Rangers replace one f-word with another as Danny Rohl's tweaks laid bare

Not so long ago, fear was sweeping through the corridors of Ibrox as Rangers lurched into crisis under former head coach Russell Martin. Now they are focused under his successor Danny Rohl. Focused on winning games and becoming a force to be reckoned with in the title race.

Focus was the buzzword when speaking to Rangers midfielder Connor Barron in the Celtic Park main stand after he played a big part in a 3-1 Old Firm derby win. It moved Rohl’s men level with their Glasgow foes on 38 points in the Premiership and six behind leaders Hearts.

Rangers have lost one league game in 13 during Rohl’s stewardship. It is the form of contenders, of that there is no doubt. Barron would not go as far as that, calling for cool heads the old mantra of one game at a time.

The next assignment is Barron’s former club Aberdeen on Tuesday night at Ibrox. It is the first of a double-header against the Dons. Another two wins would neatly follow-up their achievement at Celtic Park.

"Every win, you get that belief and you get that excitement,” said Barron, “but Saturday is just another win for us. It's obviously derby day and a lot of talk around the game, but you've got to block that out. You've got to come here and do your job, which we've done today and we look forward to Aberdeen again, so it's taking it game by game.

“Nobody's stupid. We all look at the league table. We're all in football, but it's our job to stay focused. As I say, the game comes again on Tuesday, thick and fast, and we've got another one after that. We've just got to keep focused. We don't concentrate on that. We concentrate on what we've been working on and what we can do as a team to win matches. We're in a good place at the moment, but it's important we stay grounded and we keep going.”

Barron pleased to see Chermiti firing for Rangers

Barron has been a big part of Rohl’s renaissance at Rangers. He has featured more and more in the German’s starting XIs and is a good foil for Nicolas Raskin in midfield.

Another player who is improving under Rohl is striker Youssef Chermiti. The Portuguese has been criticised for his returns following his £8.5 million move from Everton last summer but he came up trumps against Celtic, scoring twice to spark the comeback from a goal down.

"He took his two goals brilliantly,” remarked Barron. “It was massive for the big man. He works his socks off every week. It was great to see him just get that break in front of goal, which he's been looking for. He'll gain massive confidence from it and it's good to see.”

On the game itself, Barron added: "Going behind wasn't nice, obviously, but at half-time we made a few tweaks tactically and in our formation. We got after them a lot better in the second half and it paid off.

“We tweaked the formation, which made us a bit more dominant going forward and a bit more of a threat in the transition. I felt, pressing-wise, we were a bit off it in the first half, so we got closer as well. All these little messages were in the changing room, but, as I say, it's little tweaks and all the boys picked up on it well and we went out there and done it.”