Every game in a Rangers shirt has pressure.
We saw last season, even with a 20 point lead, the demands that were being placed on the team to win every week and not drop points.
Those demands have just been ramped up significantly after drawing with Aberdeen in mid-week, anything other than a win will see Celtic go top if they beat Livingston at home on Saturday, three points are surely in the bag already given the two sides’ recent form.
We can’t control what they do though and need to get back to winning ways, starting at Fir Park on Sunday against a Motherwell team that we have already struggled against this season.
Steven Gerrard didn’t seem too concerned about the forward line in his post match press conference, however, I’d still expect him to make changes, hopefully with the following line-up:
We aren’t scoring enough goals from all over the park, Ianis Hagi, Scott Wright, Joe Aribo and the rest of the midfield have barely managed five between them and this is why I’d like to see Scott Arfield or Juninho Bacuna given a chance from the start – we need to be more proactive in possession, not enough is being created from open play.
Borna Barisic will miss out in defence so Gerrard is unlikely to bring Nathan Patterson in as well as Calvin Bassey – who looked sharp – retaining his place, Jon McLaughlin wasn’t to blame for any of the goals and should start again, goals that the defence can really only sort out on their own by taking responisibilty for their actions and ensuring it doesn’t happen again.
The big decision is up front though, does he stick with his two best goal scorers or look to add variety and an element of unpredictability? Fashion Sakala has scored against Motherwell already this season and his pace, along with Scott Wright’s could cause problems – keeping Ianis Hagi fresher for Brondby on Thursday.
It’s a huge game and one that will be a real indicator for our title hopes, it was a win against Motherwell that truly gave us belief last season, hopefully we can see a repeat.