Giovanni Van Bronckhorst urges Rangers to get back to basics

Ross County v Rangers – cinch Premiership – Global Energy Stadium
(Image credit: Malcolm Mackenzie)

Giovanni Van Bronckhorst wants his Rangers side to get back to basics against Hearts on Sunday.

The champions have lost seven points from their last four cinch Premiership games and are still recovering from their 3-0 battering by Celtic at Parkhead on Wednesday night.

Ange Postecoglou’s in-form side leapfrogged the Light Blues to the top of the table by one point on a night where the scoreline could have been even more convincing.

Van Bronckhorst is adamant he will stick to his way of playing but is looking for a return to form against the Tynecastle side.

The former Rangers player said: “I believe in the system but we need to make sure we keep doing the things we always did and those are the basic things.

“To track back, to make sure you mark your man,  to get the aggression, the moments we can go forward you have to.

“I’m sure if we have those things back, or do much better than we did the last couple of games we will be fine.

“For us it’s a case of bouncing back and making sure on Sunday we have the same determination we had a couple of months ago.”

After conceding six goals in their last two games – a 3-3 draw against Ross County preceded their defeat at Parkhead –  Van Bronckhorst admits his players in particular will need to switch on defensively all over the pitch.

The Dutchman said: “The back four have been very stable, very determined since I got here and we didn’t give a lot of goals against us.

“So that was really good but in the last two games we have given away too many easy goals. We have to improve on that.

“If you seen the goals we lost against Ross County, especially the first two and against Celtic the second and third goal, that’s too easy to give those goals away like that.

“We have to improve to make sure we bring back the determination in the backline but also the players in front to do everything they can when needed to block goals. That’s the mentality we need to have.”