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Danny Rohl has insisted it’s far too soon to label Rangers as potential title challengers this season despite his perfect Premiership start as manager.
The German coach made it three league wins out of three since taking over from Russell Martin last month as goals from Nico Raskin, Mikey Moore and Djeidi Gassama earned a 3-0 victory over Dundee at Dens Park.
Martin managed just one Premiership win during his ill-fated spell in the Ibrox hotseat.
While Rohl has suffered defeats to Celtic and Roma in the Premier Sports Cup and Europa League respectively, he has made a bright start in turning Rangers’ league fortunes around.
In fourth place in the table, they are now 12 points behind leaders Hearts with a game in hand and five adrift of champions Celtic, who have played the same amount of matches as their Old Firm rivals.
Rohl expressed his satisfaction at the renewed momentum but admits there is still significant room for improvement.
Rangers boss Danny Rohl insists they must improve if they are to close the Premiership gap
Rangers players celebrate after Mikey Moore's strike put them two goals to the good at Dens
Nico Raskin's early header puts Rangers on their way to a 3-0 victory against Dundee
‘In the league, it’s going in the right direction,’ he said. ‘But we know the last two results (against Celtic and Roma) before today were not what we want.
‘We also saw in this game today the areas that we have to improve if we’re to close this gap more and more.
‘It takes a little bit of time, I know this. But at the moment, especially in the league, I’m very happy and proud of the performances.
‘Three wins in a row in the league, two clean sheets away from home, I think is fantastic. To score three goals today is good but of course we can still speak about improvements. It is good that there is still space for improvement. But yes, to take nine points from the last three games is massive.
‘When I arrived, we had nine points (from the first eight games of the season). Now we have nine points in three games. I think this is huge, as is keeping clean sheets. That’s helpful.
‘But we know our expectations are high. I’m here to build up something but not just wins. We want to do more but it takes steps and I think it’s important to understand that, after wins, we are not straight up in one direction and after we lose it’s in another direction.
‘We need to have a good balance and I want to see a step forward. At the moment I see forward steps, even if everything is not perfect.’
Moore celebrates his strike in what was a highly encouraging performance from the youngster
Rohl explained his decision to make a triple substitution at half-time despite his team being firmly in control at 2-0 up.
‘We need to use the full squad and I want to improve everyone,’ he said. ‘I look closer to see which players have potential and which players have to improve’.
It was another tough afternoon for Dundee who are just one point ahead of Livingston at the bottom of the table after slipping to a third consecutive defeat.
Many of their supporters remain sceptical of manager Steven Pressley, despite last month’s encouraging 2-0 win over Celtic.
Pressley, however, was adamant that he saw plenty to encourage him regardless of the ultimately emphatic manner of the loss to Rangers.
‘There were a lot of aspects in the performance that I liked about us today,’ he said. ‘I liked the intensity, I liked our work ethic, I liked our energy.
‘I thought we got into really good areas of the pitch. Our final decisions can improve, no doubt about that.
‘When we lost last week at Hearts, it was a really sore one. It was a game where we didn’t give enough to the game. But I felt today, although we lost, the scoreline is a little bit flattering. I thought there were a lot of good things and that’s the pleasing factor for me.
‘Of course, it’s three straight defeats, I understand that. But I saw progress in us today.’
