'That'll be hard' - Charlie Mulgrew claims Rangers face ongoing psychological issue in Scotland

Rangers will be at a disadvantage for the foreseeable future in the Scottish Premiership thanks to the psychological strain of playing on Sundays after Celtic, says Charlie Mulgrew.

The former Hoops defender told The Warm Up on 18 October that the extra pressure of needing to play catch-up each week if his former side win on a Saturday will be “hard” for Philippe Clement’s side while they are in the Europa League.

The Light Blues travel to Kilmarnock on 20 October after the international break, with top two Celtic and Aberdeen playing a day earlier, in what Mulgrew tips to be a “really difficult” game thanks to the artificial surface at Rugby Park.

He said (37m 55s): “Yeah I think psychologically that has an impact because, especially if Celtic win, it takes a wee bit away from you on the Sunday, and more often than not they will win on a Saturday.

“You almost need to win again to then bring it back to what it was, just to keep it close. So I think that’ll be hard.

“I think that game will be really difficult for Rangers because Kilmarnock, on that pitch… the ball definitely moves slower on that pitch, and when you’re a team that has most of the ball you need it to move fast so they can’t move as quick in their shape and you can maybe get through gaps.”

Rangers face “really difficult” Kilmarnock task after Celtic play

It is the nature of being in one of the second-tier European competitions that the domestic scheduling can become a problem.

That is just one of the many reasons why the Gers’ failure to get into the Champions League group stage, following a controversial qualifying elimination by Dynamo Kyiv, was such a blow.

But as things stand Clement’s squad need to be focusing on their own task as much as anything anyway, having demonstrated so far that they aren’t yet capable of challenging their Old Firm rivals.

Rangers will have an opportunity to close the gap on at least one of the sides above them this week so will need to take that chance if they are to build some momentum.

Clement has raised the stakes for him and his side ahead of the next Old Firm derby in January, and has been tipped to cause serious anger if he doesn’t get a result [PLZ Soccer, 14 October].

Between then (2 January) and now the priority will be for Rangers to show they can win their other games, but whether a gap remains between the two sides in the New Year or not a derby victory is long overdue for Clement, after five attempts so far.

In other Rangers news, a first-team ace is expected to leave at the end of the season after just making a key breakthrough.

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