Family guy Pedro happy to be huggy Bear to get best out of sporran legion
TALKING RANGERS
IT IS good to talk. Whether it is about football or family, Pedro Caixinha’s door will always be open. The Portuguese has assembled a multi-cultural and multi-lingual squad at Ibrox with each player’s needs and demands unique.
If Rangers are to be successful this season, all the pieces must fit together. It is Caixinha that must undertake the building work.
The Light Blues boss has seen Bruno Alves ease through his first few weeks at Ibrox, while Daniel Candeias has been a solid and steady performer and Alfredo Morelos has emerged as a potential goal hero for supporters to worship.
But the transition to life at Rangers has been more difficult for some, with Mexican pair Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera still to showcase their talents this term.
With so many new faces on board, it was always going to take time for Rangers to gel and get up to speed in the Premiership. Every player will progress at their own rate and Caixinha will look to play his part.
“The process is dynamic, you will see that,” Caixinha said. “Maybe when some of the guys who you rightly say are still adapting reach that point, some of the others might be coming down a bit.
“We try to work the same way from the first day of the season to the last. We work according to the process.
“What does a player need at this particular moment in time to be in a good moment?
“Is it for me to be with him on a one v one, more time with him, talking about everything except football? Maybe they need that sometimes.
“Or maybe they need something about the specificity or the physicality of playing that position on the pitch.
“Maybe he needs something to understand in different moments of the game, so I just show him small videos and shapes, move the striker here or there, this decision, that decision.
“That is my work on a daily basis, to understand how they are and what they need at this moment of time. To try to get the right balance for them to be at a different level is difficult for them to get.”
While most of Caixinha’s squad are still settling into their new surroundings this term, the Portuguese this week passed his sixth-month anniversary at Ibrox.
Having overhauled his squad during the summer, Caixinha must now get the best out of it as he looks to lift silverware with Rangers this term.
His work on the training pitch has to manifest itself into results on the park. The individual conversations are just as important as the group lectures.
HE SAID: “Above the football player, you have a man. A social being, a human being, and he needs to be treated like that.
“If I don’t get this sort of relationship then maybe the relationship is going to just be a professional relationship and I don’t want that to happen. I want them to be close to me, the way I am close to them.
“For example, when I am having an interview process with them, and I know that some of their sons or daughters are sick, I follow it up, the day after I say to them ‘your son is better?’
“Or maybe they have some sort of investment, a new house or they are building a new house, I follow the process.
“They are really my sons, and I spend more time with them than my real blood sons. That is the reality. I spend much more time here as a family than I do with my actual family. So that is the way we have to behave.
“It is important for everyone. I just need to treat them with equity. Each one wants different things but the treatment they expect from me has to be the same.
“Have no difference between a younger one, an oldest one, the one who plays more, the one who plays left, the one who scores more goals, the one who doesn’t score more goals. I need them to be equal to all.”
After a faltering start to the campaign that saw Rangers crash out of the Europa League and then drop five points at home to Hibernian and Hearts, the last two outings have been far more encouraging for Caixinha.
The Gers face a league and cup double-header with Partick Thistle in the coming days before attentions will switch to the visit of Celtic.
EVEN at this early stage, it is a crucial few days for Caixinha. It is one that he will relish, though.
Caixinha said: “First of all, for me there is no pressure. There is no pressure from you guys, from being in front of this massive club and working with this great group of players.
“It is about helping the team to be better day by day and the players day by day. That is the process. If we are really convinced about the process, we don’t feel pressure. We tick more boxes saying we are better here, here and here.
“When one team is better in some of those boxes, it is going to win more times than it loses or draws. That is the process we are taking. I enjoy that, because I am a natural competitor.”
If Rangers can emerge unscathed from three derby fixtures on the spin and have a Betfred Cup semi-final place and Old Firm success to their credit, Caixinha will have gone some way to winning over the doubters amongst a demanding support.
The 46-year-old must prove he can rise to the challenge. His players have to pass the same test. Caixinha said: “If they don’t have quality then they will not be here. But if you ask me if I prefer mentality rather than quality then I will sign below.
“Because if you have a guy who is so skilful but does not have the mentality to play here then maybe he cannot do it. We need to have a mix. And we have it. We have it.
“If sometimes things don’t go in that direction then we are here to say ‘switch on and keep moving’ because the process is much more important than all of us.”