Kris Boyd has slammed the Rangers players who “let the club down” in their Europa League defeat to Aris Limassol.
Four days after sacking manager Michael Beale following a 3-1 home loss to Aberdeen, the Gers delivered another rudderless display against the Cypriot First Division club.
Alex Moucketou-Moussounda powered a header past Jack Butland in only the ninth minute before Shavy Babicka gave the hosts a two-goal lead in the second half.
Abdallah Sima pulled one back but it wasn’t enough to save interim manager Steven Davis from avoiding an embarrassing defeat which left Sky Sports’ Boyd furious at his former club’s performance.
“Rangers were deservedly beaten. There’s a lot of work to do,” he said.
Rangers’ Connor Goldson puts his head in his shirt after Aris Limassol take an early lead
“Michael Beale has already lost his job, Steven Davis has put out a team that again has let down the club.
“The performance level was nowhere near what is required if you’re going to be a Rangers player. Some really need to have a hard look at themselves.
“I’m just delighted I’m going to go and walk my dog because that will be more exciting than what I’ve just watched.”
Rangers could be as many as 10 points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic by the time they visit St Mirren, live on Sky Sports, this Sunday.
They were hammered by PSV Eindhoven in Champions League qualifying before losing in their first meeting of the season with Celtic – and Boyd believes the team has been in decline as a result of poor recruitment.
Michael Beale was sacked by Rangers following defeat to Aberdeen
“It’s a million miles away from where it was, you look at the team that got to the Europa League final, the recruitment since then has been atrocious. It’s been so bad,” he said.
“There have been players come in who have failed to hit the heights expected of them and some players that might have been there for too long. It might be time to move some of them on.
“It is not happening for Rangers at the moment. They lost at the weekend, the manager lost his job, managers will come and go but there are only so many times you can see the same players going over to the crowd, clapping them and saying sorry. It’s time they put a performance in and got a result.
“Rangers fans spend a lot of money travelling not only all over Scotland but Europe watching their team and they’ve been let down again.”
Davis: I’ve got to take some responsibility
Rangers interim manager Steven Davis: “It was a really difficult night because we felt a real opportunity to come here and build on the Betis game.
“I think we caused a lot of our own problems in the game. Obviously, with the two goals we give away we’re really disappointed with and when that happens you have a mountain to climb.
“Firstly I’ve got to take some responsibility. In the first half we kept trying to play in the middle of the pitch when it wasn’t really on, they were good at getting transitions from that with the pace they had up front which caused us problems all night.
“Whenever you go behind in a second half you must throw some caution to the wind at certain points. We tried to simplify the game really, trying to get the ball in behind, get it wide and cross the ball into the box and ultimately we didn’t do enough to take something from the game.
“In terms of the effort of the players, I thought they tried to keep going till the end and in terms of the energy they put in, I couldn’t ask for any more in that respect.
“There wasn’t a lack of effort, we’d never question that from the dressing room but it is a really difficult moment that everyone is in. When that happens you maybe start to make the wrong decision and things like that.
“Sunday’s coming up and it’s a really quick turnaround. We’re hurting from tonight but it’s important as a group we stick together.”
Watch St Mirren vs Rangers on Sunday live on Sky Sports; Kick-off 12pm