Robin Propper makes Rangers confession and admits he underestimated Scottish football

Rangers defender Robin Propper has admitted he may have “underestimated” Scottish football as he begins to settle into first-team action.

The defender caught the ire of many fans with some disconcerting performances in his first few appearances, however, he has slowly but surely started to show the Ibrox fans what he is capable of. The defender’s best performances have tended to come when Europa League action rolls around, with another solid showing against Nice on Thursday evening.

However, his domestic frailties are still apparent, and the 31-year-old admits he has had some “not-so-good games” already in his Gers tenure under Philippe Clement, but believes he can adapt to the demands of Scottish football in time. Rangers as a whole haven’t had their domestic woes to seek as of late and the former FC Twente captain admits they have suffered but reckons he knows the right solution for the side to start firing again back at home.

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“Maybe I underestimated [the Scottish Premiership] a little bit,” he confessed when quizzed on his transition from Dutch football to Scottish.

“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 Premier League. 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 a different kind of game, of course [in Europe]. We play a bit differently in the Premier League. 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, play with the counter-attacks.

“We can do both very well, only we need in the Premier League, 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've struggled a little bit, but you see in Europe, we can do that maybe much more. We are really good at it.

Rangers have a daunting double-header up next in Europe with Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham at home, followed by an away trip to Manchester United, with a final home game against Union Saint-Gilloise. Despite their relatively reliable form in Europe so far, Propper isn’t getting ahead of himself and hopes the side can “build on” their performances in the final ties.

"That’s difficult," he said. "We have a lot of big opponents coming but we want that of course. Ten points is a really good start so we can build on that."