Whether prompted by their chairman’s public statement or not, the response from Le Guen and his team was almost immediate as two second-half goals from Kris Boyd and Steven Smith took care of a poor Dunfermline side to earn Rangers their first win in four attempts.
It took until after the break, however, for the malaise to be lifted with the opening 45 minutes as poor as anything that had preceded it in recent matches.
A radical improvement in the second half though brought about the two goals and should give the beleaguered Le Guen some respite from recent criticism with crunch matches against Hearts and Auxerre looming in the coming weeks.
The manager, unsurprisingly, had chosen to radically alter his starting line-up from the team that had capitulated to St Johnstone in midweek.
Five changes were made in total with Barry Ferguson deemed fit enough to return to skipper the side, Karl Svensson replacing Sasa Papac at the heart of the defence and Lee Martin handed his first start since September 17.
Charlie Adam and Dado Prso, both substitutes on Wednesday night, were also promoted to the starting XI.
Making way were, among others, Boyd and Filip Sebo who both dropped to the bench meaning the onus on providing goals fell to Prso who returned to the central striker role supported by Nacho Novo and Martin on the flanks.
One constant remained amid this sea of change. Maintaining his record as the only ever-present under Le Guen, Smith lined up on the left side of the defence for the 20th time this season and was easily Rangers’ best player throughout the 90 minutes.
With a genuine winger in front of him for the first time in weeks, Smith and Martin linked up well in the first half, the former overlapping regularly to send a series of deliveries into the penalty box.
The closest, though, Rangers came to capitalising on Smith’s steady stream of service was when Greg Shields almost put into his own net as he tried to clear.
From the resulting corner, Svensson – seeking his first Rangers goal – headed narrowly wide.
Dunfermline, like Dundee United and St Johnstone before them, seemed content to soak up the pressure and try to catch Rangers out on the counter attack.
Owen Morrison, who netted an equaliser when the teams drew 1-1 earlier in the season, should have done better than thrash an effort over the top in Dunfermline’s only real first-half chance although, given recent results, it was hardly surprising that a collective groan of anxiety settled over Ibrox any time the visitors took possession.
Le Guen brought on Boyd for Martin at the start of the second half but little else changed; Rangers continuing to plough forward without making any real impact in the opposition penalty box.
Boyd’s first contribution should have been to step up to take a penalty when Jim Hamilton seemed to parry Alan Hutton’s shot with his arms like a volleyball blocker at the net. Not for the first time, however, referee Steve Conroy infuriated the home supporters by choosing to ignore the situation.
It was all Rangers by this stage although Allan McGregor had to be alert to palm away Stevie Crawford’s shot after Prso had been dispossessed.
At the other end, Roddy McKenzie then did brilliantly to keep out Ferguson’s stab at goal from a matter of yards but a goal was not long in coming and it was a familiar name on the scoresheet.
Prso did well to thread a ball through to Boyd who turned and shot low past McKenzie, a goal that brought him level with John Hartson as the second top all-time scorer in the SPL with 88 strikes to his name.
After squandering a lead to lose 2-1 to Dundee United the previous weekend Le Guen had admitted his team “needed a second goal to be at ease” and it was no different here.
Boyd’s strike, instead of reinvigorating Rangers, temporarily revived Dunfermline and Gary Mason was only inches away from dragging his team back into it after latching on to McGregor’s punched clearance at the edge of the box.
With the visitors now showing an element of bravery hitherto missing from their armoury, gaps started to appear in their defence and Novo should have done better than head over from right under the Dunfermline crossbar.
Boyd thought he had scored a second when he inadvertently bundled in the rebound from Prso’s saved shot only to be flagged offside but another goal would arrive shortly afterwards.
If the first was from a predictable source then the scorer of the second was somewhat less expected as Smith fastened on to Prso’s measured pass to lash home the first goal of his senior career to round off what had been a fantastic individual performance.
RANGERS (4-3-3): 22 McGregor; 20 Hutton, 19 Svensson, 7 Hemdani, 26 Smith; 6 Ferguson, 8 Clement, 25 Adam (Rae 87); 10 Novo, 9 Prso (Sebo 87), 32 Martin (Boyd 46)
Subs not used: Klos, Buffel, Papac, Ponroy
Booked: Smith (54)
DUNFERMLINE (4-5-1): 1 McKenzie; 19 Labonte, 24 Bamba, 2 Shields, 23 Ross; 15 O Morrison (Daquin 82), 8 Mason, 7 Simmons, 12 S Morrison (Woods 77), 20 Hamilton; 25 Crawford (Williamson 90)
Subs not used: Paterson, Muirhead, Phinn, Muir
Booked: Simmons (55), Bamba (72)