Rangers plead for Weiss patience

Walter Smith has pleaded with Rangers fans to not pile the pressure on loan signing Vladimir Weiss after his impressive debut in last weekend’s win over Hibernian.

The Rangers manager knows many supporters will be expecting the Slovakian World Cup star to start Saturday’s Scottish Premier League match against St Johnstone at Ibrox after the impact he made last weekend.

The 20-year-old made quite an impression in the half hour he played after replacing fellow summer signing James Beattie and set up Kenny Miller to make it 2-0 minutes after coming on.

However, Gers boss Smith says the winger should be given time to settle and build up his match fitness after a summer of inactivity with parent club Manchester City.

“We were pleased he managed to make such a big impact in his first game because we have been missing that type of player,” Smith said.

“It hasn’t hindered us overall in terms of winning championships but I think you always need that kind of player at different times.

“It was a good point for Vladimir to come on against Hibs and he made the most of his opportunity. We’re really pleased with that.

“What we have to remember is that he came to the club last week and we’ve a situation where he hasn’t had a lot of game time.

“Before he arrived here, he had only had two games with Manchester City’s reserves since the summer.

“When you consider all of our main players have six games under their belts now, he has a little bit of catching up to do and James Beattie is exactly the same.

“From our point of view, the more playing time he gets the better – but it needs to be at the right times and we can’t expect too much of him too soon.”

Following the suspension of Kyle Lafferty, who picked up a red card in last weekend’s win, Weiss is likely to get the chance to build up his playing time with a starting role against St Johnstone.

He could be joined by Croatian striker Nikica Jelavic after the four-million pound signing from Rapid Vienna secured a work permit.

St Johnstone have had a slow start to their SPL campaign picking up just one point so far but will take heart from the 4-1 thrashing they handed Rangers the last time the sides met in March.

Old Firm rivals Celtic make the trip to Fir Park to take on Motherwell looking to bounce back from their midweek Europa League exit.

Celtic have had a 100 percent start to the league campaign under Neil Lennon and were on fine form as they thrashed St Mirren 4-1 last weekend.

The Celtic manager is likely to be without defenders Charlie Mulgrew, Thomas Rogne and Mark Wilson while Andres Hinkel is a long-term injury doubt.

Also on Saturday league leaders Aberdeen will be looking to make it three wins out of three as they host Kilmarnock at Pittodrie.

Elsewhere on Sunday, St Mirren and Hibernian will both be looking to bounce back from heavy defeats to either side of the Old Firm last weekend when they met in Paisley.

Hearts will be hoping to take advantage of Dundee United’s European hangover when they clash at Tynecastle.

Fixtures

Saturday

Aberdeen v Kilmarnock, Inverness CT v Hamilton, Rangers v St Johnstone

Sunday

Motherwell v Celtic, St Mirren v Hibernian, Hearts v Motherwell