MILLER EARNS HIS KORN FOR GERS
Caixinha confident Gers will make Euro Progres despite stuttering start
PEDRO CAIXINHA is confident Rangers can see off Progres Niederkorn and book their place in the second round of the Europa League after a 1-0 win at Ibrox last night.
The Light Blues marked their return to continental competition with a comfortable performance and a deserved victory on home soil. A Kenny Miller effort after 36 minutes was all that separated the sides on the night but Caixinha was satisfied with the Gers’ showing.
He said: “I am not patient, no. But we need to understand where we are. This is the first challenge.
“We were all expecting to maybe win some more. But we have to give value to the team we were facing. They played
with their weapons, defending and looking for a mistake from us.
“I think they did a great job defending. We could have done a better job of exploring the space, definitely, and getting more presence in the box.
“If we were not having the quality and the ideas since we have been working on day one, I would maybe a bit more worried.
“But I know that it is a question of time. And I know for sure that next Tuesday the team will be much better.
“It is half time and we are winning. We also know the away goal is important.
“I don’t want the team to think that we are winning going there and to just think about a draw or a 2-1 or whatever.
“I’m not thinking like that. I just think about winning. This is the mentality of our club and the standards demanded. This is the way we need to think.
“We are going there to play it like a final. And when the game starts we have to have to think the game is a draw and that a win will take us to the next stage.”
Caixinha handed debuts to Fabio Cardoso, Ryan Jack, Dalcio, Daniel Candeias and Alfredo Morelos following a productive close season in the transfer market.
But it was midfielder Niko Kranjcar that was the top performer for the Gers as he returned to the team following a lengthy spell out of action.
Caixinha said: “He’s a fantastic player, a playmaker, he’s someone that understands the game, some freshness in the legs and some freshness in his decisions, we were producing some fantastic football.
“He knows how to play between lines, how to make the last pass, his delivery on set-pieces were great. So he needs to keep playing to get the rhythm.
“We are building a team and we know it’s better to build with a small result but at the same time a win. We want to progress and keep going in this competition but, of course, in the second leg we need to do more and we want to keep going.”