Rangers expecting 'nasty' Hibs this weekend as rough and tumble Easter Road battle predicted by Danny Rohl
The Rangers boss has been talking over the game against Hibs this weekend.
Danny Rohl admits he expects a rough and tumble affair when Hibs host his Rangers side this weekend.
David Gray’s Hibees are seeking a big result in the Premiership after losses to Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Cup and Falkirk in recent weeks. They face a Rangers side who have built momentum domestically and currently sit second, four points off leaders Hearts.
Rangers have won all three matches in all competitions against Hibs this season, winning 1-0 last time out at Easter Road in October. After elimination from the Europa League following a clash with Portuguese side Porto on Thursday, Rohl said he expected the latest battle with Hibs to be a fiery one.
What are Rangers expecting from Hibs?
He said: “For me it's now the next game. Hibs is a completely different game against a team who will fight, who will be nasty. It's a different challenge but we have to be ready for this, and I see at the moment a team who really knows what I want, and this is fantastic. I think in general we enjoy playing in Europe. I think this is also important, especially for us.
“I see this as a challenge for the new season as well. We want to do better, we want to come into the knockout rounds. But this season, now we have fully focused on 15 matchdays in the league and hopefully four cup games, It helps us in two and a half weeks to have normal weeks. It's the first time that we can really train, we can be fresh. At the moment we did well with the rotation.
“I think everyone has played a big part but in the next two and a half weeks we have big, big games ahead, and for this we need everyone. Some players come back, some players trained Thursday. We kept one coach in Glasgow as well to be prepared as best as possible and then we go again with full conviction to win the next game in the league.
Danny Rohl on Porto 3-1 Rangers
“You never know, you never know (give an edge in the title race) but I think it helps, especially for the preparation. I think this is always a different way. I must be lying when I say I'm happy we're out. That's not true because we want to play this competition, we want to play in this night, in this good stadium, but I'm also looking forward to the league what we can do as a group.”
On the clash against Hibs, Rangers defender Emmanuel Fernandez said: "We know it's a big 15 games left but I feel like we just need to take it game by game, focus on each game and bring a good performance on Sunday. I feel like as much as we've got to focus on other teams, we've got to focus on ourselves as well, we've got to focus on bringing the best of ourselves each game and make sure that every game we bring a good result.
"I feel like everyone's come together and we're putting in results. I feel like there's a lot more to come from this team. We put this game to rest. We don't think about it and we move on to the next."