Pedro Caixinha has spoken of his excitement at the start of the 2017/18 campaign this weekend against Motherwell at Fir Park and he’s insisted Rangers will approach each game like a cup final as we bid to improve on last season’s league finish.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the press to discuss this weekend’s kick off, going into his first full season he repeated he was under no illusions when it came to the expectation that surrounds Rangers to compete and challenge at the top.
‘I know how massive and big this club is. We know what is means to represent Rangers. We know that winning is the only option here, so we are going to face each match as a final. The aim for each final is to win and by the end we will need to make that count. I am not a mathematician, I know that we are going to fight for each three points and it doesn`t matter who we are going to play, by the end we will know. This is a massive club and winning is the only option. I can only tell you that we are always wanting to win the next match. For now, it is the first game and when we`ve played that one, we`ll think about the next one.’
Having seen steady and regular improvements across the pre season period, Caixinha went on to say he was pleased with how the squad were doing and he thinks we are already ahead of where we were last season and a ball hasn’t yet been kicked in the Premiership.
‘I can tell you that this is the best moment ever since I arrived at the club. That shows the improvement, how pleased I am with the boys. The team that is playing now, which is what we may call the starting first eleven, has only been together for three weeks. I need to be happy and the boys need to be happy and this is the best moment we have had as a team, as a squad and as a working group.’
He also spoke about the importance of confidence in the players and he said giving players confidence and belief in themselves was one of his aims.
‘When I am working at any club, I always think that my players and my squad are the best. I need to represent the club like that and I need to spread that feeling from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom. If I don`t think like that in representing Rangers today, or any of the other clubs that I have before coming here, I am just a guy sitting on my chair letting time pass me by. I am not like that and I want that feeling to spread to people to.’
Having joined last season, he continued on to give his thoughts when it came to the assessments he made and the changes he brought around this summer.
‘When I arrived here, I assessed the squad. That was one of my responsibilities and to take decisions regarding to how I want to organise a squad at a club like Rangers. First of all, I wanted to bring character and men. I wanted to bring personalities who know that only acting as a team can they play at this football club. The second point is being able to not need to coach the game for them too much. We just want to highlight to them what we want them to do within each moment of the game.’
Adding.
‘We need to be very strong from the beginning of games and we have been reproducing that well in the last two games, against Watford and Sheffield. We need to also know how to control the game and the tempo of the game.’
