By Mark Pirie

Copyright dailyrecord

Baffled Ryan Stevenson can’t understand why Russell Martin would go public with his claim that his Rangers players are “anxious”. And the former Hearts star insists that if a boss said that about him during his playing days he would want to “fight” in the dressing room. Following defeat to the Jambos, Martin defended his tactical approach – instead throwing his players under the bus by claiming it was “the emotion” and the failure to “manage anxiety” behind the early season struggles. But the Record Sport columnist told Hotline Live that the comments will only fuel Hibs going into the Premier Sports Cup showdown this weekend. He told Keith Jackson: “If a manager said that to me, I would want to fight him. I mean, it comes with the territory of being a Rangers player. “It frustrates the life out of me, I don’t understand how a manager can come out and say ‘the players have got anxiety’ – mate, you are playing for Rangers. Jesus, what do you expect? “It’s the same when you hear people saying about Man Utd, and ‘it’s such a heavy shirt to wear’ – imagine being a soldier on the frontline, that is a heavy shirt. “These guys have the opportunity to play for Rangers. It’s a footballer’s dream. You get the opportunity to play for a massive club. “Do you know what they need to do? And it’s not rocket science, go out and run about. Go out, run about. “As soon as they went 1-0 down against Hearts, did you ever see somebody nail somebody? That’s not anxiety, that’s just bad players and the fact they don’t want to play for a badge. “That comes down to the identity of the club. They don’t know what it means to play for one of the Old Firm. “It doesn’t work out for a foreign player, they get on a plane and go home. We all know what is means to play for a Rangers or Celtic . “Saying my players have anxiety – it’s the biggest cop out ever. Can you imagine Walter Smith, or Brendan Rodgers, or any good manager saying ‘I want you to feel a bit sorry for my players, they have anxiety, they need to feel their way through this’?” Pressed on how much of a boost that could be for rival teams, Stevenson said: “You would be in the tunnel, kicking the walls, screaming at them, looking at them. The first you would be thinking is ‘I’m nailing him, let’s go’. “I could imagine Hibs’ training this week will be through the roof. They will be bouncing into training every day. If you are a Hibs player you are thinking ‘what a chance I’ve got to make a name for myself.