WHEN you lose a game, and especially an Old Firm game, players will always say they want to get back out on the pitch as quickly as possible and get that next win.

Rangers haven’t had that chance over the last fortnight because of the international break but you can be sure they will be really looking forward to the league fixture with Dundee this weekend.

A number of players will be grateful for the rest after a busy schedule in the last few weeks but there have been plenty away with their national squads – including the likes of Allan McGregor, Scott Arfield and Alfredo Morelos – so they haven’t had that much downtime.

The Celtic game might have been a bit of a shock to a lot of the players because there were several of them that were making their Old Firm debuts. It doesn’t matter what you hear about it, you don’t know what it is like until you get there and you don’t know what the aftermath is like until you experience it.

They will certainly learn from it. If they thought it was good for the first 12 games going undefeated, an Old Firm defeat changes that.

Rangers were well beaten on the day. You couldn’t say in the first dozen games that they were outplayed by anyone, but they were outplayed at Parkhead.

So the Dundee game is really important for the players and Steven Gerrard and we will see how they come back from losing to Celtic.

The manager will know that the side are far from the finished article. Rangers are getting there, that is for sure, but they have now seen what Celtic are about.

It is good that the next game is at Ibrox and the fans will be right behind the team again. It is a fixture Rangers just have to go out and win and get back on track in the Premiership.

We lost seven games at Ibrox last season and that can’t be repeated this year if we are going to challenge at the top of the table for as long as possible.

It is fine looking at the card and thinking ‘well, this is an easier run now with Dundee, St Johnstone and Ayr United in the cup coming up’ but that is not how the manager will be thinking.

Every game is a cup final for the opposition and if you are slack at all, teams will come to Ibrox, frustrate you and can end up causing a shock, like they did last year.

Steven has spoken a lot about the winning mentality of the squad in recent weeks and he will be looking for his players to prove that in this next sequence of matches as Rangers try and put a run together.

Things don’t just happen for you at Rangers. You have to go out and make them happen and, when you have better players, you will then win the games.

The Celtic one is gone. They took their criticism for that and they didn’t play as well as they have done or needed to.

Now, you have to look forward and I think the manager will learn quite a lot about his players this weekend. It will be interesting to see how Rangers react to the Old Firm game.

The Dundee side that will play at Ibrox isn’t the same one that is bottom of the table and hasn’t picked up a point in four league games so far.

You will see a different team. They will give more and Rangers have to match their physicality and their effort.

If they do that, their ability will always come through and they will win more matches than not over these next few weeks in the Premiership as they bid to put the Celtic game well behind them this season.

*I will be at 29 in Glasgow tonight to support David Hagen after he was diagnosed Motor Neurone Disease.

The Rangers supporters always look after people who have represented the club and hopefully we can raise some money for David.

I know everyone will be thinking about him and will wish him and his family all the best as he battles MND.