Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson has piled the pressure on Rangers ahead of their Fir Park showdown with his men tomorrow, telling Pedro Caixinha that all eyes or on him and his side.
Despite the Steelmen having home advantage, Robinson says that barely anyone is even talking about his team in the build-up to the match, let alone expecting them to get a result.
On the other hand, he knows that anything less than a win for Caixinha will have alarm bells ringing at Ibrox, particularly after the disappointment of their early Europa League exit.
That’s why he feels that it is the perfect fixture to open up what he hopes will be a successful season for the ‘Well.
“I think it’s a great time to play them,” Robinson said. “They are under pressure.
“Nobody mentions us in any of the press and nobody even mentions us being involved in this game, so hopefully we’ll surprise everybody.
“We go into the game confident that we can get something out of it.
“Playing Rangers is always good, it doesn’t matter when you play the big teams. There will be a big crowd, big atmosphere and it’s live on Sky, so if you can’t enjoy that as a player, a management team or as a club, then you shouldn’t be in football.
“We go in with lots of optimism, winning four out of four and getting into the next round of the cup.
“The players are buzzing, they’re happy around the place and there’s a real good spirit in the camp.”
Robinson isn’t sure how sharp Rangers will be given their lack of competitive action since bowing out of Europe to Progres Niederkorn, but he has been encouraged by his own side’s form in the Betfred Cup.
He feels that there is still plenty to come from his men, and striker Louis Moult in particular, who may start the game after getting an hour under his belt in last week’s win over Berwick Rangers.
“They’ve had friendlies and we’ve seen them, and to be fair, they were competitive friendlies,” he said. “They had a big crowd at Sheffield Wednesday, and they’ve played ok and got a decent result down there.
“But we’re happy with what we’ve done so far. We feel there is still a lot of improvement to come from us as well, and hopefully we can hit the ground running.
“[Moult]’s had another week’s training and I think everybody could see last week that Louis was still a wee bit behind it, but that will be a decision whether we start Louis or bring him on in some sort of capacity during the game.”
The latest arrival at Fir Park, Ellis Plummer, has meanwhile set his sights on playing a part in Sunday’s game after becoming Robinson’s tenth signing of the summer.
The former Manchester City youngster, who had a loan spell at St Mirren in 2014, has come through a tough time with injuries, and he is now focused on putting that testing experience firmly behind him.
“I’m ready to go,” said Plummer. “I came here to play games and I know there will be competition for place,s but if I get a chance I want to do my best.
“I fractured my leg 18 months ago but I’m completely over that now. It was tough but I’m fit and raring to go now.
“I’ve had a stop-start career with injuries. I just want to play football again. I had a pretty serious injury, so I’m just happy to be playing again and this is a great opportunity for me.
“It was hard mentally sometimes as I didn’t know what was going to happen but I came through the other side.
“This is the best shape I’ve been in for a long time and I just hope to contribute.”
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