YOU are never more than a couple of games away from a crisis as Rangers manager. The next 90 minutes are, therefore, amongst the most important of Steven Gerrard's tenure.

The defeat to Dundee United can be accounted for in isolation in terms of the Premiership title race. The losses to Malmo either side of them cannot, though, and they have come at the ultimate cost in the Champions League.

On Friday night, Rangers begin their bid for domestic silverware once again. Having failed on six occasions over three seasons, it would be inexplicable if Gerrard's side were to be dumped out by Dunfermline as they return to League Cup duty.

The build-up will be dominated by talk of the ramifications of the European exit and the accusations will be even more vehement than usual given the manner of the performance and result.

Gerrard operates with a mantra of not getting too high when Rangers win or too low when they lose. That balance in his mind must now be taken on board by a side that simply cannot afford a fourth successive defeat.

"That is my job, that is what I need to do," Gerrard said. "Pick the players up, reset and really think about what the right team is to play on Friday with the game being close to this game. That is what we will do.

"At a club like this… we haven’t had a good week, we have to accept that. We are responsible for it and it is my job to pick the players up and react on Friday night to try and get a positive win so we feel a bit better about ourselves.

"We have got strong leaders in the dressing room. I trust them a lot. I will speak to them in the coming days and, yes, they have got big responsibility to reset and go again.

"I think every manager is the same. But that is also the case when you are on winning runs, you want your senior players to maintain the standards and keep going and try and maintain the level of consistency.

"It is not a case of just waiting for a defeat or bad week and then you turn to your senior players, you have got to have that relationship with them all the time. Now our supporters need them a lot to try and flip the form and the mood of the place."

A meeting with lower league opposition at Ibrox would normally provide Gerrard with a chance to rotate his side and to give an opportunity to those who have been on the fringes so far this season. He can't gamble too much, however, when the stakes are as high.

On the back of the loss to United and double defeat to Malmo, Rangers are now looking to play themselves back into form against the Pars at what will be an expectant and demanding Ibrox.

The success of last season is now firmly in the past. All the focus must be on a fixture that has taken on even greater significance on the back of a wretched seven days for the champions.

"Look, the last week hasn’t gone to plan," Gerrard said. "We have underachieved in this competition over both legs, there is no getting away from that.

"It is still very early days in terms of domestic competition, two competitions haven’t started and we are two games into the other. I think there will be a bit of panic on the outside, and a bit of noise and a bit of criticism.

"That is the reality, that is the way it is. We have to accept that. In terms of me and my staff, we certainly won’t be because we have got a lot of belief in this group.

"We will try and get our better players and our players who are capable of performing very high at this level back into the pitch, into the team, in a better place and I am sure our form will turn.

"Just get them in the right place from a mental point of view, get over the setback. I will be chatting to my senior players, trying to pick them up and then we will prepare in the best way we can.

"I will make some changes for Friday night but I will still be picking a team that has got match winners on the pitch. There won’t be drastic changes.

"I will pick and eleven to get the job done to try and move into the next round of that competition."

If Rangers are to progress, not just in the Premier Sports Cup but in the bigger picture this season, then there are issues that must be resolved with a matter of urgency at Ibrox.

The five goals lost in their last three outings have been as alarming as they were avoidable and such moments of indecision and ineptitude, both individually and collectively, cannot continue.

Leon Balogun was labelled as culpable by many for both of the goals that Antonio Colak scored on Tuesday night. Gerrard will look at the wider failings and seek to address them as a matter of urgency.

Gerrard said: "Look, in football, when you concede a goal normally everyone looks for individuals, but I think, as a team, defensively we haven’t been good enough second half.

"We have conceded two goals in the first leg and two in the second. When you concede four goals over two games, you give yourself a huge mountain to climb. I am really disappointed to concede four goals.

"We have lost the second half 2-0. We will analyse it, but there is certainly no pointing fingers at individuals. As a team, as a unit, we haven’t defended two restarts well enough.

"We had two poor situations last week, and again at the weekend. We need to look at that and might need to make some changes within that to get better as a unit. We need to work on it and be better and harder to play against."