Booby prizes should never be for Rangers and I fear players are unable to grasp golden rule – Kenny Miller

Philippe Clement has made small improvements but it’s only slight differences as issues remain.

Rangers secured European football after Christmas on Thursday night.

But I’d be wary of singing that from the rooftops, given their performance against Aris Limassol. Sure, they’re guaranteed to have at least a Europa Conference League place. But is that where Rangers are at now? Being happy with a booby prize? When you play for this club you should never celebrate failure and that’s what the

Conference would be. Let’s be honest, when the groups were drawn the target would have been the top or at least second place. Obviously, that can still be achieved by getting a result over in Betis in two weeks’ time. But Thursday night definitely felt like a step backwards. At half-time, the fans were booing. They were losing 1-0 and had put in a poor performance.

There was a wee reaction after the equaliser but it just flattened out again. It was a bad result and only taking one point out of six against Aris is nowhere near good enough. Philippe Clement has made small improvements – but it’s only slight differences. The cohesion I spoke about in this column a couple of weeks ago still isn’t there. Was that performance any different from some of the worst we’ve seen earlier this season? Probably not. At Aberdeen last weekend, they played OK – but dropped points.

Against Hearts at Ibrox recently Rangers won in stoppage time and the manager referenced the team’s never-say-die attitude. He praised his side’s character and that’s fine. But they got away with murder that day. And talking about that resilience – does that mean on Sunday at Pittodrie they didn’t have it? Or on Thursday night?

Of course it doesn’t. It just means that, once again, this team couldn’t get the job done when they had to. And that’s the question mark still hanging over this group. Can they do the business when it really matters? Against Aberdeen they had a golden chance to close the gap on Celtic after they’d dropped points. But they couldn’t get the job done. Why?

In midweek, the opportunity was there to blow away the group’s bottom seeds and qualify for the Europa League knockouts with a game to go. Again, they couldn’t get the job done. Why? If they’d beaten the Cypriots it would have given Clement the option of resting players against Betis three days before the

Viaplay Cup Final at Hampden. How crucial might that have been? I don’t care what Clement or anyone at the club says, I’m not sure they realise just how big this game is on December 17. They HAVE to lift that trophy. If they don’t it will be a massive set-back for the manager and the club. At Rangers, a disappointing performance should be unusual. It feels right now like the other way round.

You wonder if Rangers’ more impressive displays this season are, in fact, an anomaly. This is what Clement has to address – the consistency of performance.

The bad ones have to be a blip. But unfortunately, the way they played against Aris has been par for the course this year. That has to change. They went to Dens Park not that long ago and won 5-0. Even I was guilty of talking up how well they played.

But the truth is, that’s what Rangers teams SHOULD be doing. These players shouldn’t be happy that they’ve guaranteed a place in the Conference League. That’s a failure at Ibrox. This problem isn’t new under Clement, of course.

It was the same when Michael Beale was in charge. When the really big games came around, they faltered. Beating Real Betis at home was a good result and they beat Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox when the league was already over.

But that was about it. When it came to Old Firm games, semis and finals, they came up short. And that’s the big challenge for Clement.

It’s not the manager’s fault but it’s a trait within the squad he has to get rid of.

People are asking if these players have it in them to launch a serious title challenge this season? The honest answer is, I don’t know if they do. I’m wondering now if Clement has the players inside the building to achieve what he wants to at Ibrox. That’s why January will be interesting.

He’ll have to make decisions on who he believes are pivotal to his plan. The title race is far from over. Rangers are right there, in amongst it. But it’s about taking care of your own business. And when these opportunities present themselves to this group of players – they can’t seem to take them.

Is it a mental thing? Is it complacency when Celtic drop points as they think the pressure’s off a bit? They have to realise, at Rangers that’s when the pressure goes UP a notch. Because those chances are few and far between. That’s when players need to find a way to win irrespective of how they play. It feels like too many players don’t understand that yet. But if Rangers and Clement are going to achieve anything this season, they better grasp it quickly.