Euro fightback showcased our togetherness, says McAllister
GARY McALLISTER has trashed escalating rumour of Rangers dressing-room discontent and offered the storming comeback win over Braga as overwhelming evidence of a harmonious squad. The form slump suffered by Steven Gerrard’s team since the winter break has contributed to gossip that the troubles can be traced back to Dubai, where players and staff enjoyed a warm-weather training camp last month.
Rangers returned to action with subdued successes over Stranraer and St Mirren after which defeats to Hearts and Kilmarnock and a home draw against Aberdeen inflicted potentially fatal damage to title ambitions.
At 2-0 down at home in their Europa League Round of 32 first-leg tie on Thursday night, Rangers were wide open to further accusation that something has been amiss within the camp since the turn of the year.
However, sparked by stunning goals from Ianis Hagi and Joe Aribo, the narrative flipped dramatically in a flurry of Ibrox European-night magic — half-an-hour of action which, according to McAllister, ‘proved our togetherness’.
‘I can say, absolutely 100 per cent, that there was no unrest in Dubai,’ said the Rangers assistant manager. ‘That just wasn’t the case.
‘Dubai was fantastic for us, it went really well. It’s self-explanatory on Thursday, just by watching it. It’s just there, you can see it. Listen, all that talk is part of being at a big city club. It’s par for the course.
‘There will always be people assuming things. But, trust me, that’s nonsense. The best way to put all that to bed is to get results and get a run going again.
‘Results haven’t gone our way. The performance levels haven’t been good enough, we acknowledge that. But my feeling is that, in all of those games, we had good chances. On Thursday night, we took them.
‘At any level, you have to produce in those moments. We had them at Hearts and at Kilmarnock. If we’d put them away, everything would look different.’
And still they passed up multiple opportunities on Thursday as the clinical visitors crafted their lead and shaped like contenders to go all the way in the competition.
In gifting away winning positions at Tynecastle and Rugby Park in recent weeks, manager Gerrard was moved to claim his players did not possess the mentality and character to sustain a challenge to Celtic.
On the European stage, the manner in which they gained the 3-2 advantage Rangers will defend on Wednesday went some way to answering that cutting criticism.
McAllister said: ‘A lot of questions have been asked. But in that last 25 minutes when we started the comeback, you could see a fantastic togetherness.
‘There’s a lot of character here. Our mentality has been questioned, but it takes a lot to come back like that and turn a result around in that manner.
‘We were positive and were aided by a crowd that was extremely vocal. It evoked a few memories for me. Since arriving here, the nights at Ibrox in Europe — it doesn’t get much better than that.
‘Yet it was the first time we’ve been outplayed in a European tie at Ibrox. We tried to press but they played through that from deep and opened the pitch up, which was really impressive. They bossed the first half.
‘Despite all of that, we felt they’d give up chances. That was our big message at half-time.
‘We had to keep going because the chances were there.’
McAllister admitted there had been much sporting soul-searching in the coaching staff hub since their previously progressive season took backwards steps all too reminiscent of last term.
‘We’re a tight staff, we support each other,’ said McAllister. ‘We’re discussing reasons, why, what, when, there’s no stone unturned.
‘We can break it all down. We’ve got 20 wins, three draws and three defeats in the league.
‘There are loads of other things we could say to make it look better. But the facts are we’re still a good bit behind Celtic in the league and doing okay in Europe.
‘We have to deal with the negative publicity that comes our way but we can build on the Braga result.’
In Hagi and substitute Aribo, Gerrard and McAllister had two impressive young men taking ownership of the predicament. The tenacity of Hagi, on loan from Genk, was just as impressive as his obvious talent.
Aribo was chucked on as a Glen
Kamara replacement then invited to fill in for the injured Borna Barisic at left-back and scored the goal of his life.
‘You need moments in games and someone to step up, take responsibility of making a move and having a shot,’ said McAllister. ‘Of doing a dribble and going for it.
‘With Ianis it’s: “Give me the ball”. I like that. The gesturing. That tells you something about the character of the lad. He’s not going to shy away from anything and you need a big personality to play here.
‘Coming inside and whipping one in off the post with the left and then grabbing the free-kick and bending it with the right. There’s a bit of ability there, isn’t there?
‘It’s a club that demands personality and character. A couple of defeats and a draw here and there and the word crisis gets used too often. It can go overboard a wee bit and while some players can cope with that, some can’t.
‘With Joe, it was a front-foot, positive decision made in the moment, hoping Joe could just play from there (at left-back).
‘He can build on that and grow because we think we have a real talent there.’
With Barisic missing today’s McDiarmid Park test, Gerrard is likely to resist the risky emergency measures and ask Andy Halliday to deputise.
‘The St Johnstone game on Sunday is more important than Braga,’ stated McAllister. ‘It’s ultraimportant for all of us. We want to win the game with a slick performance, but it’s about winning and getting a run going again.’