CHILD’S PLAY
New Rangers boss Caixinha told his hotshots to go out and act like kids
PEDRO CAIXINHA last night revealed how he encouraged his Rangers players to go out and play with the enthusiasm of children during his first game in charge.
The Portuguese coach placed fun at the centre of his message before the Premiership visit of Hamilton Accies and his team responded with a bright display that yielded a straightforward win.
‘My first statement to the players in the dressing room today was: “I want you to
enjoy it. If you are anxious, things are not going to work, so I want you to be happy”,’ said Caixinha afterwards.
‘I want our team to play like they are kids. Kids love to play football, right? All 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.’
The 46-year-old was appointed as Mark Warburton’s successor last weekend after Rangers negotiated his release from Qatari club Al-Gharafa.
Having watched the 1-1 draw against Celtic from the main stand at Parkhead, he was introduced to his players on Monday morning when he set about altering the philosophy and mindset of the team.
‘I need to be happy with the attitude, with the pace and with the quality of work but I also need to be happy to start winning,’ he said. ‘If you want to get back a winning culture, the first step is always important.
‘We still have a lot of work in front of us but I’m happy with the work we did today on the pitch.
‘I believe you saw more switch of play, more wide combinations. We looked for the space, and once it was there, attacked that space.
‘You also saw a team who, when it didn’t have the ball, wasn’t happy and tried to press to regain it, leading to the opponent to commit some mistakes.’
Caixinha received a warm welcome before the match and admitted he wants to make Ibrox a fortress.
‘The reception was fantastic,’ he said. ‘This is our home but we want it to be more than that. We want to play all the time with an extra player, if possible 50,000 extra players. That will make us quicker and tackle better. Our stadium needs to be our fortress.’
As Caixinha lapped up the attention, his Hamilton counterpart Martin Canning was reflecting on another bruising afternoon that saw his defence spring leaks and the team sink to the foot of the league table on goal difference after Inverness Caley Thistle’s 1-1 draw with Ross County in the Highland derby.
‘That was always going to be difficult, especially on the back of the last two results (a 4-0 league beating by Hearts and a 6-0 Scottish Cup thrashing at the hands of Rangers),’ said Canning. ‘New manager, big crowd, the expectation was always going to be there for Rangers.
‘First half, we contained them reasonably well but weren’t much of a threat. The first goal was good play from Rangers. The second goal is disappointing because it’s a set-piece and we’re conceding far too many of them.
‘Second half, it’s a mistake that leads to the penalty and another mistake leads to the fourth goal.’
Although Hamilton have lost 14 goals in three games, Canning refuses to accept that his team’s fate is inevitable. Indeed he takes some encouragement from the make-up of the forthcoming fixture list.
‘It’s never nice when you’re at the bottom of the league,’ he said. ‘But the players’ confidence should be intact. The one thing we have always done is respond well to bad performances.
‘We have just come out of a real difficult run of five games against Celtic, Aberdeen, Rangers and Hearts — and we won our only game at home against Aberdeen.
‘I believe each of the next nine games is winnable and we need to go out and back that up.’