No major gulf, says Rangers manager
MARK WARBURTON insisted there is no yawning chasm in class between Rangers and Celtic despite his team enduring an emphatic defeat at Parkhead.
The Rangers manager claimed that his side are far better than the story told by yesterday’s 5-1 result — and will prove that once his 11 new signings have fully integrated.
Warburton said: ‘We just got beat 5-1, so I’m not going to sit here like an idiot. They absolutely have the bragging rights and deserved to win. But there’s no major gulf.
‘I don’t see a major gulf. We just have to work harder. When you have adversity, work harder. The fans won’t take that and we won’t take that either.
‘At Ibrox next week, we won’t accept anything other than a victory. We are much better than we showed today. We have to be. We felt we gave them a bit too much respect at times.
‘When we did have those spells — 20 minutes first half, 15 minutes second half — we were fine. But
good players make good decisions and too many times we made poor decisions when we were in possession.
‘We gave the ball away from commanding areas. Apologies to the support because they were magnificent. We’ve got eight points from 15 up for grabs.
‘We’d like to have 12 or 13, but the fact of the matter is we’re still gelling. We’re five games in. It’s an obvious one but judge us in May.’
Warburton admitted that debut defender Philippe Senderos was deservedly red carded on 75 minutes for a foolish handball while already on a booking.
And he revealed that Niko Kranjcar, yellow carded for a series of first-half fouls, was withdrawn at the interval for fear that he would see red.
‘The atmosphere and the crowd baying for blood in terms of having a player sent off, I was worried for Niko,’ explained Warburton.
The Croat has toiled to find fitness and form since joining from New York Cosmos and Warburton, whose No2 David Weir was sent to the stand for protesting about a Mikael Lustig foul on Barrie McKay, added: ‘He’s had a few years of not being challenged, in terms of maximising what talents he has.
‘But he’s worked tirelessly. We see it day in, day out. I think maybe Niko was a bit frustrated. He had a few shots that went wide.
‘We felt with this type of stage, he’d have the attributes to make an impact. He’ll find it disappointing for a player of his level.’