The post mortem began on Thursday morning. Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his beleaguered players poured over footage of their 7-1 Champions League capitulation against Liverpool.
The manager found the manner of their defeat difficult to process 12 hours earlier in front of the media. Who knows? It might not have fully sunk in before they face Motherwell at Fir Park in the Premiership at lunchtime today. But victory in Lanarkshire should at least flush it out of their system. And van Bronckhorst, who is coming under increased scrutiny from a battered and bruised Ibrox support, says that’s their only viable coping mechanism.
Winning. The Champions League i s almost a write-off now, with only a slither of hope of escaping into the Europa League. The Dutchman’s priority now has to be the league title – and wrestling the flag back off Celtic. His team’s collapse against the Premier League giants is still fresh in the memory.
But he says it’s imperative that they learn from it, improve and take their frustrations out on their SPFL opponents. As van Bronckhorst reflected on a damaging few days in the Ibrox hot seat, he said: “These are the moments when you have to get stronger, improve yourself as a manager – and learn from the things you experience.
“Eventually, you need to continue and make sure you use it to be stronger. In Europe, it’s still difficult to get points but we have a slight chance to go through to the Europa League.
“And in the league, we’re in a position where there’s everything to play for. That’s our main focus now. We have to continue. We have a league game to get three points in and Wednesday a chance to reach the semi-final of the League Cup.
“So it doesn’t stop. It’s very quick and we have to get focused. We were in on Thursday. We spoke with the players about the Liverpool game and the experience they felt in the game.
“We’re disappointed with the result and the difference between the first 60 minutes and last 30. How they felt, is also how I felt. But they have to take the lessons from the game.
“We looked at what we did well and what we didn’t do well. For an hour, we were well in the game. But we had to change two players with Connor Goldson and Ryan Jack injured.
“That impacted the way we played. In the Champions League you need to play for 90 minutes. If you drop your levels in the last 25 minutes and the opponent is getting stronger, the difference is very big.
“The goals we conceded – we are capable of defending but we didn’t do it well enough. Somehow we have to try and look at the positives. We’ve been playing well in the Premiership – and also in that first half against Liverpool.
“We should take that with us into the Motherwell game. We have it all to play for in the domestic competitions.”
Van Bronckhorst has clearly been hampered by injuries to key men in his squad. Goldson and Jack are the latest casualties but the likes of Filip Helander, Ianis Hagi and Kemar Roofe have barely been mentioned this season.
Ordinarily, they’d be pivotal players in Rangers ’ squad. Undoubtedly, the club’s recruitment in the summer could have been better. But van Bronckhorst is adamant he doesn’t regret how he put his squad together for their Champions League assault.
He said: “We had our squad together quite early. It was built to qualify for the Champions League which, in the end, we did. But the injuries we have had – and also the level we compete against – have made it difficult.
“Against Napoli at Ibrox, we played really well. It was only after three penalties and a red card we didn’t win the game. Against Liverpool, you see the difference between home and away. Overall, I actually think we competed much better in the home game but had a bigger defeat.
“We were dropping our levels and they were improving theirs by bringing in quality like Mo Salah, Diogo Jota and Thiago. But as I’ve said, there’s still a big prize at the end of the road for us. That’s the Scottish Premiership, which is our main objective.”
Rangers wheeled out their captain, James Tavernier, on Thursday morning who issued an apology to fans for the Liverpool doing. But the skipper got flak for claiming the Champions League was a ‘bonus’.
His words may have been taken out of context because his manager certainly doesn’t see it that way. Van Bronckhorst said: “The only thing I can think of as a bonus is that we reached the Champions League, which is very difficult. But I don’t think being in it is a bonus.
“We try to be competitive to make our crowd proud with performances and so far we haven’t had the results. Even though you play against big teams, every loss hurts.”
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