Kieran Dowell on Rangers pressure, Cantwell and Cifuentes

Here is everything he had to say.

How much did you enjoy your first competitive game at Ibrox on Wednesday?

Yeah, brilliant. It felt like a long time coming. It feels like I've been here so long already. I obviously had a few friendlies already there, but the atmosphere was incredible. That was massive for us for how we needed to start in the fixture and those two early goals, I think a lot of that has to do with the crowd as well.

Is the tempo in the first 20 minutes what you’re looking to take into tomorrow?

100 percent, yeah. I think that was also what came on the back of Kilmarnock as well. We probably have to be more positive, more running forward, and more energy in our game and I think especially in the first half that's what we had.

Can you see the team getting better with every training session and every game?

100 percent, yeah. I think the more time we have together the more we'll gel, the more we'll understand each other and how we want to play. There's a lot of time to play to come in, so I'm sure it'll all come together nicely.

Has last week opened your eyes to the pressure and expectation on you?

I wouldn't say it was a surprise. I think I understand as much as anyone how disappointing that was to get beat last week. I wouldn't say it's come as a shock, but I've seen it firsthand the pressure of this club and as I said, that's why I came to this club.

Is this game a good game to keep everyone on their toes ahead of Tuesday and what happened last week?

Yeah, I think so. To be fair, the way we have to go, it's got to be game by game at the minute. We've got a game every three to four days so we've not really looked into the next fixture. It's all about Livingston so we've just been focused on that really.

In terms of what you were expecting from Scottish football, has it delivered already?

I guess so with the previous game with teams trying their best to stop us and trying their best to frustrate us, which happened last week. It's about learning from that. I think we'll have a similar test tomorrow against Livingston. We're going to come up against that a lot, so we need to definitely find a way to beat them.

What has the manager told you about the threats that Livingston pose?

They’re a direct side, they’re good from set-pieces and they’ll camp in on the edge of the box to try and defend in numbers.

They’re minnows in the league but can sometimes get a surprise result, that makes them dangerous, doesn’t it?

Of course, but we go into every game trying to win. So we're going to expect to win. We're going to expect to dominate the ball and we're going to have to get a result.

Is it easy to park the Champions League and concentrate on this game?

It is, to be fair, I think the way we are as footballers, you've got to get used to that. If you do look too far ahead then you can slip up. I think the focus has to be on tomorrow.

How much do you relish the pressure?

Yeah, love it. You see it already in the game at Ibrox. The fans are willing you to play forward to, to be positive and I think that’s what we've got to do going forward. That’s what we as players want to do alongside the fans, everyone’s in the same boat really.

Have you seen in the dressing room a group of players ready to do all they can for this club?

Yeah, I think the way we've recruited the lads who’re already here, everyone's aware of where we want to go, what we want to do. So everyone's going in the same direction.

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Are you playing with the intensity the fans want you to play or is there more to come?

There’s definitely more to come. As I said earlier, that was the issue against Kilmarnock. We didn’t do enough to disjoint the opposition. We did dissect that and that’s what came out in the first half against Servette. It should’ve been the whole game but it’s good signs.

How does it feel with the fans urging you forward all the time?

I think that's what everyone wants to see. You don't really want to take your foot off the gas as a player. We want to be an exciting team, we’ve got exciting players, so we want to see it as much as the fans do. People being positive, people running forward and playing forward.

What do you make of Jose Cifuentes?

He looks like a top player. I think you could probably see in the small time he played against Servette. He won the ball back so many times. I think that would be great for me, to get on the ball and he’s settled in well already.

How important is it to have the flexibility to change positions in-game?

100 percent, yeah. As I said earlier, with the number of games we're going to have, we're going to need different players for different games and different styles and what we want to play. We've got a wide array of different styles and different types of players.

What do you expect from Todd Cantwell this season?

He had a great start in the second half of last season so I think it’ll be more of the same from him. He is the kind of player who plays on the front foot so as long as he enjoys his football, I think he'll do well this season.

How does Scottish football differ from England in terms of the physical challenge you face?

I think you come up against all different oppositions, don't you? A lot of teams will want to make it that sort of way in this league, maybe more so than in England. But whatever comes, if they want to play football, we can do that or if they want to get in a battle that’s sound as well.