Source: Team_Talk
Whittaker ready for big test
Steven Whittaker insists Rangers are ready for crucial games against Valencia and Celtic after fighting back from behind to thump Motherwell. The visit of the Steelmen marked the start of another important week for Walter Smith's men, who host the Spaniards in the Champions League on Wednesday before heading into the first Old Firm derby of the season.As far as Whittaker is concerned, everyone is aware of exactly what is at stake over the next seven days for the Scottish champions."It's going to be massive," said the full-back."The Motherwell game was a tricky one and the international break could have put us off track."But we got the result in this one and the next two games are ones that, as a footballer, you want to play in."We are looking forward to the challenge of the next two games and hopefully we can get the right results needed."Motherwell took a first-half lead through Nick Blackman at Ibrox but Rangers refused to crumble and hit back in a blistering spell after the break.Steven Naismith sparked the comeback, before goals from Steven Davis, Kenny Miller and Vladimir Weiss handed the Gers a 4-1 win to allow them to move clear at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.Several Ibrox players were involved in Scotland's double-header against Czech Republic and Spain and Whittaker admits it took time to find their stride.He said: "It's probably the fitness and the legs, we have played two games more than probably most of the Motherwell team and they would have come into this game a bit fresher than us."It took us maybe 45 minutes to get going but we got the goal and got a little bit of confidence from the goal and our football started to flow."We won convincingly in the end. From now until Wednesday and in between the games we will get looked after."Training will be minimal and we will try to recover as best we can and I'm sure come kick-off we will be ready to go again."Whittaker believes no team can afford to write Rangers off after staging their fourth comeback of the season against Well to maintain their 100% SPL record.He said: "It says wonders about the boys. No matter if we lose that first goal, we still believe we can win the games."Ideally, you don't want to go behind in the games but we still believe we can claw it back."Even if a team goes a goal up, they will know we have done it in the past and that we are capable of scoring numerous goals in the match and we scored four great goals in this one."