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Former Scottish Premiership star Marvin Bartley insists Rangers simply could not afford to play well for just 25 minutes at Aberdeen and expect to get a result at Pittodrie.

 

Philippe Clement’s men headed to Aberdeen on Wednesday in a must-win Scottish Premiership clash, but fell behind just after the half hour point.

 

They got out of jail before half time when Jack Butland saved a penalty and were then back on terms through Nedim Bajrami in the 63rd minute.

 

 

Aberdeen did not wilt through and, despite Rangers improving in the second half, scored again through Shayden Morris to seal a famous 2-1 victory and go nine points ahead of the Gers.

 

Bartley thinks Rangers only have themselves to blame as they played well for only a short period, which is just not good enough for the Gers.

 

 

“Listen, you can’t turn up and play well for probably 25 minutes in the second half”, he said on Clyde 1’s Superscoreboard.

 

“It’s not enough.

 

 

“It really, really isn’t enough when you’re going to play against an Aberdeen team that have done so well at Pittodrie.

 

“But it’s also not enough when you play for Rangers Football Club, to turn up for 25 minutes and think ‘we’ll do OK here’.”

 

The pressure has now grown even more on Clement, who made a number of changes to the Rangers squad during the summer.

 

Speculation over a managerial change will only grow further if Rangers cannot beat Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup semi-final this weekend.