MARK Warburton, the Rangers manager, last night responded to criticism of Niko Kranjcar and insisted his high-profile summer signing will flourish in Scotland when he gains full fitness.
Kranjcar, the former Portsmouth, Spurs and Queens Park Rangers forward, was substituted in the second half of his side’s Ladbrokes Premiership opener against Hamilton Academical at Ibrox on Saturday.
The former Croatian internationalist failed to make an impression in a match his team drew 1-1 and his underwhelming individual display drew some negative comments from many Rangers supporters.
Read more: Experienced Gilks relishing new sweeper keeper role under Warburton at Rangers
Warburton, whose team take on Peterhead in the second round of the Betfred Cup at home tonight, believes the 31-year-old, along with several other new arrivals, needs time to achieve peak condition and will only excel when he does.
“Niko is a player who, for the last three or four years, hasn’t been properly challenged,” he said. “He has now got a chance to show how good he can be. He is supremely talented ball player. He does stuff in training every day that takes your breath away.
“But he is working tirelessly. I have watched how hard he has worked. I have watched the body fat that he has shed and the skin fold that he has shed and he is still working tirelessly. He is one of many players who have still got more to go. It is that stage of the season.
“But there are no doubts that he is a very special talent. It is our job to work with him, and all the other players, to give him the best chance to be the best he can possibly be.”
Read more: Experienced Gilks relishing new sweeper keeper role under Warburton at Rangers
Warburton added: “If you’re away from your main job for four or five years, you don’t come straight back in in a month and come back in again. He’s worked hard. The obvious one if shedding body fat. It’s everything else around it, the heart and lungs, the application, the concentration.
“You can see he knows how good he can be, but that goes for a number of players. Joey Barton will tell you that he’s not ready yet, Lee Hodson is not quite ready yet, Matt Gilks is not ready yet, but they are all getting there.
“Our job as staff is to make sure we get there. It’s not a sprint. It’s not about saying Niko must be fit by 3 o’clock this coming Saturday. As long as we get him into a situation where he delivers his best over a consistent period of time, we’ll be okay, but I can’t put a timescale on it.”
“He needs match-time, he needs training time. It’s not just about Niko Kranjcar. What does Joey need? What does Lee Hodson need? What does Jordan Rossiter need?”
Read more: Experienced Gilks relishing new sweeper keeper role under Warburton at Rangers
Meanwhile, Warburton has revealed the injury Martyn Waghorn, the striker who limped off after netting the equaliser against Hamilton at the weekend, has suffered may not be as bad as Rangers medical staff initially suspected.
“He has become a lot more comfortable in the last couple of days,” he said. “He got a knee in the back just before the injury so I hope it’s more spasm related. He has presented better than we hoped. He will have a scan tomorrow and we will see how he is then.”
“We obviously feared the worst when it happened. After 80 minutes he goes down. That is fatigue related. You obviously fear the worst. If you get a really bad hamstring you could be out for several weeks. Hopefully, touch wood, that is not the case.”
The Englishman has been an outspoken critic of the new League Cup format and he believes the injury Waghorn, who was his top scorer last season, suffered showed the need for a different start to the season. He believes it would help Scottish clubs in their early European outings.
Read more: Experienced Gilks relishing new sweeper keeper role under Warburton at Rangers
“I can’t turn around and say: ‘Martyn got injured because of the League Cup’,” he said. “The Burnley game was a real test for us. But I am going home every night and watching the International Champions Cup. The quality of their pre-season programme is magnificent.
“All the teams involved are having a high quality pre-season programme and a really extensive one as well. All of their players have been challenged right the way through. I just think we, and not just Rangers, all the clubs, have got to give ourselves the best quality pre-season programme.
“You have teams going in (to Europe) and they are only two or three weeks into their pre-season programme. All that work done by a club to get into Europe and they could be out in a game or a game and a half. It is just nonsense.”
“But there are no excuses. That pre-season wasn’t ideal, but we’ve got a great training facility here, there are no excuses, far from it. The players are fit and will keep on getting fitter and will benefit from playing more competitive games.
“There are no excuses. If gaps appear it’s because of our inadequacies, not because of our lack of preparation.”
Meanwhile, Warburton stressed he was comfortable with Dave King, the chairman and major shareholder, stressing that Rangers must finish in the top two in the Premiership in the coming season.
“That’s the expectation,” he said. “We’re well aware of the weight of expectation that goes from the top all the way down. It’s Rangers Football Club, the history of the club is such that second is last."
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