Giovanni van Bronckhorst revealed what he asked of his players in yesterday’s convincing 0-3 Scottish Cup win over Dundee.
As far as quarter-finals go, this one was very comfortable, with the Dutchman leading his team to Hampden at the first time of asking.
In speaking to Premier Sports post-match, the manager looked relaxed and satidfied with what unfolded:
“I said to the players, we need to show our energy and drive to go all the way. It has been a while since we won the cup and that’s our drive because we park Europe.”
“From the first minute we had to show we had come here to go to the next round and also do anything that it takes. If you come here on 80 percent you’re going to have a very hard game.”
“We have shown everyone from the first mintue we wanted to leave here with a semi-final ticket in our pockets.”
🔵 @RangersFC manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst reacts to his side's Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Dundee
🗣️ "I think, mentally, we were very focused." pic.twitter.com/wSdgrd9MiW
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) March 13, 2022
Professional
In games gone by this season, Rangers have been rusty and under-par in domestic games following Europa League Thursdays. This time, there was no repeat of that and no mistake as the team followed up on the buoyant 3-0 first leg win over Red Star Belgrade.
An urgency and spark was very evident as Rangers went about their business in a hungry, professional manner. By 0-2, the game was firmly in the visitors control and it would only be a case of how many with the home side failing to trouble the Gers too much. Unfortunately, plenty of chances came and went before Sakala finally added some gloss with his goal and the third of the afternoon overall in the last few minutes of the game.
GvB will have been impressed with the impact of a few players who were brought in at Dens Park, both from the start and off the bench, which will stand the team in good stead for the two very important games to come this week ahead of the final internation break of the season.