Ominous warning for Caixinha

Michael Stewart has warned Pedro Caixinha that he could be one week away from the sack.

Expectation of going to the top of the table by beating Partick Thistle on Friday night was met by the reality of a bang average display, two points dropped and the possibility of trailing Celtic by eight points next Saturday.

Despite a £10m spending spree there is no noticeable improvement on Mark Warburton squad with a scrap for third or fourth place looking on the cards.

Te fifth best coach in Qatar has banned green boots and bought into the survival myth hook line and sinker but there seems unable to send out a team capable of bossing Partick Thistle, Hibs or Progres Niederkorn.

Writing in The Sun Stewart states: “If Gers get knocked out of the cup and lose to Celtic the pressure on Caixinha will be immense.

“If they were to beat Thistle and then beat Celtic that pressure, in contrast, would be pretty much off.

“The bookies, meanwhile, reckon they’ll probably overcome the Jags and lose to Brendan Rodgers’ side.

“In which case Gers fans would be entitled to ask if they have indeed moved forward under Caixinha?

“And, I’ll be honest, I’m struggling to see it. I don’t sense any identity to what they are doing.

“To Caixinha’s credit Alfredo Morelos looks a hell of a signing. He took his goal brilliantly the other night but at the back, Rangers looked shaky as soon as Partick showed signs of coming back into the game.

“There’s clearly still a fragility there and that’s not historical. There are a lot of new players in that team.

“If there is ever a week where that is going to get exposed it’s the one they’ve got coming up.”

In 20 games in charge at Ibrox Caixinha has won just 11 and failed to win three in a row.

Last season the best squad in Scotland finished 39 points behind the champions after 38 matches, a defeat on Saturday with see then eight behind and seven matches.