Robin Propper admits he underestimated the challenge he’d face from domestic rivals in Scotland. But the Dutch defender sees no reason why his new side can’t force themselves into the calculations for the Europa League last 16.
It’s been a tough transition for the 31-year-old since his summer switch from FC Twente, with Propper struggling to get to grips with the Premiership’s physical edge. But in European action, he’s looked more at home and was again a cool, composed figure as Rangers ran riot on the Riviera. The 4-1 victory means Gers move on to 10 points – which should guarantee them a place in February’s play-off stage.
They could yet skip that round altogether and qualify directly for the last 16, which starts in March, if they finish in the top eight of the new-look UEFA competition’s league phase. And Propper reckons his side need to aim high as they look ahead to their three final fixtures, with dates against English big guns Tottenham and Manchester United to come before their final clash at home to Belgians Union Saint Gilloise.
He said: “We have 10 points now, and I think that’s a really good start to begin with. But [finishing in the top eight], that’s difficult because every game is really difficult in the Europa League.
“We have a lot of big opponents coming ahead of us, like three big opponents. But we want that, of course. You want to be in the top eight, we want to qualify, so, yeah, we’ll try that.”
Propper is trying his best to raise his domestic performance levels after a torrid start. But he’s confident that with time and patience from the Light Blues legions, he’ll get there.
Asked if playing in Scotland had been tougher than he expected, he admitted honestly: “Yeah, maybe. Maybe I underestimated it a little bit. Of course, you know about Rangers, you know about how big the club is, but you don’t know that much about the competition.
“So, yeah, it takes some time. I played some good games, I played some not-so-good games. So, I need to be on my level again, and keep the highest level possible.
“I think you see it in European games. I’m more of myself, I’m more related to the European games maybe than the Scottish Premiership. But I think I can adjust to that, and I need some time on that. I gave myself that time, so I want to adjust to that.
“It’s really different [playing in the Premiership]. Of course, I need the time, but I need to adjust really fast, because we play every three or four days, we play a game. But we can do that, we have a good team to do that, and to talk to each other in that, and to help each other in the games. We have to switch, and we can do that.”
To be fair to Propper, he’s not the only player at Ibrox who has found Euro action easier than the competition back in Scotland Asked to explain the curious conundrum of a team slumped in the league but soaring on the continent, he said: “Yeah, it’s a different kind of game, of course. We play a bit differently, of course, in the Premiership.
“You want to have the ball as much as possible, you want to press as much as possible to show what we can do with the ball. And here, sometimes you can drop a little bit, leave the ball at the opponent, and from there on, to play with the counters, with the counter-attacks.
“We can do both very well, only we need in the Premiership that bit of, I don’t know how you say that, a bit of aggression more to score the goals, to keep a clean sheet. We struggle a little bit, but you see in Europe, we can do that maybe much more. We are really good at it.
“Is there less pressure in Europe? Yeah, but still in Europe we give the pressure ourselves, the same as in the competition, because you want to win every game.
“It doesn’t matter which team you play in, only the games are different. Sometimes in games, what I said, it’s more easy to play on a counter-attack than if you play at home at Ibrox. So, yeah, I think that’s the difference. It’s not a mindset because you play against a Scottish team and then Nice. It’s both the same. You want to win, you want to do the best you can.”
Gers now head to St Johnstone on Sunday hoping to at the very least maintain a deficit on leaders Celtic that now stands at a whopping 11 points. But Propper hopes the result in Nice can fire up his team.
He said: “You have to follow up the games. We win now, and in three days we have another game, so we need to be focused on the next game again.”