Nadim Bajrami reckons Steaua Bucharest felt the force of Rangers’ Rugby Park backlash. But the Ibrox playmaker insists his under-pressure side now need to show the same spite against St Mirren on Sunday.
Gers’ Albanian ace was every bit as frustrated and angry last weekend as the furious travelling Light Blue legions who let rip after the costly Killie defeat.
Philippe Clement’s side trudged off the plastic pitch kicking themselves having blown a golden opportunity to claw themselves back into the title race. But they turned their irritation at dropping six points adrift of Celtic and Aberdeen into Europa League fuel as they turned the heat up on sorry Steaua.
The Romanians were swept aside 4-0 as Tom Lawrence and Hamza Igamane netted either side of Czech winger Vaclav Cerny’s sublime double. It’s too early to say if Clement’s team have turned a corner after their troubled start to the season.
But one thing Thursday night has proved to Bajrami is that if Rangers are serious about competing, they need to play with the same ferocity they showed as they bamboozled Bucharest – starting on Sunday when they host Stephen Robinson’s Buddies.
The £3.5million summer signing said: “After Sunday we knew we had to show a reaction, not only for us but also for the fans.
“We did it, it was a great performance from everyone, even the subs who went into the game. We have to look forward now to Sunday.
“It was not just the fans, the whole team was a little bit angry after the weekend. Thursday night was a big game and we showed a big reaction. So it was very important for us to show the fans that we knew what we had to do and we’ll show it again on Sunday.
“Nobody wants to lose, we always want to win. We showed against Steaua a big game, we won 4-0 in the Europa League. This was also our goal and we prepared the game very well.”
Clement insisted after his team’s Killie calamity he would not make an excuse out of the Ayrshire astro. But Bajrami admitted he struggled to cope as he experienced the tricky synthetic surface for the first time. However, once back on home turf, the former Sassulo star reckons the Rangers support saw what his team are really capable of.
“In football there are no excuses, but even the pitch at Kilmarnock was a difficult pitch for us,” he said. “On Thursday back home at Ibrox we showed that we have a lot of qualities, even with young players. It was a case of going back to basics, as I said before we showed a big reaction, everyone was doing a high press, aggressive.
“We won the duels and in front of the goal we took our chances. So no matter who scores, it’s important that we won and we showed the reaction because on Sunday we didn’t win and we didn’t play.”
The headlines and messageboards didn’t exactly make for pleasant reading for Clement and his men in the days after losing to Derek McInnes’ team as critics rushed to pen the obituaries for another failed title bid.
Some punters have been forecasting the death of the manager’s tenure at the club too, with next Wednesday’s trip to Pittodrie still a potentially perilous test for the big Belgian. But Bajrami doesn’t believe the writing is on the wall for his boss.
He said: “We knew that Bucharest were a good team. So we tried to press them, we pressed them well. And in front of the goal we showed our quality and we scored a lot of goals. This was important for us.
“We knew our quality, even the quality of the coach. We are all behind him and on Thursday we showed again that we are a great club with young players and old players, with mixed players.
“And we have to keep going like this. I think this has to be the standard. But we have to think game by game because we have a lot of games now and everyone has to be ready, every player.
“We have to play every game higher and higher and to try to win every game. These things about pressure are always the newspapers who write them because when you lose, everyone speaks bad about you.
“When you win, everyone speaks good about you. So sometimes we don’t need to read about the newspaper. We showed on Thursday against a good Bucharest side a big reaction and this was important for us, for the coach and for the fans.
“I know about these expectations because I can play under pressure. So even when I play with the national team, even here, I have a lot of experience. I’m still young but with a little bit of experience.
“So for me it’s nice to play in front of these fans. Now you play football, you don’t have just one position. So it’s a lot of movement, even with Tom and Jeff I find myself really enjoying my football with them, even if I play on the left. So for me it’s OK.”
Cyriel Dessers stormed off in a huff after a slap in the face from Steaua defender Mihai Popescu left him suffering vision problems.
But Igamane at last showed his eye for goal as the Moroccan kid bagged his first goal since his £2million switch from AS FAR Rabat.
With Dessers’ form levels hitting rock bottom after a six-game goal drought, the Rangers faithful are united in their belief the 21-year-old now deserves a run.
And Bajrami is excited about what he’s got to offer. He said: “We were very happy for Hamza because he’s working a lot. And finally he scored. I hope he can do this also on Sunday and everyone has to keep going like that.
“Hamza and Jefte can be top players in the next few years. They have a big future ahead. But they have to work a lot because football is like that.”