Rangers have backed Rohl to the hilt. Now it’s time for him to show he can lift them out of their role as serial losers

Beating Hearts would certainly do Rangers head coach Danny Rohl a lot of favours in terms of strengthening a title challenge that once looked like Mission Impossible. Winning hearts, though, is arguably even more important in today’s top-of-the-table showstopper.

Failing to record a home victory over Derek McInnes’ league leaders wouldn’t, no matter the hyperbole surrounding this game, be the end of the world for the German and his side.

Draw and the Ibrox outfit would still be just five points behind with 11 matches remaining. It would all still be in the mixer.

What Rohl badly needs to do, though, is take significant steps towards convincing his club’s fanbase that he really is a man with the right mentality and approach to lead them out of the doldrums.

To emerge from the necessary pragmatism of the initial phase of his reign – these four months since taking over the chaos left by Russell Martin – and start exhibiting tangible signs of a more aggressive, more merciless Rangers with the minerals to actually go on and win silverware during his time at the helm.

Rangers have lost twice to Derek McInnes’ Hearts already this season

Put simply, he needs to put out a side that puts Hearts on the backfoot from the off, asks them questions, tests their resolve to the full and showcases exactly why so much was spent on new talent on his say-so in the market last month.

Even if they don’t take all three points, it is vital they show something to suggest they are ready to take the great leap forward rather than remain stuck in their current role of serial losers never, ever able to get things over the line.

Rohl did well ahead of the January window to rally a broken squad of questionable talent and get results that have kept the league campaign alive.

Since then, though, he has been handed upwards of £10million in transfer fees alone to bring in four new players. 

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to feel that this should be some kind of turning point in terms of gathering greater information on what his time in Glasgow should look like longer-term. What his team is going to be like when it plays, as the time-honoured saying goes, with the handbrake off.

Right now, it still feels uncomfortably far from that point. And, for Rohl himself, it should be a matter of concern that there are some evident signs of unease within a support clearly expecting to see signs of a brighter future crystallise.

With an eight-game winning run having been ended in defeat to Porto in the Europa League, the display in drawing 0-0 with Hibs at Easter Road earlier in the month was nowhere near good enough.

Rohl then expressed surprise when fans jeered the team off the park in the wake of a nondescript first half at home against Kilmarnock. There has been no shock, however, over the reaction to the flagrant squandering of points against ten-man Motherwell on Wednesday night.

Stephen Welsh’s late goal denied Rangers all three points at Fir Park on Wednesday

Rohl’s Rangers are five points behind leaders Hearts ahead of Sunday’s clash at Ibrox

Common consensus is that he picked the wrong team to begin with. Yes, Ryan Naderi may have had a problem identified after training the previous day, but leaving out Andreas Skov Olsen, Tochi Chukwuani and Tuur Rommens was a major headscratcher.

In his Friday media briefing, Rohl gave the impression the trio were rested with one eye on this afternoon’s hostilities in Govan, but that has created the question of whether or not he underestimated a Motherwell outfit that has been pulling up trees left, right and centre under the brave and inspired leadership of Jens Berthel Askou.

What then happened during the game left him without a leg to stand on. Rangers were outplayed in the first 45, in particular. The replacement of Djeidi Gassama with Manny Fernandez with 16 minutes to play felt negative when there was a game there to be put out of sight.

And even when Motherwell went down to 10 men after the sending-off of Lukas Fadinger, that same weak-willed mentality that has scarred the club for years came out of play in the easy concession of Stephen Welsh’s late equaliser.

It was a sore night for Rohl and his players, throwing away victory at the death at the same time as Hearts and Celtic were pulling wins out of the fire with late, late goals, and there has been considerable fallout.

Rangers fans are tired of false dawns. They are tired of so many of these players still being in and around the first-team squad. A number of them put the club in a great position to win the title during Philippe Clement’s debut season and blew it. So many of those who have come in since have failed to deliver.

Issues with Naderi midweek or not, there is little justification for continuing with Youssef Chermiti in a starting role up front. His miss at Fir Park, one-on-one with the keeper with his team already a goal to the good, has to be the final straw.

Loan forward Andreas Skov Olsen was left on the bench during the draw with Motherwell

Yes, the Portuguese turned in a fantastic display in the Old Firm win at Parkhead at new year, but he had done next to nothing beforehand and has done next to nothing since. 

He should have been punted out on loan in January in the hope that a bit of form in a different league in different circumstances might have tempted someone, somewhere, to cough up a hefty chunk of the £8m it cost to bring him through the door from Everton.

As it is, Rangers are going to come up with another plan to get their money back. Putting him in their own team, though, is no longer an option.

In any ordinary season, this Rangers side would not be competing for titles. This is no ordinary season, though. 

Celtic are all over the shop as a club and have an old-age pensioner in Martin O’Neill trying with all his might to drag an ill-constructed squad closer to the finishing line.

Hearts have been terrific. They have punched above their weight this term, but their manager McInnes is correct in stating that they still have to be regarded as underdogs despite enjoying a lead at the top of the table.

Their budget is nothing like that boasted by Rangers. Their wage bill is a fraction of that enjoyed by Rohl and his squad. 

At home, with everything up for grabs, the Ibrox side ought to be more than capable of putting Hearts through the wringer.

Rohl cannot afford another display like the one turned in at Motherwell. He needs to show this team of his can grab big games by the neck consistently.

There are good reasons why he has spent so much of the build-up to this encounter fielding questions over whether it is a ‘must-win’ fixture. It isn’t necessarily, but it *is* a match in which Rangers must impress. 

Amatch in which Rohl must show much more of a vision of what the future looks like under him.

Rangers forward Youssef Chermiti has been out of form since his double against Celtic

Fail to deliver and there will be more boos and jeers for sure. And as the likes of Michael Beale, Clement and Martin can testify, when the home support turns toxic at Rangers, your goose is cooked.

Rohl can’t afford to let that rot set in. He can’t allow the grumbles of recent weeks to turn into something more sinister and deep-set.

His job isn’t in danger. You’d put the house on chairman Andrew Cavenagh keeping faith in him beyond this season. However, he needs to maintain momentum. He needs to keep punters onside. 

He can’t be going into next term still fighting for his reputation, still trying to persuade a tired support base understandably short on patience that he’s worth a shot.

A convincing win this afternoon would be hugely advantageous for him. If that’s not to be, though, a convincing, front-foot performance featuring all these guys who have cost so much money to bring in is absolutely non-negotiable.

This isn’t make-or-break for the 36-year-old, but it feels like a pretty big crossroads.