THE evidence is stacking up against Pedro Caixinha and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the defence to make their case.

The final verdict is not likely to be delivered any time soon but the Light Blue legions will sit as judge and jury at Ibrox.

It is often said that you are never more than a couple of games away from a crisis as Rangers manager. Caixinha is not there yet, but he is perilously close.

He insisted a couple of weeks ago that he wasn’t feeling any added pressure at Ibrox and used the analogy of blowing up a balloon. The air, he said, goes out of it when you suffer bad results. It is in danger of deflating completely if Rangers’ fortunes don’t improve sooner rather than later.

The new season should have been a fresh start for Caixinha but old cuts have been reopened as self-inflicted wounds have threatened to leave him permanently scarred.

After inheriting a squad that wasn’t fit for purpose and a team that underperformed and underachieved last season, Caixinha would have had a clean slate this summer if his first few months at the helm had been negotiated without disaster.

But events of recent weeks have only added to Caixinha’s woes. Rather than being forgotten, the results that saw him come under increasing scrutiny last term are now being used against him.

Having presided over back-to-back losses to Celtic, the second of which was the worst ever at Ibrox, and seen Aberdeen end their 26-year wait for victory in Govan, the last thing Caixinha could afford was the humiliation of defeat to Progres Niederkorn.

With that black mark on his CV, the Gers boss needed his side to sprint out of the traps in the opening weeks of the Premiership. A 2-1 win over Motherwell, defeat to Hibernian and goalless draw with Hearts isn’t exactly what Caixinha would have had in mind.

Every dropped point means the spotlight shines brighter on Caixinha, and in turn the glare increases on those that picked him out as Mark Warburton’s successor earlier this year.

This isn’t the most significant week of Caixinha’s Ibrox career and the Premiership meeting with Ross County won’t be his most testing 90 minutes as a manager. But the performance of his side and the outcome in Dingwall could leave a lasting mark on the Portuguese.

For Rangers and their boss, it is a game that simply must be won. The consequences of failure could be severe for both, although they will come to fruition in the longer term rather than in the immediate aftermath of the County clash.

The Light Blues will make the trip to the Highlands with just four points to their name after three top flight fixtures and the gaps to their two main rivals – Celtic and Aberdeen - could well have been stretched even further come kick-off.

It is against their Old Firm counterparts that Rangers will always be compared and it is ultimately Brendan Rodgers’ side that must be overhauled. If Caixinha isn’t up to the task, then someone else will be handed the mission folder.

His future has become the source of much debate once again following the draw with Hearts at the weekend, as it did in the days after the defeat in Luxembourg.

But Rangers have invested too much in Caixinha, both financially and personally, for the gamble to officially be declared a failure after just a handful of competitive fixtures.

The first six league games leading into the visit of Celtic all looked winnable for Rangers and they gave Caixinha a chance to build some momentum ahead of a shot at derby retribution.

That aim remains the same ahead of the matches with County, Dundee and Partick Thistle, while the Betfred Cup trip to Firhill is arguably the most important of all.

There is still plenty of time to make up lost ground in the Premiership, but a knock-out blow from the Jags would end Rangers’ ambitions of lifting the silverware at Hampden.

A cup win and being best of the rest in the league had to be the ambitions this term and Caixinha needs to keep both dreams alive for as long as possible.

When it comes to the league, it is a comfortable second place that should be expected and must be delivered.

If Celtic do romp away to a seventh straight title, then Rangers have to look to be well clear of Aberdeen and the chasing pack. Already, they have five points to make up on the Dons.

Even if Rangers don’t turn out to be good enough to beat Celtic this season, they have to prove that they are capable of regularly overcoming the rest of the league. Wins, home and away, need to be notched up week after week.

With the money that has been spent and the players that have been recruited, that should not be an unrealistic expectation.

Caixinha has never won three games in succession as Rangers manager but he needs four-in-a-row before he meets a familiar foe at Ibrox.

The panic button won’t be pushed at present. Caixinha can’t afford to give the Ibrox board many more reasons to have their finger hovering over it, though.