Lee Wallace: Pundits are tougher on Pedro Caixinha than Brendan Rodgers

Rangers captain Lee Wallace has questioned if manager Pedro Caixinha get equal treatment from the media compared to Celtic's Brendan Rodgers. Picture: Paul Devlin/SNS

The Ibrox side travel to Firhill tonight to face Partick Thistle – their first live BT Sport game since their 3-1 win over Ross County in Dingwall three weeks ago. Infamously, the post-match coverage that day included Caixinha being quizzed by the channel’s pundits and, in particular, grilled by former Celtic striker Chris Sutton over the Portuguese coach’s assertion that he has the best squad in Scotland.

Asked if he felt Caixinha had received more criticism because he was a foreigner, Wallace replied: “I remember watching and I did feel there was a small part of that.

“I’m not sure – if it had been Brendan Rodgers standing next to the guys – that that might have been the way that the questions were going.

“These guys are in these jobs for these reasons, and we will never complain about that. We just have to get on with it, keep fighting through that, and understand that sometimes that is the way the things go, especially being at a top club.

“We are always ready for these kind of situations and I think the manager was quite strong and handled himself well.”

Wallace has no problem with Caixinha “talking up” the Rangers players, despite the fact that Celtic, whom they face at Ibrox a week tomorrow, appear untouchable in their pursuit of a seventh consecutive top-flight title.

He said: “We always respect whatever the manager says and, at the same time as an aspiring coach myself, I can totally understand where the manager is coming from.”

Wallace, who coaches East Of Scotland League side Tynecastle FC, added: “I get where you guys [in the media] take it and how you take it, which is fine, but I can totally understand that the manager is showing he has got top faith in his players as individuals and as a team.

“One day, we want to make sure that he is proven right.

“It is nice [when he says it]. Whether it is a training day, when we watch his press conferences or the pre-match stuff, the one thing he is, is inspirational.

“He is very passionate and very motivated and we respond well to that.

“We respect what he says and we want to try to prove him right in the long run.”