Martin 'disappointed' with Rangers & reacts to Dessers injury
Lyall Cameron scored his first goal for Rangers after the break, in similar fashion, and that seemed to settle things down. But too much for the manager's liking and Svetozar Markovic scored late on to hand Plzen the win on the night.
Martin said post-match: "I am disappointed we lost and I am disappointed with how many chances we gave up. I think so much of it comes from just being so loose with the ball.
"We were playing against a team who had nothing to lose, who really committed so many numbers, four on the top line, with a heavy press. We played through the press a lot in the first half, got into their final third a lot, then just turned the ball over.
"I said to the attacking guys 'It's not fair on the guys at the back to take the ball under such big pressure, Jack (Butland), he's finding you, it's not fair that you just turn it over so cheaply. I don't mind you losing the ball if you're so aggressive, one v one, taking someone on, but the lack of care on the ball was too much'.
"We conceded a goal, and then we improved after the break and we scored, and then the level of intensity dropped. It was like 'OK, job's done, we can relax'. You can never relax playing against anyone, especially for this football club. So I think really good learning for us."
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A further worrying sign was Cyriel Dessers almost requiring a stretcher before being helped off the pitch by two members of staff after landing in a heap on the turf.
It looked to be a knee injury and Martin admits it could be a bad one. A scan will reveal the true extent, though.
"Yeah, it looks a nasty one, so he's in a brace now," he said "We'll have to just wait and see over the next couple of days, have a scan and see. We'll keep our fingers crossed it's not too bad for a big man."
Rangers will now face Club Brugge and the Englishman admits his team will have to be much better to make it through that tie.
He said: "If we don't show a bit more care and quality on the ball, I think we will struggle against anyone."
Expanding on what he expects from the Belgians, he went on: "Good team, tough game, but I believe that especially at Ibrox - and I think we'll play at home first - that can be really powerful for us. We have to really embrace the challenge, so I'm excited about it.
"You expect the level of competition to be good now we're through to this stage, but we'll be in it, and we will do our very best to win and put in a performance that we're really happy with to set up the second leg."
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Scotsman
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Last man to fire Scottish club to European Cup semi-final is turning 67 and gets up at 5am for work
Davie Dodds, the ex Dundee Utd, Rangers and Aberdeen player. | John Devlin Return of Rapid Vienna to Tannadice stirs up memories of 1984 Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... On assignment a few weeks ago to interview Steven Pressley, somebody caught my eye as they walked purposefully across the zebra crossing in front of my car near the hotel where I was due to meet the new Dundee manager. It took a few seconds to reconcile the man in work overalls with the younger version of himself. There goes the last man to score a goal to send a Scottish club into the regulation semi-final stage of the European Cup, I thought to myself. Or maybe I didn't. 'Bloody hell, it's Davie Dodds!' is probably nearer the truth. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There's never not a good time to catch up for a pint with the man in question. It's a rare privilege since he rarely agrees to interviews these days. As he exclaims himself when I phoned to ask if he had time to discuss the part he played for Dundee United in a European Cup quarter-final tie: 'It was bloody 41 years ago!' Davie Dodds, the ex Dundee United, Rangers and Aberdeen player. | John Devlin Still, the return of Rapid Vienna to Tannadice for a Conference League qualifying tie poised at 2-2 following the first leg in Austria last week seems too good an opportunity not to at least try to request some time with the former striker, who turns 67 next month. Especially since, as I explain to him, he's been in my mind since spotting him on route to meeting Pressley, his former teammate. Rapid were the opposition for the aforementioned goal and yes, it was over 41 years ago. It was expertly struck on the turn from his favoured distance of about ten yards out. Actually, this counts as long range for Dodds. As Eamonn Bannon remarked with a smile when I told him I was hoping to speak to his old pal. 'Never took penalties, of course. Too far out!' It makes Dodds' goal return of 150 in 321 outings for United even more impressive. It wasn't bad at Aberdeen, either – 26 goals in 94 appearances following a short spell in Switzerland. And at Rangers, too, where the Dundonian struck four goals in just seven league starts for the team he supported as a boy (his father supported them). It's where he played with Pressley, which might surprise some since it feels like they belong to different orbits. Indeed, they sat alongside each other on the bench for a Champions League tie against Marseille, which seems slightly mind-blowing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Dodds enjoyed quite a career. And quite a selection of clubs – Neuchetal Xamax were his side in Switzerland, where teammates included German legend Uli Stielike. Like seemingly every Dundee United player of his era, there were also 'clubs that got away'. European Cup holders Liverpool wanted to sign him in 1978. Jim McLean said no, not even informing the player. Celtic wanted to sign him in late 1984 for a record fee between Scottish clubs. Again, McLean said no. Dundee United's Davie Dodds (right) during a 3-1 win over Rangers at Tannadice in 1982. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 I supported Rangers but said yes to Celtic 'A reporter from the Daily Record phoned me and said, 'Celtic are putting in a bid of £300,000 for you - I know you are a Rangers supporter, would you sign for Celtic?'' recalls Dodds. 'Davie Hay was the manager. I said, 'Yeah, no problem, tell them to put the bid in'. Wee Jim knocked it back. So that was Liverpool and Celtic….' It seems notable that Dodds is still working. 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Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I just enjoy life, my own life,' he says, citing holidays in the family caravan at Seton Sands and in Tenerife at Cheltenham-time as well as golf at weekends his Dundee United commitments – he is a club ambassador - permitting. We are speaking in a pub between Broughty Ferry and central Dundee. It's not quite in the shadow of Tannadice, scene of so many great European nights where Dodds played a central role, but it's near enough. To his fellow regulars, he's just Doddsie. Life after football He details his post-football life. He ran a pub initially, called Rendezvous. 'I had it for five years. Profits were staying the same, overheads were going up. I said, 'I am going to sell it and do something else'. A girl that used to work with me in the pub had her own cleaning business. I don't know why, but I said: 'I fancy doing the cleaning business.' I called it Rendezvous, because that was the name of my pub. That was 20 years ago. 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McLean had a particular problem with strikers, it seems, and when United faced Rapid in the second leg, Dodds hadn't scored for – shock, horror – three matches. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Inevitably, McLean wasn't happy. 'The performance of our front players is causing concern,' he writes in his always insightful programme notes for the match. 'The very hard tackling from behind is still being endured by our strikers, but their link-up and goal threat must be improved. I will be looking for decidedly better form from Davie Dodds and Paul Sturrock in both departments.' 'I did everything I wanted to' What's notable on re-watching highlights of the second leg v Rapid is Dodds responding in the way the genius McLean no doubt suspected he would, by ramming the words back down his throat. Something else is also worth highlighting. 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'I was lucky enough to play for my hometown heroes (United), the team I loved Glasgow Rangers (where he was also first-team coach), and played at every level for Scotland – under-15s, under-18s, under-21s and I scored for the senior team (on his debut, v Uruguay),' he says. 'I did everything I wanted to in my career. I won the league with United. I was at Rangers eight years, won leagues there.' He was particularly touched by the reception he received from Aberdeen supporters when he was introduced at Tannadice at the last game of last season. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Daily Mail
an hour ago
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Rangers need to front up if worrying start to the season isn't to quickly become a full-scale crisis
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