BBC Sportsound pundit Tam McManus has questioned whether Celtic’s poor form has alleviated some of the pressure off Rangers manager Steven Gerrard.
The Gers’ 1-0 defeat to Livingston on Sunday means that they are still waiting for their first win away from home in the Scottish Premiership and sees them drop down to sixth in the table, below the Hoops.
Ex-Hibernian star McManus has claimed that Gerrard would find himself under more pressure right now if Brendan Rodgers’ side were enjoying the start to the season that unbeaten Hears have had.
“If Celtic had started the season the way say Hearts have, would Stevie G be under serious pressure already? Has the fact Celtic [have] been pretty guff too taken the pressure off him? Two points from 12 away from home in the league,” he said via his personal Twitter account on Sunday.
https://twitter.com/The_Tman10/status/1046451503429488640
OPINION
McManus raises a good point. As much as fans may hate to admit it, Rangers’ success is always measured against Celtic’s and visa versa. Even though the Bhoys are suffering a poor start to the season and are six points behind leaders Hearts, they are still the favourites to win the title and the fact that Rangers are just two points behind them, means that they are still in touching distance. Gerrard’s work should not be underrated though. He has taken the Gers to the Europa League group stages and has without doubt improved on that team that he inherited at the end of last season. There is no way that Graeme Murty, Pedro Caixinha or Mark Warburton would have been able to do what the Liverpool legend has and that is also a reason why he is not facing any kind of pressure. It’s all about improvement for Rangers at the moment and the season is still young, so there’s plenty of time for form to improve in the league.