ALLY McCoist has claimed that Rangers have failed to reproduce the form that saw them go undefeated in the Premiership and reach the last 16 of the Europa League last season because their summer signings have not made a significant impact.

Steven Gerrard’s side, who lost home and away to Malmo in Champions League qualifying, slumped to a 2-0 defeat to French rivals Lyon in their opening Group A match at Ibrox last night.

McCoist feels that new arrivals like Juninho Bacuna, John Lundstram, Nnamdi Ofoborh and Fashion Sakala have to start applying more pressure to the first team regulars for the Glasgow giants to perform at their best.

He said: “To be brutally honest, I don’t think they’ve reached the heights of any of their performances of last season, even domestically.

“There’s been some great results, like beating Celtic at home, where the second-half performance was very good. Against St Johnstone they got going after losing a goal. But they haven’t maintained anything like the level of consistency which was so high last year.

“I don’t think the new signings have strengthened the side or made the impact they would have wanted. They look good players and given time there’s a fair chance they’ll do well.

“But they haven’t exactly hit the ground running and put players in possession of the jerseys under pressure to keep their levels up.”

McCoist added: “If you’d said at the end of last season Rangers would be able to keep their best players you would be ecstatic.

“It’s been first class keeping them because I think most Rangers supporters would have expected to lose at least one key player. That’s not been the case, but you’d look for the players coming in to strengthen the side.

“That’s also not been the case, but it’s still early days for them coming to a club like this. But they need to improve the level of their game and start putting pressure on others.”

McCoist, the all-time record Rangers goalscorer, felt that James Tavernier and his team mates performed well in spells against Lyon were unfortunate not to net.

“Tonight was a different level opposition,” he said. “Rangers didn’t disgrace themselves by any stretch of the imagination. They kept themselves in the game and created one or two opportunities. They were probably unlucky not to score.”