The Rangers player taken aback by level of criticism aimed at Ibrox men after Celtic defeat

John Lundstram played no active part when Rangers were hauled off the Premiership summit by Celtic last week.

Rangers midfielder John Lundstram returned to the starting line-up for the 5-0 win over Hearts at Ibrox last Sunday. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

But his role as an unused substitute certainly didn’t leave the midfielder immune to the impact of the hail of criticism which rained down on the Scottish champions for their performance in the 3-0 Old Firm defeat at Celtic Park.

The unrelenting intensity of the post-mortem was another eye-opener for Lundstram who admits it has exceeded anything he anticipated when making the move from Sheffield United to Rangers last summer.

“It’s definitely, definitely bigger at Rangers, one hundred percent,” he said. “I knew how much of a big club it was before I joined.

“But I didn’t quite realise how big that it is and the scrutiny you come under to perform. Of course, you get that at other clubs and you’ve got to perform. But a club like Rangers is such a big club that it’s hard to put into words, really.”

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s response to the defeat saw Lundstram benefit as one of four changes to the team for Sunday’s 5-0 win over Hearts at Ibrox. It was only the 27-year-old’s second Premiership start under the Dutch coach and he performed well in a vibrant overall team display.

"It has galvanised us, definitely,” added Lundstram. “It shouldn’t take something like that (Old Firm defeat) to do that. But you saw the reaction (against Hearts) and now we’ve got to keep it going (against Hibs at Ibrox on Wednesday) and show the same mentality going forward.

"That’s got to be the standard now. You can see with Rangers you’ve got to be on the front foot at all times and that’s what we were against Hearts. But we’ve got to keep it going now. That’s the minimum really.

"The lads were performing well up until the Celtic game. Well, a couple of games before the Celtic game, we weren’t great. But we were winning games and it was hard for me to get a look in.

“But we weren’t great against Celtic and that’s what I’m there for when rotation is needed. There are dips in form and injuries, so when the squad gets rotated you’ve got to go in and take your chance. And hopefully I’ve done that.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.