Robin Propper acknowledges underestimating Scottish Premiership difficulty

Rangers’ Dutch defender, Robin Propper, has conceded that he might have underestimated the demands of playing in the Scottish Premiership after his transfer from Twente Enschede last summer. The 31-year-old contributed to his team’s decisive 4-1 away victory over Nice in the Europa League on Thursday, which positioned them eighth in the table with 10 points. Propper and his teammates delivered another strong European performance, which stood in stark contrast to some of their domestic league displays. Propper admitted that, personally, he has performed more effectively in continental competition. “Maybe I underestimated it [the Scottish Premiership] a little bit,” he said. “Of course you know about Rangers and how big the club is, but you don’t know that much about the competition.”I took some time, played some good games and some not-so-good games. I need to be at my highest level possible again. I think you see that in European games. I can be more myself, I’m more related to the European games maybe than the Scottish ones but I think I can adjust.”It’s really different. Of course I needed time but I needed to adjust really fast because we play every three or four days.”Sometimes it’s more easy to play on the counter-attack than if you play at home at Ibrox.” Rangers currently occupy one of the automatic qualification spots for the last 16, with three matches remaining. However, with an upcoming home game against Tottenham, followed by an away fixture at Old Trafford to face Manchester United in January, and a final home game versus Union Saint-Gilloise, Propper is not yet focusing on securing a top-eight finish. “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.”