Rangers midfielder Niko Kranjcar admits that everything changed in his psychology after the Gers were dumped out of the Europa League in the first qualifying round.

The Glasgow giants, then under Pedro Caixinha, had been tipped to make short work of Luxembourg-based team Progres Niederkorn, but came up short over two legs and astonishingly crashed out of the Europa League at the first hurdle.




Kranjcar, who has struggled to get going for Rangers this season with injuries not helping, admits that the European exit was a turning point and ended his feel-good factor.

"[When you are out injured] you miss the ball, you miss the lads, you miss playing out there, it wasn't a great period for me. The Niederkorn game, the first one at home I was feeling really good and then after that you get kicked out of Europe and everything changes in your psychology", Kranjcar was quoted as saying by the Evening Times. 
 


"After that, I got a small niggle after the Marseille game, which then took me two weeks to recover from, and since then it has been an up and down season", he added.

relatedNewsStory

The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder feels that so far Rangers fans have only seen flashes of what he is capable of.

And he insists he will keep working hard in order to let his quality shine through, if selected by caretaker boss Graeme Murty or whoever comes after the youth coach.

"This season, I can’t be happy with myself, with my form and with the team’s form. Whichever way you look at it.

"I think the fans are only seeing glimpses unfortunately. I’m still going to try to do my best to impress.

"I’m in the squad and I’m fit for selection.

"The last setback was only 10 days that I missed in training, but since then I haven’t been selected to play under the previous manager as I was working my way back to fitness again", Kranjcar added.

So far this season the 33-year-old has made a total of seven appearances across all competitions for Rangers, providing his team-mates with two assists, one of which came in the Europa League against Progres Niederkorn.