Rangers 1-1 Hamilton: Reasons to panic & reasons not to panic

Reasons to panic

1. Martyn Waghorn's injury will cost us

We had a good chance this season to make the most of an easy start and build up an early lead, but even if we haven't pished that away already, Waghorn's injury might confirm it. One of our most in-form players and by far our best forward option, he's going to be very hard to replace in the next few games. Speaking of which...

2. Kenny Miller

Jesus christ Mr Warburton, no more. Yes, he was very good last season, but this might be a step too far for the man. We could understand it if we didn't have Joe Dodoo looking very good and Michael O'Halloran in excellent form, but starting him today was madness, and had we not done so, it could well have seen us win the gam.e

3. The defending

Poor defending probably wasn't the reason we lost that game, for once, but even so. The idea that the defenders are perfectly fine and simply put under too much pressure by our style of play was somewhat misplaced given that Hamilton looked dangerous even when we had ten men behind the ball. Rob Kiernan simply isn't good enough, and we need a new centre-back to partner Danny Wilson immediately.

Reasons not to panic

1. Everybody else

Alright, that was a bit of a shite result, but Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen have all lost to far worse teams so far this season already. As Gore Vidal once said, "it is not enough to succeed; others must fail. And you can still get by as long as everyone else is totally shite." This revealed some of our continuing, nagging problems, but it's far from proof that we're not the best team in the country - we definitely still can be.

2. Joey Barton

After a mixed opening, Barton grew into the game spectacularly. This wasn't actually that typical a defeat for this side. Normally, had Hamilton scored first, both teams would have hundreds of chances and spurn a lot. We weren't undone on the counter as much as we usually are, and Barton's excellent timing of the challenge was a huge part in that. He will be massive for us this season.

3. There's more to come

There's still probably two players to come through the door, Kranjcar will get his fitness up, we've still to see a lot from the likes of Joe Dodoo, we were missing Josh Windass, Danny Wilson is our best defender and wasn't playing, and we haven't seen any of Matt Crooks yet. We're not stuck with this exact team - we'll be a lot better in a month's time and have even more options. And maybe Mark Warburton will actually start picking Michael O'Halloran for a start. Harry Forrester shrugging off his poor pre-season form to make an excellent cameo was another bonus.