CHRIS SUTTON reckons Rangers are yet to hit top gear this season, but he is sure that improvement will quickly come from Steven Gerrard's side.
The Ibrox outfit are already sitting top of the Scottish Premiership table, but Celtic hero Sutton is still hopeful that his former team have a chance.
With domestic football returning after the international break the Premiership campaign enters a key phase and Sutton has pinpointed where Ange Postecoglou needs to get it right.
He wrote in the Daily Record: "Motherwell away tomorrow, there’s trips to Hibs and Dundee coming up, both European ties with Ferencvaros and a couple of home games against St Johnstone and Livingston.
"It’s a tricky spell but there’s not much margin of error. Rangers have been pretty average this season but you’ve got to expect them to pick up the pace.
"Celtic need to do the same. There are some questions that will need answered in the next three weeks. The big one is, what is Postecoglou’s strongest starting XI?
"We don’t know yet and we’re not even sure if the manager does yet either.
"Postecoglou has had to deal with a nightmare with injuries and so on but they are starting to ease now and there will be more competition for places.
"James Forrest should be available soon, so it will be interesting to see where he fits in to the side. He’s been a club stalwart for years and he’s been a huge miss over the last year or so.
"But Liel Abada has been doing well on the right side and it looks like Jota will be the man for the other flank.
"We know Kyogo Furuhashi will be the main man up front but it’s now time for Giorgos Giakoumakis to make an impression. He’s had two weeks at Lennoxtown to get up to speed but now it will be about match sharpness. The good thing for him is there are plenty of games coming thick and fast to achieve it.
"Christopher Jullien might not be far off a return but in the meantime, it looks like Postecoglou has settled on his central defensive partnership with Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers. However, questions remain in the full-back positions.
"Josip Juranovic was presumably signed as a right back but Anthony Raltson has done a more than decent job in that role so doesn’t Juranovic stay at left back?
"What does that say about Liam Scales? The new arrival looked the part when he came on against Raith Rovers in the Premier Sports Cup, albeit against a Championship side who were down to 10 men. But we’ve not seen him since."
He continued: "He seems to be highly regarded but is he one for the future or could be thrown in now?
"And what about Boli Bolingoli? He has been the invisible man this season but made an appearance out of nowhere at Livingston and then disappeared again.
"He actually wasn’t the worst in that Livi defeat but it will be interesting if Postecoglou can get something out of him. These are all things the manager will need to sort out during this hectic spell of the campaign."
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