Bonnyloyal
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Veteran St Johnstone striker Steven MacLean has told Pedro Caixinha to stop wasting time with ‘mind games’ directed at opponents and devote more energy to stopping dressing-room leaks.
With Rangers facing Saints at McDiarmid Park on Friday night, the Ibrox boss claimed he had pitted his team into a bounce game against Morton during the international break because the mid-table Championship side ‘play in a similar way’ and have ‘more or less the same philosophy’ as Tommy Wright’s men.
Perceiving Caixinha’s words as a jibe at a Perth side who have finished in the Premiership top four for the past three seasons, 36-year-old MacLean urged the Portuguese to concentrate on his own club after details of a heated meeting with his players following the recent Old Firm defeat were leaked to the Press
‘I did have a little chuckle when I read his comments,’ said MacLean. ‘It is more of Pedro’s mind games. There are similarities (between St Johnstone and Morton). We both play in blue and white.
‘I don’t know where he is coming from. Maybe he is trying to wind us up. He’s doing a good job of it. We are all petrified! I think he should worry about stopping leaks coming out his dressing room.
‘He is trying to wind us up but we’re a bit long in the tooth for that. We will take care of our own business - and he can keep doing what he wants.’
Rangers are ahead of St Johnstone in third place on goal difference only, with the teams locked on 14 points after eight rounds of league fixtures.
Anticipating a tight affair, MacLean said he was looking forward to maybe even exchanging the odd word with Caixinha.
‘It is good banter and we do enjoy it. It does add a bit of spice to the game.
‘Hopefully he is feeling a bit better now and he will be on the edge of his dugout - and we will get a bit of bite off him.
‘We have been called rugby players before but we just take these things with a pinch of salt. It is water off a duck’s back.
‘People try to come up with new things every year for us. If we are doing well and people want to have a fight then it is a compliment for us. We will take everything that comes our way.
‘It is a good thing in life when somebody puts you down. It makes you want to come out the other end fighting. It is a good attitude to have - to prove people wrong. It gives you a strong mentality when people say you are not good enough.
‘Secretly we use it in the dressing room to shove ourselves on and to try and finish as high up the league as possible.
‘We enjoy folk having a dig because we know we have more sides to our game. We can fight when it gets dirty and we can play football as well. We have not finished in the top four for the past three seasons by just lumping it long.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...o-Caixinha-stop-mind-games.html#ixzz4v9PdIXkR
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With Rangers facing Saints at McDiarmid Park on Friday night, the Ibrox boss claimed he had pitted his team into a bounce game against Morton during the international break because the mid-table Championship side ‘play in a similar way’ and have ‘more or less the same philosophy’ as Tommy Wright’s men.
Perceiving Caixinha’s words as a jibe at a Perth side who have finished in the Premiership top four for the past three seasons, 36-year-old MacLean urged the Portuguese to concentrate on his own club after details of a heated meeting with his players following the recent Old Firm defeat were leaked to the Press
‘I did have a little chuckle when I read his comments,’ said MacLean. ‘It is more of Pedro’s mind games. There are similarities (between St Johnstone and Morton). We both play in blue and white.
‘I don’t know where he is coming from. Maybe he is trying to wind us up. He’s doing a good job of it. We are all petrified! I think he should worry about stopping leaks coming out his dressing room.
‘He is trying to wind us up but we’re a bit long in the tooth for that. We will take care of our own business - and he can keep doing what he wants.’
Rangers are ahead of St Johnstone in third place on goal difference only, with the teams locked on 14 points after eight rounds of league fixtures.
Anticipating a tight affair, MacLean said he was looking forward to maybe even exchanging the odd word with Caixinha.
‘It is good banter and we do enjoy it. It does add a bit of spice to the game.
‘Hopefully he is feeling a bit better now and he will be on the edge of his dugout - and we will get a bit of bite off him.
‘We have been called rugby players before but we just take these things with a pinch of salt. It is water off a duck’s back.
‘People try to come up with new things every year for us. If we are doing well and people want to have a fight then it is a compliment for us. We will take everything that comes our way.
‘It is a good thing in life when somebody puts you down. It makes you want to come out the other end fighting. It is a good attitude to have - to prove people wrong. It gives you a strong mentality when people say you are not good enough.
‘Secretly we use it in the dressing room to shove ourselves on and to try and finish as high up the league as possible.
‘We enjoy folk having a dig because we know we have more sides to our game. We can fight when it gets dirty and we can play football as well. We have not finished in the top four for the past three seasons by just lumping it long.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...o-Caixinha-stop-mind-games.html#ixzz4v9PdIXkR
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook