The Rangers dressing room message to 'crisis' talks as Russell Martin prepares for Judgment Week

The Light Blues have failed to win a league game and need a huge turnaround to avoid Champions League elimination

Joe Rothwell insists Rangers can salvage their season with two huge results over Brugge and Celtic.

Russell Martin is only nine games into his Ibrox tenure but is already coming under massive pressure from Gers’ furious fanbase.

The beleaguered boss will fly out with his team to Belgium on Tuesday with Champions League hopes hanging by a thread after last week’s calamitous 3-1 first-leg loss in Glasgow.

Domestically, things look just as bleak after the Light Blues kicked-off the Scottish Premiership campaign with three successive 1-1 draws, leaving them languishing in seventh place SIX points behind champions Celtic.

But Rothwell is refusing to give up hope that Gers can turn things around.

And he believes a big performance against Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium can be the turning point ahead of Sunday’s opening Old Firm clash of the season in Govan.

Asked if he was aware of the crisis talk, the midfielder said: "We just have to try and block it out as much as you can. We know the magnitude of the games that are coming up. Obviously, Wednesday night is a massive game for us.

"If we can go there and turn that tie around, then it'll obviously give us massive confidence going into the weekend game. Then who knows where it can take us if we manage to pick up three points?

"It be a can be a defining week. There’s two massive games in two different competitions and obviously we want to be playing Champions League football.

"That's the aim, so if we can go out there and take the momentum into Sunday, then that hopefully can be a season-defining moment for us.”

Quizzed on whether he really believed his team were capable of a title push this season, Rothwell insisted: “We have to believe that.

“It’s six points at the minute, but obviously we play them next week and if we get a result, it's down to three and then obviously things might start to swing.

“We need a bit of positive momentum in our direction and then we can hopefully kick on from there.”

But Rothwell is the first to admit Rangers will have to make drastic improvements if they are to stand any chance of success this season.

Once again on Sunday, Martin’s side were ragged on the ball and wide open off it.

They scraped a point thanks to Findlay Curtis' late equaliser but that wasn’t enough to hush the howl of boos from the seething supporters who made the trip to Paisley.

“Obviously it was a bitterly disappointing result,” said Rothwell. “These are games that we want to be winning and obviously us only coming away with a point is not good enough.

“But we have another chance for us to go out there on Wednesday and try to put things right. Everyone's really disappointed with how the season started, nothing just seems to be quite clicking for us at the minute.

"So we just need to stick together, keep doing what we're doing on the training round, and then hopefully the results start to come for us.

"Obviously, there's there's been no-one more disappointed than the fans. They pay their money to come and watch us and [expect] us get the results for them.

"But inside the changing room, we're all still together and we know that we're just that little bit away from where we want to be.

"There’s so many games coming thick and fast that there's a chance for us to go out there and really show what we want to do. And hopefully then the results will start to turn for us.”

The former Leeds and Blackburn ace has experienced life at big clubs before but admits the intensity levels are a different level up here with the Rangers faithful desperate for a change on fortunes.

He said: "Speaking to a few people, I knew what to expect before coming here. The fans just want the results and we want to give it to them and at the minute, it's just not quite going how we want it to go - but obviously they're entitled to be disappointed.

"But we just need them to obviously stick with us and rally together. Hopefully then we're not far away from getting the results. It doesn't seem to be quite clicking at the minute, individually and collectively.

“Speaking on my behalf, there is noone more disappointed with our form at the minute than myself but as I say, we just need to stick together, keep working hard and doing what we're doing on the training ground. Then, hopefully, we're not far away.

"We were disappointed with how the Brugge game went during the week, especially first half. I think second half we came out and showed more of what we want to do.

“If we can go there and turn that around, then Sunday's a huge game for everyone. We know much it means to everyone, how much it means inside the change room and hopefully we can go there and get positive result."