Rangers star John Lundstram has suffered a backlash for comments he made about the gap between Celtic and the Ibrox side as fan frustrations with the midfielder bubble.
Dubbed the Best on Earth for his star showings in the Europa League Final run, the domestic side of things has never been the Scouser’s forte.
Now in his second full season at Ibrox, the club’s domestic downturn during his stint in Glasgow has been evident as Celtic spend big and Rangers stagnate.
But John Lundstram insists that the perceived gap between the two clubs isn’t as gargantuan as the League Cup Final defeat would suggest.
Rangers, with John Lundstram amongst the worst performers on the park, were abysmal on the day as the club succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against their Old Firm rivals far too easily.
John Lundstram demands Celtic improvement
With a Premiership Old Firm clash at Celtic Park on the horizon, Rangers will need to find some form to overcome a team they’ve been beaten by three and four goals in the last two seasons.
Lundstram has demanded improvement as the club head into the match.
“We’ve got to keep on fighting to try and draw back some points,” said John Lundstram.
“But we have to perform better than we did in the Cup Final. The gap looked a lot bigger that day because we weren’t great and they played well. So we must put up a better showing.
“If we do that you’ll see the gap probably isn’t as big as what people make it out to be. We’ll speak internally about our game plan.
“But we need to put up a better fight and show better quality on the ball than we did in the past. Our past results at Parkhead haven’t been good enough. So we need to put on a better show.
“We need to make a statement every week here. I get it, it’s a big game. It’s nothing more than three points right now – but we need to prove something to ourselves.
“We need to prove we can play our fluid football in that game. I haven’t seen that as much as I’ve wanted to against Celtic. We need to be decisive in both boxes next week. In big games, that’s what it comes down to.”
Ahead of big games like this, it’s better to do your talking on the park and whilst John Lundstram isn’t saying anything wrong here, he’s heaping the pressure on the Rangers side ahead of the clash with Celtic.
The midfielder has quite simply not delivered enough – at least domestically – since joining from Sheffield Utd and he needs to follow up these comments with a big showing next weekend.