Graemewantspushover in art of the rebound
TALKING RANGERS
GRAEME MURTY spent the weekend trying to piece together his plans to rejuvenate Rangers after the defeat to Hamilton. On Wednesday night, he saw the bleu print in action.
The stage and the main protagonists can’t be compared, but the central point is as pertinent to Rangers as it was to Paris Saint-Germain. In adversity, it is all about the reaction.
On Saturday, Murty’s side lost the first goal at home to Accies and never recovered. In the Parc des Prince, Unai Emery’s superstars picked the ball out of their net and swept seven goals past Celtic as they produced a Champions League masterclass.
Rangers had no answer to David Templeton’s opener and the misery of the Ibrox crowd was compounded as Darren Lyon scored a second to clinch all three points for the visitors.
The Light Blue legions made their feelings clear throughout the closing stages and at the final whistle. Now many fans are questioning whether the Gers squad have what it takes to handle the heat when the going gets tough.
And interim boss Murty knows his players must rise to the challenge rather than crumble under the pressure the next time they find themselves with their backs to the wall.
“If that’s the case, if they do feel like that then they have to stand up to it,” he said.
“It won’t ever change at this football club because it’s built on winning and they have to shoulder that burden if indeed it is a burden.
“Personally, I think it’s a privilege to have that air of expectation behind you.
“You can use that as really good energy to go forward and take the game to the opposition.
“It might have impacted. I think everyone in the stadium got a little anxious after seeing us dominating the first half and not score.
“We then conceded a really poor goal. Everyone gets deflated after that, that’s only natural.
“What we need to do is be more resilient than that and comeback. We need to have a bit of the PSGs about us.
“I just thought they showed a fantastic response after going a goal down so early in the game.
“They trusted the players, they trusted their methods and they were open, expressive and brave.
“Albeit, they have a £200million man who makes a slight difference, but other than that the attitude and application after going a goal down is what you what have expected.
“There was no change in method or tactic, they just believed in what they were doing.
“When you have a team that believes in themselves it translates into good performances.”
MURTY is not the only one who has conducted a Hamilton post-mortem in recent days but his attentions have now turned to the trip to Dens Park.
Rangers need a reaction and a response, both in terms of the performance and the result, as they try to get back on track at the first attempt.
Murty said: “I was personally deflated because you have to deal with the situation of dominating a game for 45 minutes and then 45 minutes we spent chasing, which I don’t think we should have done.
“But if I was to say we have been behind for 45 minutes out of the time I have been in charge, I would have been quite satisfied.
“But I didn’t feel that way on Saturday. I had to make sure that when we come in on Monday you give the players really clear reasons for what happened and really clear methods in how to move forward.
“That is how I spent my weekend, making sure that when we came in we were ready to go again because it was too late to do anything.”
All eyes will be on Murty and his players tonight as Rangers head to Dundee determined to take a step on the road to recovery after their Hamilton howler.
Defender Ross McCrorie has his own point to prove after the mistake – a poor pass towards keeper Wes Foderingham – that allowed Templeton to open the scoring.
But Murty reckons he has already shown he has the mentality to put the error behind him as he quickly gathered himself on the park at Ibrox.
He said: “I talked to Ross straight after the game and I questioned what he was doing.
“He said he didn’t see Templeton. But what assured
They have a £200m man who makes a slight difference, but their attitude is fantastic