Rangers won the league at a canter last season, but their performance in both domestic cup competitions was disappointing and Steven Gerrard admitted that they need to rectify that.
Gerrard’s side have made a slow start to the season and while they are at top of the league table, they dropped points at home in their 1-1 draw against Motherwell at the weekend.
Rangers assistant boss Gary McAllister insisted that the Scottish League Cup quarter-final against Livingston is massive and Craigan feels that kind of rhetoric shows that the Gers are under pressure.
The former Scottish Premiership star feels that the spark is missing from Rangers this season and coupled with their struggles in the cups, Gerrard’s team are under real pressure ahead of tonight.
Craigan said on the Go Radio Football Show: “You can feel [there is real pressure on Rangers].
“The fact that Gary McAllister is saying that Livingston at home is massive, you just feel the weight coming on.
“They have invested so much in the squad, they won the league title last season, they haven’t started this season firing on all cylinders, they have looked at Livingston beating Celtic and thinking this is going to be tougher than we anticipated.
“On any other season, they would have seen Livingston at home and said, that’s fine but that pressure suddenly adds to the players.
“They didn’t defend particularly well at the weekend, they missed opportunities, Ryan Kent is not there and there is something missing about Rangers.”
He added: “They are still a good side with good players but they need one performance and one moment that can certainly light the game up.
“But all these expectations and the pressure goes on because the players are fully aware that they have not won a cup.
“Last season, they didn’t even get to Hampden to play a semi-final and so that just starts to build the pressure a little bit more and it might creep in.”
Livingston are coming into the game on the back of beating Celtic in the league at home on Sunday.
