CHARLIE MILLER admits Rangers’ new recruits must hit the ground running in the Premiership if the pressure on Pedro Caixinha’s shoulders is to ease this summer.

The Portuguese has come under fire in recent days following the embarrassing Europa League exit at the hands of minnows Progres Niederkorn.

The Gers were beaten 2-0 in Luxembourg last week as their return to continental action proved to be a short-lived one and they fell at the first qualifying round.

Caixinha now has less than a month to regroup ahead of the trip to Motherwell that will kick-off the new Premiership campaign.

After overhauling his side with a multi-million pound spending spree this summer, the Ibrox boss has to see his side fly out of the starting blocks this season.

And nine-in-a-row hero Miller knows the focus will be firmly fixed on Caixinha and his players as soon as the competitive action gets underway again.

Miller said: “He will either stay by his decisions or be fired by his decisions and it is only him that can make those choices.

“I want him to do well, I really do. I will support him but last week was a huge disappointment and a hard one to take.

“They need to get off to a good start in the league, definitely. But that was the case whether they won last week or got beat last week. Rangers need to start well.

“I think the signings of Bruno Alves, Ryan Jack and Graham Dorrans are good but I don’t know much about the other boys.

“They will want time to settle but at Rangers you don’t get time and that is the difference.

“We need to be finishing ahead of Aberdeen and we need to be finishing ahead of Celtic, although that is going to be difficult this season.

“We have to believe that we can. I hope we can but it is going to be really difficult.

“We need to start the season well and get as many wins on the board as possible. The players will get confidence from that and we will see where we go from there.”