Russell Martin laments ‘mad’ defending but says Rangers still in tie

Russell Martin insisted that Rangers’ Champions League dream had not been crushed by a 3-1 Ibrox defeat at the hands of Club Brugge in the first leg of the play-off tie.

While acknowledging the “madness” of some of the defending which allowed the Belgians to race into a 3-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes, the new Rangers head coach again claimed that a certain amount of pain was inevitable in the early stages of his tenure.

Although Rangers are guaranteed league phase football until January in the Europa League, missing out on the £40million bounty of the premier competition would bite hard. The Govan side have also drawn their first two Premiership matches, with this latest setback prompting another loud backlash from the stands.

Many Rangers supporters headed for the exit after the third goal went in, although those who remained saw Danilo trim the deficit five minutes into the second half.

“I know how big the club is, how huge it is. But it can’t change the way we work, because it becomes a weight around people’s necks,” Martin said. “It’s my job to take that away by giving the players clarity, calmness and process.

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“At half-time we did that and they did brilliantly. We have to learn from tonight and grow from it. We’re still in the tie. But we can’t concede goals like that at any level, at any club. It’s madness. We need to make sure we don’t go through that level of pain again and I’m convinced we won’t. We definitely won’t concede goals like that again.

“When you’re 2-0 down after seven minutes, tactics don’t come into it. For the next half hour, I didn’t see anything we’d worked on. Guys were waiting for the ball because of the tension in the crowd, guys were jumping to press out of desperation.

Djeidi Gassama thought he had reduced he deficit to one goal but his effort was ruled out — after a VAR review — for a foul on Simon Mignolet, the Club Brugge goalkeeper RUSSELL CHEYNE/REUTERS

“It’s not about tactics or style, it’s about reacting emotionally about the damage that’s been inflicted. We didn’t respond well enough to it. You need courage and they all displayed that in the second half.

“I really loved the aggression of the team, going toe-to-toe, competing with their man. They showed they can be a proper team tonight in the second half. I think we’ll grow so much from that.

“There’s been a fragility at this club for a long, long time so it’s not a new thing, When I talk about change and changing habits and trying to act in a certain way all the time, it’s not easy. As a club we didn’t react very well to those moments, we didn’t: the players, supporters, everyone. Because the club has had a lot of pain for however many years, bar one season in the last 13, 14 years. That for the players is really difficult to work through and get over. The fact they did at half-time is fantastic.

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“There should a lot of excitement and hope for what is to come and the fans are also entitled to their opinion. They are the most important people at the football club. And the team is going to need them. We are going to need to grow together and achieve together what we want.

“The precursor to change is pain very often and the club has bounced around with different ideas and different plans and really been hinged on emotion and making decisions for a quick reaction. Now we have owners and a leadership team that understands where the club has been and needs to go. I understand that is not going to come without some pain.

“Tonight we had some real pain in the first 45 minutes but we got through it together and finished the game brilliantly and we did enough to feel excited about next week’s game.”

Rangers go to St Mirren in the Premiership on Sunday before the second leg in Brugge three days later.

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