I WON’T LOSE FAITH
Gio looking to bounce back by improving basics — not system
THE post mortem in the wake of the 3-0 Old Firm thumping at Celtic Park has left Giovanni van Bronckhorst under forensic levels of scrutiny.
After sifting through the body of evidence from Wednesday night’s demolition derby, however, the Rangers manager insists the first defeat of his Ibrox tenure was not down to system failure.
Issuing a defence of his tactics and team shape, the Dutchman urged his players to get back to basics after falling a point behind Celtic.
Warning them last season’s Premiership title win under Steven Gerrard is history, he wants his Ibrox stars to stop resting on their laurels and start showing the kind of steely mentality required to retain the championship.
‘I know when results aren’t there, everyone has questions about your way of playing,’ Van Bronckhorst said ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Hearts to Ibrox. ‘But, of course, I believe in my way of playing.
‘It’s easy to say now that it’s (not) working. But in the first eight games, I didn’t hear about that. I believe in my system.
‘We had a debrief today. We showed the images, we saw the things we didn’t do right and the mistakes we made.
‘You have to look to the images and be honest and talk to your players and with each other about things we need to improve and that we didn’t do right.
‘The second and third goals were the basics; losing sight of your opponent, not tracking back in tempo, not closing the lines. Those things have to improve.
‘Last season is gone — it’s gone! This is the season we want to be champions again and we have to give everything to achieve that.
‘The challenge is there now to be the champions at the end of the season. But I’m sure if we have the basics much better than in the last couple of games we will be fine.
‘It’s for us to bounce back and make sure on Sunday we have the same determination we had a couple of months ago.’
Rangers started in an overlycautious fashion at Celtic Park, sitting back and allowing wave after wave of attack from their rivals in the opening stages.
Such was the dominance of Ange Postecoglou’s side that a 3-0 lead by the break could easily have been five or six.
Playing so passively has become a worrying theme during away games amid a post winter break period that has seen Rangers’ six-point lead over Celtic become a single-point deficit.
Van Bronckhorst’s view that his side ‘took over’ after weathering 25 minutes of Celtic pressure is, to put it mildly, up for debate.
But he insists his team’s improved second-half showing was down to personnel changes rather than any tactical tweaks.
‘The first 20 to 25 minutes, there was a storm. Then we took over,’ claimed Van Bronckhorst (right). ‘We had a really bad start. We weren’t ready for the game, it seemed.
‘You have to find the right time to press. That was an important thing we didn’t do.
‘On the ball, we were not good. We were very uncertain, which means you cannot break their pressure.
‘In the second half, we had it under control but the two goals before halftime — from 1-0 to 3-0 — that’s a big difference.
‘On Wednesday, I didn’t change any tactics at half-time. I just changed personnel and we had a whole different attitude in the second half.
‘The way you behave on the pitch, the way you communicate with your team-mates, how you give the signal to press. Those things are much more important (than shape).
‘It’s easy to say you want a high press but you have to do it at the right time. You have to go as a team and that’s the thing we have to improve.’
Over the course of last season, Rangers only conceded 13 goals as they recorded their first top-flight title win in a decade.
In their past two games, the Ibrox side has shipped six in a 3-3 draw at Ross County and then in Wednesday night’s Parkhead horror show.
Van Bronckhorst accepts that his side have become too easy to score against.
He urged his players to work together to rediscover the kind of ruthless mentality that saw them miserly in the chances they gave up to opponents.
‘The back four in the games we played since I have been here at this club have been very stable and very determined,’ he said.
‘We didn’t give a lot of goals against us so that was really good. But you see the last two games we have given too many easy goals away.
‘We have to improve if you see the goals we conceded against Ross County, especially the first two. Against Celtic, it was the second and third goal. It’s too easy to give goals away like that.
‘We have to bring back the determination in the players. That’s the mentality we need to have.
‘Togetherness is very important. And this is a group that is still together.
‘Yes, the results aren’t there. Yes, we lost a second game in 60 matches but these players have proved before they can bounce back from disappointment. That’s what we have to do on Sunday against Hearts.’