Manager Pedro Caixinha has said that with three half time substitutions being enforced against Motherwell it definitely interrupted Rangers’ plans for the game.
Hosting Motherwell at Ibrox for the tie, the visitors took the early lead after three minutes but half time saw Lee Hodson, Clint Hill and Lee Wallace all depart with a mixture of illness and injury and Joe Garner, Andy Halliday and Michael O’Halloran all entered the field of play, leaving us with an extremely makeshift defence of Rob Kiernan, Jon Toral and Halliday.
Garner did get himself on the scoresheet to take the draw and Caixinha told the Official Site that it was a case of needs must as he rejigged things unexpectedly.
Wallace returned from international duty with a knock and couldn’t make the 90, Hill was also injured and Hodson took down ill.
‘Sometimes you need to stick in and sometimes you need to act and we didn`t have any other options or solutions. Lee Wallace came back from the national team injured and he put in a great effort because he is the leader and because he is the captain and he wanted to be on the pitch. He did fantastically until he couldn`t carry on any more. Then Lee Hodson arrived sick this morning so he did what he could and Clint also felt something on the hamstring so we were forced to make three substitutions.’
He went on to say.
‘We were supposed to do things differently but this was the game and those were the circumstances and according to those you have to take decisions. I think it was a totally different game between the first-half and the second-half because in the first-half I don`t think we understood the game that well. We knew that Motherwell were very aggressive on the long balls but especially on the arrival of the second wave of balls and we always lost the ball, we couldn`t keep the ball and they created a lot of difficulties in the first-half.’
As for the second half performance and securing the point, he went on to say.
‘In the second-half everything changed, also because we created some sort of surprise the way we went for everything and the attitude of the boys was amazing. I need to be proud of them and I know this is a club where we all want to win all of the time but I think we need to support these guys. We need to support them when they go for the game and show that attitude under the circumstances when they are playing out of position but doing everything to win the game.’
Speaking more about the changes, he went on to admit that Rangers didn’t strictly have a formation in the second period, his challenge to the players was to show the right attitude and overcome what was clearly a mental test for them.
‘Sometimes it`s not about a formation and the first thing I was thinking when I was going into the tunnel at half-time was about calming down the players. Sometimes you need to get at the players aggressively and other times you need to calm them down in order for them to understand what is going on and make them see the reality of what is happening in the game. At half-time I just told them this is a fantastic challenge to have and the other time we were here under different circumstances and winning 2-0. Now we are losing but this is going to be a good challenge for us to be celebrating at the end of the game that we won it.’
He went on to explain.
‘It was more an emotional and mental approach to it and for them to have a different approach which they did in the second-half. I need to be pleased with Joe Garner but I also need to be pleased with all the others. Joe was one who got to be in his natural position today and I also need to be pleased with Jon Toral who played centre-half and also with Andy Halliday and Michael O`Halloran who played as full-backs and wingers at the same time.’
Adding.
‘All of them tried to do their best in the second-half and I think it is a basis for the future regarding what we can do and the attitude of the team is rising. I would have preferred to have that attitude and be winning the game but I prefer that attitude when I`m thinking about the future.’
