Rangers lost 2-1 to Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final; it was Michael Beale's first defeat as manager; they trail their Old Firm rivals by nine points in the Scottish Premiership
Tuesday 28 February 2023 15:57, UK
Former Rangers striker Kenny Miller has dismissed suggestions the Ibrox squad needs a complete rebuild in the summer.
Michael Beale suffered his first defeat as Rangers manager on Sunday when they lost 2-1 to Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final at Hampden Park.
They trail their Old Firm rivals by nine points in the Scottish Premiership title race, leaving the Scottish Cup as their only real hope of silverware this season.
But Miller does not believe it will take a lot for his former club to mount a real challenge for the title next season.
"I think rebuild is way too strong," he told Sky Sports News.
"Rangers are a good squad, they've got a lot of strength and depth.
"Michael Beale will always look to put his own stamp on it, he's already started that with the two additions in January.
"I would imagine another three or four will come in the summer and there will be people who will move out as well.
"He's already said the squad needs trimmed, there are too many players there which even on a day-to-day situation becomes maybe unmanageable for training.
"He'll definitely have not a rebuild, but there will be maybe a refresh of the squad in the summer."
Miller believes their League Cup defeat puts even more focus on Rangers' defence of their Scottish Cup title.
"The league was already done so all focus has to go on getting right back on it and build towards the Scottish Cup at the end of the season because I think that becomes paramount now," he added.
"Cup finals are super important to both teams. It's a chance to win a trophy and I just had the feeling maybe Rangers would have wanted it that little bit more.
"Going into the last third of the season, I don't think Rangers fans are going to accept not winning trophies anymore.
"This Scottish Cup becomes so, so important that Rangers get to the final and they retain the trophy at the start of June."
Rangers captain James Tavernier apologised to fans after defeat to Celtic as he described the performance as "unacceptable".
"First and foremost I have to apologise to the fans. It was an unacceptable performance from ourselves.
"The first half wasn't good enough, we know that, and conceding before half-time left us more to do.
"Conceded the second one then got our goal, created another good chance but we wasted enough time in the game to react and that is the most disappointing factor.
"Yeah, we obviously got some belief when Alfredo scored and we then went on to create a couple more chances.
"But you can't give away that much time in the game to try to get yourself back in it.
"So we're disappointed with that. It's the first defeat we've had under the gaffer.
"We've been getting the results that we wanted to but there when it mattered, we didn't get the result.
"We know there's a lot of work to be done and we're continuing to work hard on the training pitch. But we have to deliver every game and we couldn't do that today."
Sunday March 5: St Mirren vs Celtic, kick-off 12pm
Saturday March 18: Motherwell vs Rangers, kick-off 12.30pm
Sunday April 2: Ross County vs Celtic, kick-off 12pm
Saturday April 8: Celtic vs Rangers, kick-off 12.30pm
Sunday April 9: Dundee United vs Hibernian, kick-off 12pm
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