GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST has praised his side’s character in the 3-0 defeat to Napoli midweek as he called for the team to get back to winning ways with victory over Dundee United on Saturday afternoon.
Rangers hosted the Serie A league leaders in the Champions League on Wednesday night and gave a good account of themselves until James Sands’ 55th-minute dismissal allowed Napoli to pull away and seal the win.
The Govan outfit have lost their last three matches, conceding 11 goals and scoring none, but their manager is adamant they can get their season back on track with a victory over Liam Fox’s side at Ibrox.
“We are disappointed with the result but we can get a lot of positives out of the game,” Van Bronckhorst told Rangers TV. “The way we started, until the sending off, we were competing really well with Napoli.
“And just as I thought the game might go our way in the second half the sending off and penalty - the three penalties we had to defend - cost us the game against a quality side. With one man less they had too much quality and made it very difficult for us.
“I was very pleased with the performance because we knew we needed to have a lot of intensity in the game. The way we played, compared to the week before against Ajax, we showed a much higher level in play and also the intensity was there and the speed of passing and movements.
“We created some good chances to open the scoring. For us it was a game we played really well but in the end still didn’t have any points.
“Although we suffered another defeat I think mentally the players look really strong. That’s an aspect we need to have when switching back to the league and with a home game we are very determined to get back to winning ways.”
