TALKING RANGERS
PEDROCAIXINHAis pleased with the progress Rangers have made during the international break as he prepares for the return to Premiership action.
The Light Blues saw their proposed trip to Canada last week cancelled at the eleventh hour as they were denied the chance to face Portuguese giants Benfica in friendly action.
Championship promotion hopefuls Morton provided the opposition instead as they played three 35-minute sessions at Auchenhowie on Saturday afternoon.
And boss Caixinha reckons it was a worthwhile exercise for his side ahead of the tricky topflight fixture with St Johnstone on Friday night.
He said: “The whole week was great. We took advantage and worked on a lot of aspects, and worked at a high pace. So it was an intense week and we knew it was the moment for us to do that.
“That is why we played the game with three periods of 35 minutes – giving 35 minutes to the players who have had more game-time and then giving a chance to those who have not played that much, as well as giving a chance to some young boys too.
“So overall, it was a really good week and we are starting this week on a totally different level as we prepare for the next match.
“I think Morton play in a similar way to St Johnstone, with more or less the same philosophy, so it was good to put in practice some of those things.”
Rangers will head to McDiarmid Park aiming to build on their victory over Hamilton last time out as they got back to winning ways after the Old Firm reverse at Ibrox. Caixinha’s side are six points adrift of Celtic and Aberdeen in the Premiership standings after a mixed start to the campaign.
But the 46-year-old has been satisfied with the efforts of his squad during the shutdown as all sights have been fixed on the Saints.
Caixinha said: “Not only about the game itself, because if I was thinking about that game I should not train the way we train, with the intensity and the pace we train in the previous session before that game.
“So I was much more concerned about knowing if they were going to reproduce what we did with that pace knowing that they were not fresh enough to perform like that.
“So they did a very good job. Overall things are getting on the direction we want.”
Caixinha fielded a different eleven in each of the three sessions against Morton as his Gers squad were put through their paces at the weekend.
Rangers ended the match with Academy kids Andy Dallas, Kyle McLelland, Lewis Mayo and Scott Gray making up an inexperienced back four.
And boss Caixinha reckons there were plenty of positives for him to take from the meeting with Jim Duffy’s side.
He told RangersTV: “They played the last period and they did very well, and in that period of time, we only conceded the one goal from a direct free-kick.
“I liked overall the three groups. It was also a moment or us to try something and also for us to give minutes to the players who have not being playing.” have conceded. I can safely say nine of the 11 in the league have been down to individual errors.
“We could be in an even stronger position.
“But we have made it far too easy for teams to score against us, especially in the last two away games with Aberdeen and Dundee.
“We have given away too many cheap goals. That is something that has to improve to get us back on a winning run.”
On-loan Rangers attacker Michael O’Halloran can’t feature against the Ibrox club and one-time Gers defender Richard Foster is ruled out by a two match ban for booting a dressing room door at Dens Park.
Wright said: “Mikey would have made the Rangers game but we will take it easy with him and he will definitely be okay for Hearts. We will make sure he uses the time wisely.”