CONDITION

BOSS NEEDS STARS TO SHINE Murty refuses to lay into players in bid to protect fragile confidence

GRAEME MURTY is refusing to savage ragged Rangers in a bid to protect what remains of their fragile confidence.

It hasn’t taken the newly-appointed Ibrox manager long to crash into a crisis.

Just 24 hours after being confirmed as gaffer for the remainder of the season, Murty was left shellshocked as his team blew a lead for a second straight game to sink to a crushing defeat.

Following the 3-1 home defeat to St Johnstone the 2-1 away loss at Kilmarnock has pushed the boss to the brink of despair.

Murty knows it’s not good enough. He knows his players are letting themselves and their supporters down far too often. He knows chucking away leads against lesser sides and crumbling at the first signs of pressure is not on.

But with a huge game against Motherwell looming tomorrow and an Old Firm trip to Celtic Park just three days later next up for his under-fire squad he’s chosen to bite his lip.

Murty feels lambasting the underachievers during these difficult times may do more harm than good and strip out the last remnants of their self belief.

But while he’s managing to keep his anger in check at this precise moment, he admits it’s not easy to hold back from blasting out some home truths.

He said: “I’m a passionate guy. I want to do really well. I’ve never hidden that.

“But we’ve got a game coming up on Wednesday and we need people who are confident and brave and able to express their ability.

“And if I did anything on Saturday to erode that then that is a negative impact I will have had.

“I need to find a way eventually to have a positive impact on these players so they walk out confident on to the pitch feeling intense and aggressive.

“Maybe they possibly even need to feel a little bit wounded and go out and put it right on Wednesday.”

Perhaps it’s his short time in post which is bringing the hesitation in letting rip but the manager would be well within his rights to have a severe pop and tear strips off some of them. Of course there are some key men missing. Graham Dorrans, Kenny Miller and Bruno Alves were crocked for the Killie game. Ryan Jack was suspended and Josh Windass is banned for tomorrow’s clash with the Steelmen.

But none of these absentees offer enough of an excuse to cover the paucity of the last two performances.

Saints and Killie were stronger mentally and physically and Murty accepts the collapses which have occurred during the past 180 minutes are just not acceptable.

He said: “You have to be able to do it. You have to be able to stand up and deal with whatever the opposition throw at you and then go and play your stuff.

“I thought Kilmarnock were good at what they did. We stood up to it at times. But at times that isn’t enough.

“As a defender you have to be immaculate, you have to do it every time. And we didn’t reach that level last Saturday.

“The frustrating thing for me is that it’s not that we can’t do it but that we can’t appear to do it consistently.

“So we need to find a way to cope better with what our opponents are doing.

“There is too much variation between our good stuff and our bad stuff.

“The gap between us being in a good moment and in bad moment is too large. And when that happens, such as against Kilmarnock, we look vulnerable.

“With time, with coaching and with good man-management, a player has to be able to take that learning on board and deal with what a coach is asking him to do.

“Also a player has to be able to step up and deal with the challenge as it is thrown to him. And if we can do that we’ve got a chance.”

Murty is aware scrutiny on him and his players will only disappear when performances reach a consistently high level. But he has warned there is plenty of work to do and has challenged the players to handle the heat.

He added: “I could stand here and talk all day about what I want to do and what didn’t work, etc. But at the heart of it the guys have to go out on to the pitch and execute at a high level.

“People are going to judge me, people are going to say whatever they want to say, about me and about the club.

“What we have to do if we want these perceptions to change is know that we are the only people who can do anything about it. And if we want to change things we will have to do it through actions. We need to do something about it.

“Confidence is a big thing in football and we have to make sure that we take care of the Motherwell game before that (Celtic) one.

“I have no doubt the fans and the players will be up and raring to go and caught up in the Old Firm fever.

“But we have to make sure that before we do that we get some structure, basics and fundamentals done really well so as to give us a good chance of success.”

GRAHAM MURTY