Martin 'disappointed' with Rangers & reacts to Dessers injury

The National

5 days ago

Martin's side lost 2-1 on the night after blitzing the Czechs 3-0 at Ibrox a week prior. It was not a comfortable evening as the home side had a number of other opportunities to make things very nervy for the Ibrox men.
Several of those had been passed up before Rafiu Durosinmi finally broke the deadlock four minutes before half-time, poor defending from Jefte allowing the hosts in behind for a pull back to the striker.
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."