5 days ago
Martin on Dessers injury, 'outside noise' & shots faced
Russell Martin has been speaking to the media before Rangers face Alloa Atheltic in the Premier Sports Cup this weekend.
Here are the key lines from the Ibrox boss:
The knee injury suffered by Cyriel Dessers in midweek as not as bad as first feared. The striker is "still stiff and sore" but could be fit to face Club Brugge on Tuesday night.
On reports Jefte is poised for a £6m move to Palmeiras: "I think the club will update you as and when it becomes something. He's in this morning. I guess that's all I can give you as the manager right now."
On links to Real Betis defender Nobel Mendy: "He doesn't play for us, so I can't tell you anything about him. I've never met a kid, never spoke to him in my life. So, yeah, I don't really know."
Martin won't "make 11 changes" but is set to shuffle the team for the Alloa tie, which is one Rangers "want to win but also have to balance". He says: "We had five games in 14 days. Some of the guys played a lot of minutes. So it's a chance for some people to get on the pitch."
On Rangers' Scottish Cup defeat to lower-league Queen's Park last season: "It's completely gone. Some of them [the players] are probably part of that. I don't see any benefit in me bringing it up."
After struggling to break down Dundee's low block in the 1-1 draw last weekend, Rangers have "done a lot of work on that since and hopefully you'll see that tomorrow".
On criticism of Rangers' early-season performances, Martin is keen to block out "outside noise". He adds: "When you come and work for a big club like this, you have to accept that there's going to be so many opinions, ex-players, supporters, but we have to just focus on what we can focus on. So it really doesn't affect, or it shouldn't affect what we're doing here."
Martin says he was speaking to a member of the maintenance staff who said, "We are turning the tank around gaffer" and that's exactly how he feels about the situation.
Martin "loved" that the players were frustrated with some of the aspects of the performance in Plzen "because I think their understanding is growing. Their belief in what they're doing is growing. And at some point, it will all really pay off for them".
On Rangers conceding 97 shots in their opening six games, Martin is "not happy" with it but says "perspective and context" is required.
He adds: "I got made aware of it this week by the analysts who then did a real detailed breakdown of it. So over half the shots were from well outside the box. The two games that we've given away too many chances are Panathinaikos and Plzen, and we're playing two teams away from home in Europe. They're 2-0 and 3-0 down and committing numbers forward that we haven't usually seen them doing. So we can definitely negate that and stop that."
Martin has "no problem" with Andy Halliday criticising his tactics: "I like Andy, I regard him as a really good ex-team-and a good person. But when you work in the media, you have to give an opinion, right? Although I never have said we're going to play an inverted full-back, so I have told him that."
