James McFadden criticises Rangers record signing Ryan Kent for recent underdog comments

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Former Scotland international James McFadden has been discussing Ryan Kent’s recent comments about Rangers’ preference to be underdogs. 

It comes after Rangers lost more ground in the Scottish Premiership title race after a shock defeat to Hamilton at Ibrox last night. 

Rangers are now 13 points off top spot but, despite their domestic troubles, they continue to thrive in Europe. 

Rangers performed a dramatic comeback to defeat Portuguese side Braga 4-2 on aggregate in the Europa League. 

Kent scored the only goal in Portugal after a 3-2 win in Glasgow and admitted Rangers prefer being underdogs after the game, as reported by the Daily Record. 

“The fact that we’re the underdogs in this competition means there’s less tension in our play and less expectation.

“We go out there and play freely and get what we deserve. Tonight, we’ve got what we deserved.”

But McFadden, who earned 48-caps for Scotland, told BBC Sportsround after last night’s game that this mentality was a ‘huge problem’. 

“Ryan Kent, their record signing, said the other week about playing in Europe, we prefer being the underdog. That is not good enough for Rangers. That has to change.”

Rangers have really struggled to break down teams who are willing to sit back against them in recent weeks and Kent’s comments suggest a reason why. 

Steven Gerrard’s side simply prefer having to fight against the odds, rather than being favourites and that is an attitude that needs to shift if they are to ever topple their Old Firm rivals domestically.