Dan Neil insists Rangers' defensive woes are not “unfixable” as they survey their abject Europa League exit to Jagiellonia Bialystok on Thursday night.
After losing 2-1 in the first leg in Poland last week, the home side were level on aggregate when captain Lawrence Shankland fired in a penalty after 19 minutes.
However, attacker Nik Prelec equalised in the 65th minute following a swift counter-attack for the 1-1 draw, which took the visitors through to the play-off on a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Derek McInnes has not won in four games since taking over as manager in the summer, with defensive lapses close to the top of complaints from Rangers fans who booed at full-time, and his side will now take on Jablonec, from the Czech Republic, in the Conference League play-off round.
Neil, the 24-year-old midfielder signed from Sunderland, is confident the season can be turned around.
He said: “Really tough, we had a full belief going into the game that we could get the result that we wanted and for 45 minutes I think we showed that.
“We were really all out just trying to get the crowd behind us and get some momentum and I felt like we did that in the first half.
“We just didn’t manage to keep that going in the second half and allowed them back in the game, and then (lost) another bad counter-attack goal that has kind of been our kryptonite over the last four games and which has cost us again.
“I think it’s down to new faces, new shapes, new formations. It’s something that we clearly need to work on.
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“There’s no beating around the bush on that because, like I said, it’s been a kryptonite in the last few games and where we’ve conceded those types of goals. But it’s not unfixable.
“It’s something that we have to take ownership of and we have to watch back and have to find a way to stop that from happening.
“Especially at a stadium like Ibrox, most teams are going to bank in and they’re all going to defend their box and the way they’re going to score is transitions.
“We have to stop being so naive to that and we have to work on it and we have to be clear going into the game as to how we’re going to stop that.”
Rangers host St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup last-16 clash at Ibrox on Sunday and it could be another fraught 90 minutes for the players if it does not go to plan.
Neil said: “We understand there’s an expectation to win here and when you are not winning, it is going to be like that in the stadium.
“We have to accept that as Rangers players and do everything we can to turn that around. I’ve heard so many people that have been here for a while saying that when we’re winning, it’s the best place to be in the world, there’s no place like it.
“That’s got to be the motivation every day, to try and turn it around and make it the best place to play in the world.”
