There is always pressure wearing the famous Light Blue shirt of Rangers but when you have just lost three games in a row, it kind of gets ramped up a bit.
Steven Gerrard’s side, metaphorically, can’t win against Dunfermline tonight, they are expected to win handsomely so anything less will be seen as a failure and a continuance of the poor form of recent weeks.
The gaffer himself said that he won’t be making wholesale changes as part of the build up to the game on Rangers TV:
“I’ll make some changes for Friday night but I’ll still be trying to pick a team that has matchwinners on the pitch, so there won’t be drastic changes.”
After shouldering the blame for the defeat against St Mirren in last season’s league cup, it is unlikely to see him field a reserve team, but what went against him in the Champions League qualifiers now works in his favour because the likes of Glen Kamara, Kemar Roofe, John Lundstram and Ianis Hagi should all be in a position to start and will need the minutes to get up to speed for the Europa League.
We just haven’t found a decent rhythm yet, the fine margins that can decide games haven’t been on our side – Malmo had four shots on target, Dundee United two and we lost all three games – Gerrard has played players through poor form before so it should be a pretty strong XI and feature most of our regular match day squad.
Gerrard might not make “drastic” changes, but if it’s anything other than a convincing win, there could be drastic repercussions.