Murty got reaction he craved
Rangers failed to win for three Premiership games in a row – but Graeme Murty says his players’ second-half salvo proves they’re still behind him.
The Ibrox gaffer asked his team for a response at half-time yesterday after going two goals down in a dismal performance.
And a two-minute fightback, thanks to James Tavernier’s penalty and Jamie Murphy’s strike, earned them a point.
Murty accepts his side are still not performing the way he wants them to.
But as he fights to keep the job for next season he believes the character they displayed at Fir Park shows they want to play for him.
Murty said: “It was a big halftime team talk. I had to take myself away, be composed and really think about what to say.
“You can either get them back or lose them quite easily.
“All I said was, ‘You know that’s not the level you need to be at’. The rest of the stuff will remain between us.
“But the reaction I got to that team talk – and their own disappointment – was very pleasing for me.
“It’s reflective of the squad as a whole that they took it as men, came out with a good response, didn’t sulk, didn’t hide and stood up in the second half.
“I challenged them to show more accountability and be on the front foot. And they did that.
“Of course, we want to be better. We want to move forward faster than we are.
“The lessons we’ll learn today could be good for the squad.
“To be 2-0 down at half-time to a team who are physically very good, then stand up and come back, should be good for us with the challenges to come.”
Rangers were out-fought by Motherwell in the first half, just like they were in the Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden earlier this season when Pedro Caixinha was in charge.
Murty said: “We didn’t deal with their threat in the first half, even though the preparation was done.
“We just didn’t deal with what they threw at us.
“They put two balls into our box and we didn’t defend them well enough.
“We didn’t win enough of the one v one’s or physical challenges and that put us in a difficult position.”