GRAHAM Dorrans has refuted the inference drawn from manager Pedro Caixinha’s post-match comments that the Rangers players weren’t able to cope with the physicality of Celtic’s play. While the former Norwich midfielder said he didn’t get a clear view of the incident where Caixinha claimed Scott Brown had elbowed Alfredo Morelos under a high ball then told the midfielder that he wouldn’t have got away with it if he was on the pitch, he feels the Ibrox side are capable of taking care of themselves.
“No. I don’t think it [physicality] is an issue, no,” said Dorrans. “I was speaking to the referee because Alfredo got a foul against him 10, 15 minutes before so I thought it was pretty similar.”
The Rangers midfielder - one of seven Ibrox debutants who started the match - said he felt the Ibrox side had matched Celtic in the first half, and said the challenge from Jozo Simunovic on Alfredo Morelos “could have been a penalty”. He also bemoaned the “sloppy” mistakes which led to both Celtic goals, the first of which came from a corner which he “didn’t actually think it was a corner in the first place”.
“They scored within five minutes of half time which knocks us back a little bit but we got back in the game and had a good chance from Alfredo.”
Dorrans said it would be “tough” to overhaul Celtic’s eight-point early season gap in the table, and heaped praise on 19-year-old debutant Ross McCrorie. “Ross was great,” he said. “He came on the other night at Partick Thistle and I thought he did really well and again today, he was probably our best player. He has a good future ahead of him and hopefully he can continue playing like that.”
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