can do something for the manager of Ivory Coast in the future.

“Maybe it is going to change what they think of me and they are going to see some difference in me to be able to make it to the squad for the World Cup. Obviously I want to focus on Rangers and hopefully win something here.”