Chris Sutton shares Rangers transfer verdict after Scottish Premiership ‘reality check’
Chris Sutton believes the new Rangers players need time to bed in at Ibrox after their “eye-opener” against Kilmarnock.
Many of Michael Beale’s summer signings featured as the Gers lost 1-0 to Kilmarnock in their Scottish Premiership opener.
Rangers bounced back from that defeat with a 4-0 Scottish Premiership win against Livingston on Saturday (12 August).
“It’s been a difficult start to the season for them,” Sutton said live on The Monday Night Club on BBC 5 Live Sport (14 August). “I do think that Michael Beale needs plenty of time for his recruitments to bed in. There’s been a lot of changes, he’s brought a lot of players in.
“They lost their first league game of the season against Kilmarnock on a really difficult pitch, and then were inevitably written off by various people, but I’ve never seen a good game on a plastic pitch.
“Kilmarnock were really well organised. I do think it would have been a reality check for a lot of the new signings who came across to Scotland and probably thought they would go home with a comfortable victory. That would have been a bit of an eye-opener.”
Baptism of fire
It’s been a tough start to the new season for Beale and his new-look Rangers side, who kicked off things in the worst way possible with that 1-0 loss to Kilmarnock.
They may still be using the plastic pitch as an excuse for the result, but such excuses simply do not work for clubs wanting to be successful in Scottish football.
Celtic are already on six points from their two matches, and they will certainly want to continue their winning ways under the returning Brendan Rodgers as the months go on.
It means that Beale’s men also need to keep winning, with the upcoming Old Firm clash already set to be a key fixture in the expected title race between the two giants of Scottish football.
Rangers must also focus on European football, however, when they take on Swiss side Servette in their Champions League third round second leg qualifier on Tuesday (15 August).
In other Rangers news, one Gers star has sent a three-word message amid a “serious” injury scare.