Rangers vs Hearts LIVE as Russell Martin makes some big selection decisions

First of all, Erling is a brilliant character off the pitch. He’s a leader. He’s not the most senior player in the squad but he’s a big personality. Obviously on the pitch, he speaks for himself.

He gave me the penalty the other night for my hat-trick which I think speaks volumes for his character. You can pick things up from Erling in terms of mentality.

He’s a great example. His career has been a great progression and it’s clear that he’s got a monster mentality. It’s really important to stay strong and every time I go away, I learn so much - not just from him - but from all the players.

We’ve got a really good team and I enjoy going away. Now, I can concentrate on this next block of games before the next break and I want to do as well as I can.

The international break wasn’t bad for me, to be fair. I’m always happy just to go there in the first place. But getting some goals was amazing.

I was quite emotional, to be honest, because I had my family in the stands. They’re proud of me anyway but for them to see me put in a good performance like that, they were over the moon.

Of course, it’s a confidence boost for me. Now, I have to try and take it into the game on Saturday and I’ve got a good feeling. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come for me here at Rangers.

All I can do is try and take it into my next game. I’m desperate to do well for this club and I know a lot of the lads are. We’ll soon gel together and I’m looking forward to that.

Even this early on in the season I think it’s too early to judge teams. It’s normally the first couple of rounds of fixtures you can maybe get a fair assessment of where people are and where teams are at.

But certainly for us, while we are off to a decent start you just want to try to keep that going as long as we can. A positive result at Ibrox doesn’t do us any harm and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.

I’m delighted with what the players have given us and I don’t want to dilute it. It’s a strong start and I’m delighted with that but a better gauge of where we’re at is after the first couple of rounds of fixtures.

It’s important that we maintain and improve as we go along. I still think we’re going to have to improve if we’re going to reach the expectations that’ve been put on us.

I still have a belief that we’re going to have a good season, regardless of what happens on Saturday. But I think for everybody, the whole narrative and all, that it wouldn’t do us any harm to go to Ibrox and get a win there.

There's no point sugar-coating it and nothing to be gained by pretending Rangers and Russell Martin have got the season off to a positive start.

And I’m perfectly sure no-one inside Ibrox would even attempt to suggest they’ve been happy with the first few weeks of the campaign.

It’s been difficult for the new manager and, at times, it’s looked a bit frenzied. But it’s also worth remembering it was always likely to be a turbulent, transitional period.

Not only has Russell been attempting to get his team to play a completely different style of football and lay down a new structure on the field but, in the background, he’s also been trying to overhaul an entire squad in one transfer window with a revolving door at Auchenhowie.

When you think about it, with all that’s been going on, it was never likely to be as smooth as the club’s supporters were hoping for. There were always going to be bumps along the way.

That all said, when the season restarts on Saturday at three o’clock, there can be no more distractions. And no more excuses.

It's not been an ideal start for Russell Martin. It’s so important that new managers get off to good starts. Look at Rob Edwards, getting off to a brilliant winning start, now he’s got the whole of Middlesbrough's fan base on board, loving what he's doing. You've got the players buying into his methods and everything.

On the flip side of that, you've got Sheffield United's new manager, Ruben Selles, losing every game that he's taken charge of and the Sheffield United fans, or at least sections of them anyway, are calling for his head already.

So, it's really important. Russell Martin is not daft, he knows that the start he's made at Rangers is not good enough. It's the four draws in the Premiership which are really, really putting him on the back foot. If they'd gone and dominated those games and won three and drawn against Celtic, they’d be joint top of the league. If that had happened. I don't think there'd be clamour there is now.

But they're seventh in the league, haven't won a game yet and were humiliated by Club Brugge in the Champions League. It could hardly have been any worse, really. They're struggling for goals, having only scored three in the Scottish Premiership. Only the bottom three have scored less.

It feels like Russ has been on the back foot since day one. I don't know why that would be. Clearly, he doesn't like the culture of the club and it's clear that several players have let him down. There's no doubt about that.

But what is clear also, and it’s the most important thing for him, is that he's got the backing of the board. They've just sanctioned an £8 million deal for Youssef Chermiti, the largest fee they've paid in 25 years since they bought Tore Andre Flo. I was still playing then, so that's how long ago it was!

So, there's a recognition from above that he's inherited a bit of a mess, which is going to take time for him to turn around. Having said all of that, it's okay to have the support from above, but you've got to get the support from the fans. They play Hearts at home next and he needs a win really quickly in order to get the fans onside.

Fan unrest is a very, very powerful thing. Eventually, over the course of time, if it's week after week after week, and I had it at Wolverhampton Wanderers with Graham Taylor, one of the biggest mistakes they ever made in modern history was sacking him. Eventually, that pressure tells on the hierarchy and they do what the fans wish. Russell Martin is not daft, he knows he needs to start winning games of football.

Youssef has tools that you’d really want in a number nine. We can play two number nines now. He has good athleticism, is a great kid, wants to learn. Brilliant record at youth level.

He hasn’t really had the chance he probably wanted at first-team level yet, obviously in the toughest league in the world as well.

We’ll judge him on here and now and what he does for us. We’re really excited to have him in because he’s a seriously talented player.

Also, there was a lot of interest throughout Europe in top leagues for him. He was desperate to be here because we’ve worked with players that he knows and has a very good relationship with at Southampton. Obviously, he knows Kevin and Dan from before at Everton. He has the trust of those guys as well.

That was really important for him. I’m really looking forward to getting to work with him properly.

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