2 days ago
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Connor Barron is adamant that a collective responsibility has to be taken in the dressing room for Rangers’ lack of firepower.
The Ibrox men needed a James Tavernier penalty to hit the front against Braga on Thursday.
Despite the Portuguese side playing the final 30 minutes with 10 men, Danny Rohl’s side were unable to hang on for their first win in five attempts in this year’s group stage.
The German began with Youssef Chermiti partnering Danilo with Bojan Miovski introduced late on as he went for broke.
The failure of any of them to score in midweek means no striker has found the net for Rangers in the past five games with Danilo’s goal away to Hibs on October 29 the last time it happened.
Chermiti, an £8million signing from Everton, has scored just once in 14 appearances.
Danilo reacts after being substituted during Rangers' disappointing draw at home to Braga
Youssef Chermiti failed to make any impression on the Braga backline and lacks confidence
Bojan Miovski came off the bench for Rangers but he too struggled to create any openings
With Danilo sitting on three in 19 and Miovski only scoring twice in 16 outings, Rohl doesn’t have a striker he can hang his hat on.
Barron, though, who played with Miovski at Aberdeen, insists the blame for a worrying trend must be shared throughout the team.
‘We’re not just pointing fingers at the strikers,’ said the midfielder. ‘It comes from us all. We all have to be in there with goals.
‘I know Bojan really well and he’ll definitely get there. I think it’s clear to see why if you’ve watched him over a period of time.’
While Rangers belatedly got off the mark in the competition, the night was a missed opportunity for them to record their first victory.
Rohl’s men were in control of the match once Rodrigo Zalazar was shown a straight red for pushing his head into Nico Raskin.
But a horrible error by Nasser Djiga allowed the visitors to claim an unlikely point with Gabri Martinez slotting home after he completely misjudged a cross.
Connor Barron was one of the few Rangers players to earn pass marks on a frustrating night
While there were some improvements on previous European matches this season, the performance wasn’t enough to leave Rangers’ hopes of progressing hanging by a thread.
‘We’re disappointed we didn’t get the three points.,’ added Barron. ‘But I thought for large spells in the game, we were good and dealt with the conditions really well.
‘We have to be more clinical in front of goal. I felt we got into good areas, but their goal killed us in the end.
‘I see signs of progress but we’re still disappointed. We need to go again on Sunday now (against Falkirk).
‘The frustration is not winning it when they went down to 10 men. We had a good foothold in the game and maybe just didn’t take advantage of having the extra man.
‘It’s obviously frustrating (to lose cheap goals). But we’ll stick together and work on it. We need to cut that out of our game.’
Attention now turns to the visit of the on-form Bairns with Rangers needing a victory to stay in touch with Premiership leaders Hearts.
‘It’s too early for me to come out and say anything about that (title race),’ said Barron. ‘We’re just focused on picking up maximum points from our next run of games.
‘It feels like we’re going in the right direction, certainly in the league, 100 per cent.’
