All change at Ibrox as Caixinha proves he’s a forward thinker
THE Rangers players may have to learn to expect the unexpected. Life under Pedro Caixinha’s management seems unlikely to be dull.
While the eye-popping half-time replacement of three of his back four was actually enforced due to injuries and illness, the nature of the changes still said much about the 46-year-old’s approach.
There was no sign of conservatism. In stark contrast to predecessor Mark Warburton, Caixinha appears willing to place Plan A in the bin, set it alight and scatter the ashes from a great height.
Philippe Senderos was the only defender on his bench. And the most obvious stand-in for Clint Hill as the veteran toiled with a hamstring complaint. Instead, the under-used Swiss occupied the same seat throughout the second period to confirm his lowly place in the pecking order.
With Lee Wallace hampered by a stomach strain and Lee Hodson drained by a bug, Caixinha also found himself without a recognised full-back as Rangers chased the game following a thoroughly disjointed first half.
His answer was to go on the front foot. With some abandon.
Andy Halliday was introduced as the left-sided member of a back three, which featured playmaker Jon Toral — hardly renowned for his destructive qualities — at its centre and Rob Kiernan on the right.
Michael O’Halloran stepped in on the right wing of what could perhaps best be described a 3-1-4-2 system. Joe Garner was added to join Martyn Waghorn up front.
Did it work? Well, kind of. Deploying a formation to almost match the one being used by Motherwell, Rangers were unquestionably more proactive. Garner’s introduction bore clear dividends with a goal to cancel out Louis Moult’s early opener.
But there was a free-for-all nature to the second half. Moult was denied another goal after his shot found the net via Stephen Pearson standing in an offside position, while Wes Foderingham produced three outstanding saves. The scoreline doesn’t reflect a see-sawing of chances more akin to the NBA than the Scottish Premiership.
Come the full-time whistle, Ibrox season-ticket holders were left to digest one of the most peculiar games of the season, still not entirely sure what they had witnessed. One thing it wasn’t was boring.
But what did those in the midst of it think? Rangers midfielder Emerson Hyndman insisted Caixinha (right) deserved credit for the bold way he restructured their team.
‘I don’t think anyone was too thrilled with the firsthalf performance and the manager showed he isn’t scared to make changes,’ said the American.
‘We knew we had to make some sort of change. He made his changes and told us what he wanted from us and we delivered it quite well. We got going early on in the second half and looked more of a threat. ‘The manager was calm at half-time. He explained things like this happen and we would make changes and go from there. ‘It can get a bit dicey at Ibrox and the fans can get on to you, which is fine — and you understand that — but the manager handled it well and told us to keep going. ‘We weren’t dealing well enough with Motherwell as a team in general but once we made our changes we dealt with it a bit better. The game was open but we were more of a threat. We went two up front. I was playing a bit more centrally and O’Halloran was running havoc on the right. ‘It wasn’t a total overhaul but when you make changes you either get a positive or negative reaction and we did well to react positively.
‘I think it was a new one for Jon Toral playing in the centre of defence but he did well. He was composed on the ball and we had a bit more passing out from the back in the second half.’
For all that drama, it may be the anaemic nature of the first half that lingers longest in Caixinha’s mind as he considers who remains in his squad for next season.
The energy and incision of their 4-0 victory over Hamilton was not replicated. Motherwell, positively set up by Stephen Robinson, fully deserved their lead at the break.
It arrived via a simple set-piece after three minutes. More than a new manager is required to remove Rangers’ vulnerability to cross balls. Chris Cadden’s corner simply wasn’t dealt with, allowing Moult the opportunity to net a 15th of the season.
The Ibrox side took 38 minutes to summon a decent response, when Waghorn shot wide. Whatever the specific circumstances, change was needed.
Garner provided impetus, drawing a fine stop from Samson before his volleyed conversion of Kenny Miller’s cross in the 61st minute.
Motherwell reacted strongly in what was now end-to-end combat. After their correctly disallowed goal, Ryan Bowman’s downward header was superbly denied by Foderingham. Equally impressive was a terrific double save to thwart Moult and Scott McDonald in quick succession.
Hyndman had the final Rangers chance, scooping the ball over the bar in stoppage-time.
Ten points now separate the Ibrox side from second-placed Aberdeen, with a trip to Pittodrie following Wednesday evening’s visit to Kilmarnock. Hyndman, though, is refusing to give up.
‘Why can’t we still get second place? We take it game by game,’ added the Bournemouth loanee. ‘We try to get three points in every match. Unfortunately we didn’t on Saturday but we worked as hard as we could.
‘The game up at Aberdeen is a big game anyway. They are a big club and we know it’s a difficult place to go but we want to control the ball from the beginning and have a positive start.
‘Some of our attacking play against Motherwell was good but we didn’t get the finishing touch, but that will happen on another day.’