Russell Martin shifts blame from tactics as Rangers boss says 'mentality is the problem' after Sturm Graz defeat
The Rangers boss spoke after the 2-1 defeat in Austria
Rangers made it two losses from two in the Europa League after they gave themselves a mountain to climb in the first half against Sturm Graz.
After their last minute victory against Livingston on Sunday, Rangers went to the Austrian champions full of confidence they could get a result, however when Tomi Horvat scored after six minutes for the home side it was never going to be an easy evening. Things went from bad to worse in the first half when Otar Kiteishvili doubled Sturm Graz’ lead from an easily avoidable set-piece routine.
Djeidi Gassama was Rangers’ only bright spark on the night. He got a goal back for the visitors just after half time, but the damage was already done. The defeat means Rangers are still to get off the mark in the competition. Rangers were architects of their own downfall in terms of the goals they conceded at the Merkur Arena, however Martin believes this is down to ‘mentality’ rather than tactics.
‘Mentality is the problem’
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Martin said: “We still had loads of chances in the first half, but they had too many. From set plays and throw-ins we just had to be brighter, organised, quicker and help each other more. So the mentality is the problem. It's not like we're not doing what we should be doing on the set play, so that's a mentality issue in the first bit of the game.
“We still had loads of chances in the first half and caused them a lot of problems. We were so dominant in the second half. Of course, we give up a couple of chances later on because we're throwing everything at it. But we've just got to score more goals. When you come away from home in Europe and have that many chances at goal, big chances, you can't lose the game.
“We gave up chances from set plays early on, not from open play. We gave up some chances from open play later on in the game when we were trying to get an equaliser and of course,there's going to be space. So I just think it's a mentality thing.”
‘Not a tactical problem’
“We have to improve the mentality quickly because it's not a tactical problem. The mentality in the second half was brilliant. We needed to try and get back in the game. We were aggressive as we could be with the substitutions and we should have scored a couple of goals.”
Rangers defender, Derek Cornelius also spoke to TNT after the game. He said: “We didn’t start the match well, which is something we need to stop doing. We can’t be naive going into any European game. Second half we were chasing, we got one back, but overall we weren’t good enough.
“It seems like there moments when everyone’s tuned in but there’s also times where we completely switch off. We can’t be accepting that. We need to be better and fix these things.”