Old habits haunt Rangers in early McInnes tenure

Old habits haunt Rangers in early McInnes tenure Neither Russell Martin nor Danny Rohl managed to rebuild former glories during their brief spells at Govan, while McInnes was steering Hearts toward the brink of immortality. Much of the criticism directed at Ibrox’s recent shortcomings traces back to a familiar issue: the side can appear fluid and purposeful going forward at times, yet a fragile undermining element continually sabotages hopes of success. "I thought we gave up too many chances and gave teams too much encouragement," the 55‑year‑old remarked after the match in Poland. "We've got to be honest and admit we are blameworthy of beating ourselves tonight. And that's no disrespect to our hostile because on transitions and counter‑attack, it fuels them." Rangers struggled in the opening 45 minutes as Jagiellonia tore them apart with ease, exploiting numerous lapses in concentration. Twelve minutes into the game, Thelo Aasgaard attempted an audacious rotation on the edge of the hosts' box, trying to squeeze the ball through a minuscule gap in the defence. One minute later the ball nestled in the back of Rangers' net following a swift counter‑attack. "There's no bigger drain on confidence for any player, team, unit than losing cheap goals," McInnes said. "There were mistakes for the goals, and I understand that can happen, but we have got to be far more stingy with our work, keep the goal with our lives, don't give our hostile opportunities." "At no cost is that ball going in our box, at no cost are they going to get a chance, and we've got to have a bit more of that attitude to our work." The central defensive partnership of Dujon Sterling and Emmanuel Fernandez appeared particularly shaky. "If you spoke to McInnes right now without a microphone in front of him, and you asked him, 'Do you see Fernandez?', there's no way he says yes, no way," former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday said on BBC Sportsound. "But he doesn't have an option at this moment in time to play someone else." "I'm being very critical here, but I think Fernandez has every attribute to be a top, top central defender, yet it looks as if he hasn't had the experience growing up of the basics of being a central defender."