Stephen Robinson has admitted that Motherwell were ‘put to the sword’ during Wednesday’s 4-0 friendly thrashing against Scottish Premiership rivals Rangers, speaking to the club’s official website.
While Steven Gerrard’s Gers might have fallen off the pace to gift Celtic their ninth successive league title in 2019/20, the Glasgow giants look a team with the proverbial bit between their teeth as the new campaign looms into view.
After comfortably swatting aside two of France’s biggest sides, Nice and Lyon, Rangers cruised past Motherwell thanks to Ryan Kent, Ianis Hagi, a Ricki Lamie own goal and a typically mesmerising effort from a jinking Joe Aribo.
Given that ‘Well had their previous friendly postponed on Monday, it was perhaps no surprise that Robinson’s sluggish side looked off the pace compared to their well-oiled opposition.
“We certainly got put to the sword tonight at times tonight, we certainly got tested and it looked like Rangers have played a lot more football than we have,” Robinson, who has been linked with the Northern Ireland and Huddersfield Town jobs of late, admitted.
“It looked like they had played four competitive games, they’ve played Lyon and Nice, we looked like it was our second game.
“The level of the opposition we’ve chosen is the top two teams in the country. We want to test ourselves.”
It was an evening full of positives for a Rangers side who already appear to have taken a few big strides forward since the end of last season.
Brandon Barker looks rejuvenated after an underwhelming debut year at Ibrox, while the bulked-up Aribo has added some much-needed tenacity to his already impressive technical skills.
In Hagi, Gerrard can now count on an enigmatic number ten capable of carving apart the sort of deep-lying defences which Rangers frequently toiled against in recent months.
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