Lee McCulloch has admitted there is now more pressure on Rangers to win the Scottish Premier League.
Midfielder aiming to bounce back quickly
Lee McCulloch has admitted there is now more pressure on Rangers to win the Scottish Premier League following their shock European exit.
Rangers made it through to the final of the Uefa Cup last season but their defeat to FBK Kaunas in a UEFA Champions League qualifier on Tuesday left them with only domestic matters to focus on for the rest of the campaign.
McCulloch has now urged all his team-mates to bounce back from the disappointment ahead of this weekend's clash at Falkirk.
"The only positive is that the season hasn't started yet," said the midfielder.
"We said from the start that we wanted the league and we have a bit of pressure on us now to win it.
"Celtic have a bit of momentum and there are other teams who will be much stronger but it all starts on Saturday.
"Things will come together. There are a lot of Scottish boys here and they know what it's all about. We will need to get it together and that will start on Saturday.
Regroup
"We have no European football now so everyone has to focus on the league and that starts on Saturday.
"Come Saturday, it's going to take men to go out and take the ball and play but that's what we are going to have to do.
"We will have to regroup for the next couple of days and have a right shot at it on Saturday."
McCulloch accepts that a poor attitude played a part in Rangers' downfall in Lithuania, and he is ready for the inevitable criticism.
Nasty
"Probably most of it will be deserved but we need to get it out of our heads," he said.
"I don't think we would have lost that game last season. We were a harder team to beat last year.
"Maybe as a group, because we had played in the Uefa Cup final and it was a good season, you think you're better than what you are and that you don't need to do the nasty bits of the game anymore.
"I though that was the case last night, I don't think we worked anywhere near as hard as we worked last year.
"We need to get back to basics and start going in the right direction again."
