Child’s play pays off for Caixinha

NEW Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha expressed his satisfaction with an opening 4-0 home win over Hamilton Academical and revealed he had asked his players to express themselves like children, writes Graeme

Macpherson. Goals from Emerson Hyndman, Clint Hill, Martyn Waghorn and Lee Wallace handed the Portuguese the ideal start in his first game in charge.

“My first statement to the players in the dressing room today was, “I want you to enjoy it,” said Caixinha. “If you are here and you are anxious, things are not going to work. So I want them to be happy. I want our team to play like they are kids. Kids love to play football, right? All the professionals start as a kid dreaming of one day being in this position. Now they are in this position they need to enjoy it the same. So they did it and I am pleased about that.”

Caixinha was afforded a rousing pre-match reception from the 49,090 inside Ibrox and hoped to harness that energy to make the ground “a fortress”.

He said: “It was fantastic but I like Tina Turner and I would prefer to get out there when she is singing Simply the Best! Having 50,000 people supporting you and the team is something you will keep inside your mind and really appreciate. This is our home but we want this to be more than our home. We want to play all the time with an extra player, if possible 50,000 extra players. So I don’t believe it just needs to be our home, it needs to be our fortress.”

Caixinha was pleased to see his early instructions taken on board by the players. “I believe you saw more switches of play, more wide combinations and arrivals, more regaining possession and looking for the space, and once the space was there, attacking that space.”

Caixinha will stick to the regular training schedule over the international break and will arrange a bounce match next Saturday to finish their week’s work.