Jack Butland confident Rangers belief has not been damaged by Old Firm defeat

Philippe Clement’s side were on the end of a 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park which left them five points behind their rivals after four games in the William Hill Premiership.

The Light Blues have only won one of the last 13 matches against their rivals and some fans turned up at Ibrox to vent their anger at the players after the game.

Butland said: “We’ve got a tricky period now where we don’t have a game for a couple of weeks. That’s going to be the difficult thing. We’re going to be thinking about it for a long time.

“We’re going to have days to look back at it. We’re going to have a lot of training sessions between now and the next game. It’s important that we do pick them up. The next day we’re in, it’s not going to just disappear. There’s no danger of that.

“It’s going to be something that’s going to be fresh on people’s minds for a while. And it needs to be because that’s how important it is to us and to the club. So, yes, there are things to work on, things to get better at, be more efficient.

“But I think the belief is there and I hope that shows at least that we’re still fighting.”

Both Clement and Butland pointed to Rangers’ positive start which saw Cyriel Dessers and Rabbi Matondo miss chances in the opening 10 minutes, although the former was flagged offside.

“In previous games we felt that we didn’t have enough control over the game, control over the ball and found ourselves defending way too much,” Butland said.

“We showed early signs in the game, really positive signs, of being a bit braver on the ball, trying to control some of the game ourselves and not feel like we were under the cosh.

“They obviously do that well, trying to put you under pressure early. And we created some chances out of that early on. We didn’t take them and we defended a couple of situations poorly and then you find yourself facing an uphill battle.”

Butland faced criticism for his positioning as Kyogo Furuhashi side-footed home Celtic’s second goal from more than 25 yards but the former England goalkeeper pointed to a turnover of possession as a key factor.

Greg Taylor got in front of the static Vaclav Cerny to intercept Connor Barron’s forward pass and quickly fed Furuhashi who spotted the opportunity.

Butland said: “I’m pleased with my performance. You never enjoy conceding goals. You always look back at everything.

“I looked at my position on the second one. I think I’m in a position which is suitable for where we were at in the game, being in possession of the ball.

“In giving the ball away, I’m trying to get back to my optimal position where I want to be in that moment. And perhaps I didn’t quite get back to where I wanted to get to, ideally.

“I analyse things. I look at things. Am I happy with everything else I did? Am I happy with how I supported the team? Am I happy with how I supported from behind and helped the team build up? Yes.

“But at the end of the day, we’ve not got the result we wanted. And if that’s something I need to look at, I will do, as the rest of the squad will do.”