Glasgow Rangers picked up an impressive win at the weekend, but have often struggled for consistency this term.
Former Rangers defender Jimmy Nicholl has suggested that Mark Warburton may have made a mistake responding to recent criticism of his side, the Evening Times reports.
Looking at the Scottish Premiership table, it would be fair to say that the Gers have made a promising start to life back at the highest level as they currently sit second.
However, a closer look provides an indication of the Light Blues’ inconsistency that has allowed Celtic to move out of sight in the title race.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton
Rangers have not won three league games in a row all season, and are the lowest goalscorers of any team in the top five.
That kind of form has prompted some outsiders to scrutinise what has been going on at Ibrox in recent times, which in turn, persuaded Warburton to speak out and admit that some of his players had been left annoyed with some of the criticism (via Evening Times).
And Nicholl explained that it was probably a poor decision from the manager to publicly respond to the critics.
“You have to be bigger than that, you really do,” he said, as reported by the Evening Times.
“The Rangers players and manager can turn around and say ‘what is all this criticism about? We are sitting second in the league. What do they want?’ But the demands and expectations there are vast.”
In fairness to Warburton, he may be hoping that by creating a siege mentality – which served them so well during their run through the divisions – he motivates his squad to prove everyone wrong over the coming months.
And the strategy appears to have worked, initially at least, as they managed to beat Aberdeen at Ibrox in a game where defeat would have dented their hopes of finishing second enormously.
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