Concern for Danny Rohl isn’t unwarranted. Despite his previous tendency to offer vague responses during media interactions, he recently decided to make some pointed remarks toward Martin O’Neill before the recent Old Firm league clash. Unfortunately, those comments didn’t land as intended and backfired.

However, a little controversy isn’t necessarily bad. It stirred up a reaction from the Celtic manager, though it didn’t stop Rohl’s team from squandering a 2-0 halftime advantage, ending in a 2-2 draw that could prove costly.

Rohl had previously criticized Celtic’s mindset, suggesting they lacked ambition in their Europa League match in Stuttgart. Despite a swift goal by Luke McCowan offering a fleeting victory, the aggregate result was unfavorable. Now, any time Rangers falter, as they frequently do, Rohl might have to face similar scrutiny.

Rohl is a staunch supporter of his players and avoids publicly blaming them. His admiration for Hansi Flick’s approach at Bayern Munich, where player protection was paramount, is well-documented.

While endorsing his current defensive squad, claiming he has “great centre-backs,” might be a bit overzealous. Such statements could potentially backfire on him unexpectedly.

Danny Rohl has faced Martin O’Neill three times and is yet to emerge victorious against him

As for Nasser Djiga and Manny Fernandez, while they might have potential, labeling them as “great centre-backs” might not be the most immediate assessment.

Djiga has been generally underwhelming and, occasionally, a bombscare. Fernandez offers plenty at set-pieces, but he remains extremely raw. John Souttar is on the scene as well, of course, but is the type you always fear has a big mistake in him.

Rohl will surely disagree, as will many Rangers supporters, but, with Derek Cornelius still not quite ready to return as he recovers from surgery earlier in the campaign, it felt like the rearguard could have done with greater strengthening than just the arrival of left-back Tuur Rommens during the January window.

Time will tell, of course. The absolute requirement of leaving Paisley with the points today, though, is self-evident. After failing to win away from home at Hibs, 10-man Motherwell and bottom dogs Livingston, there’s a pattern of results on the road that needs breaking.

Indeed, to have any chance of competing for the title, Rangers surely have to be looking at maximum returns from Aberdeen, Dundee United and Falkirk before the split as well.

It is the visit to Celtic Park after that 33-game staging post, however, that is likely to have a huge say on whether Rohl sinks or swims as Rangers manager.

Of course, he won there earlier in the season when Wilfried Nancy was in the opposition dugout. That’s not saying much. Almost everyone beat Celtic when the Frenchman was in the hotseat, putting Venn Diagrams on Twitter under pressure from his missus and telling the world he was an expert on Scottish football because he once came close to signing for Carlisle.

The Rangers boss has done a sterling job at Ibrox but he will be judged on results against Celtic

What is becoming a progressively larger problem for Rohl is that he seems incapable of getting the better of O’Neill, a 74-year-old man who had been out of management for six years and earning his corn as a talking head on radio before Celtic descended into a state of absolute chaos earlier in the season and sent out the bat signal.

Lots was made about Rohl and his players being unable to get the better of their Glasgow rivals at home in last weekend’s Scottish Cup quarter-final when O’Neill was without a host of established first-team starters including Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston and Kasper Schmeichel.

What’s more concerning is that Rohl has squared up to O’Neill three times now and has still to come out on top. In addition to those back-to-back league and cup games at Ibrox, he also lost 3-1 in extra-time at Hampden in the Premier Sports Cup semis in November during the first of the Blessed Martin’s two comeback tours.

Celtic cannot get much worse than they are at the moment. No matter the problems that exist behind the scenes there and the gulf between the board and large sections of the support, they will surely strengthen in the summer.

They will surely get their ducks in a row to some degree in the wake of this nonsensical — and wholly unacceptable — season that has witnessed the departure of Brendan Rodgers, Nancy and head of football operations Paul Tisdale amid all sorts of madness from the directors box.

Celtic are not playing good football under O’Neill. They are generally getting over the line through strength of will more than anything else. It says much about the motivational qualities of the manager, but it isn’t sustainable longer-term.

The sight of Celtic players celebrating their Scottish Cup win at Ibrox has lowered Rohl’s stock

That’s why that visit to Parkhead post-split is going to be huge for Rohl. If he can’t get the better of a pensioner who looked finished with football and a squad in serious regression in the wake of several botched transfer windows, how is he going to cope when they’ve appointed a proper, modern-day head coach and got their recruitment in order?

Rohl inherited a shambles at Rangers. That much is understood. He has brought greater stability, for sure, and your gut feeling is that the majority of Rangers fans still want him to be given the chance to succeed.

However, he was given £10million-plus to spend in the market in January. A draw at Parkhead in the next Old Firm derby might — just might — keep the wolves at bay, but another loss at the feet of O’Neill and a patched-up squad of short-term loan deals is highly likely to tip him into the realm of the doomed. 

Even now, even though we don’t know the date of it yet, that’s shaping up to be the day in which Rohl’s reign really comes under the spotlight. When punters really make their minds up about him. And when those centre-halves he has absolutely hung his hat on will have to prove his confidence in them is not misplaced.