Rangers must learn from Hearts defeat, says boss Mark Warburton

Mark Warburton has told his Rangers players to learn quickly from their defeat at Hearts, but dismissed concerns over their form against the league's leading teams.

Warburton's side have now lost against Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts this season - last season's top three - and have a pressing need to improve that form ahead of consecutive visits from the latter two.

But the Englishman put Wednesday's 2-0 loss at Tynecastle down to a "bad day at the office" and backed his players to bounce back against the Dons on Saturday.

"I hear this but then Hearts were losing 3-1 to Hamilton," he said. "It's three points. That's no disrespect to Hamilton, by the way - far from it. They are a tough team to beat.

"But the fact is it's a tough division and points don't come easy. Yes, you may beat two teams around you but if you lose the next four games against teams lower than you, it's irrelevant. Dropping points hurts, especially at a club like Rangers. Dropping any points hurts."

The Rangers players revealed the had a "lively debate" on Thursday morning to dissect their limp display against Hearts, who triumphed thanks to two goals from left winger Robbie Muirhead.

And Warburton believes they can do much better when faced with a team who press them high up the park, as Hearts did to good effect.

"We have to get better and learn," Warburton said. "We didn't do what we do well. We didn't get on the ball, we didn't get started.

"We knew Hearts would press. We felt beforehand that would be the tactics - they did it well and they were brave. But we had to be braver, and we had to find solutions to get out. The pitch was difficult but we are better than that, and we have shown time after time that we are better than that.

"We have to be more dynamic in our movement, show good variety, to trust what you do and trust movements that you have rehearsed. And sometimes you have to beat the press by going long, and trust yourself to go long in a cultured manner.

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"The players are an honest group. They are the first to admit, we are the first to admit, that we didn't go through the movements in a dynamic enough fashion to get the results we were after.

"There is no lack of belief. We are asking players to be brave, and maybe try things they are not used to. But the fact is they wouldn't come here if they weren't good enough to do it.

"We are still gelling as a squad but there are no excuses, on Wednesday night we weren't good enough. We now have a chance to be much better on Saturday."

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