Mohamed Diomande acknowledges that Rangers have been short of their best in recent weeks.
The midfielder came off the bench for the Light Blues during their Premier Sports Cup semi-final with Motherwell on Sunday and was credited with changing the game.
The Ivorian replaced Tom Lawrence on 35 minutes and hassled the Steelmen while also producing an unselfish performance to accommodate what was a nervy 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Cyriel Dessers and Nedim Bajrami after Andy Halliday had opened the scoring.
Diomande has managed 16 appearances this term in all competitions but has, in recent outings, had to settle for time off the bench.
But that has not prevented the midfielder from understanding the squad, as a whole, have been underperforming in the Scottish Premiership division so far.
Sitting nine points behind both Celtic and Aberdeen in the table, Diomande and the rest of Philippe Clement’s troops have flattered to deceive and have lost the big matches against the two clubs ahead.
And the former Nordsjaelland playmaker insists the players are not shirking their responsibility.
Instead he feels they know they have not yet hit top gear as he admits he can understand fan frustrations and that he wants to fix the problems they’re experiencing.
Starting with Olympiacos in Europa League action this coming Thursday evening, Diomande hopes the win over Motherwell to make the Premier Sports Cup Final can bring confidence.
Diomande brands Rangers’ recent outings as ‘poor’ as he accepts fan frustration
He knows the support will demand improvement and he’s convinced that – while he accepts there have been poor performances – the squad can buck up their ideas and pick up three valuable Euro points in Greece.
“There’s been a lot of pressure. Obviously, we’re not going to hide it.
“And we’ve had poor performances lately but it’s all about bouncing back and I think we are on the right way to get to the level we expect of ourselves and the coaches, also in what the fans expect. So we’re getting there.
“Olympiacos is a big team. But we have also shown that we can win games away from home.
“And yeah, it’s going to be a tough game but we are going to try get the three points.
“Hard work, determination, and we are going to prepare ourselves to do what the coach says we should do to win the game.
Olympiacos is Rangers’ next opponent and Diomande has challenged his teammates to improve
“It’s confidence for us (Motherwell win), and even though it was hard on Sunday, I’m happy that we showed a winning mentality and we came back to win. And that’s a good way to go into a more difficult game.
“It’s going to be a good feeling, one of those experiences to play in a big stadium like Ibrox.
“We are all used to that, we are used to the noise and for me personally, it will be an amazing experience to play there.”
