Rangers manager Ally McCoist took a few moment to talk with Rangers Report after the 2-1 victory over Sacramento Republic. We discussed the match, the hotly debated tactical switches & whether some of the younger players will see more action in the final two matches of the US/Canada tour.
What did you say at half time to get the team to play with more tempo?
It was night & day wasn’t it? You’ve hit the nail on the head – I just asked them to increase the tempo.
The tempo in the first half was poor. We were rolling the ball out to the center backs – it was going wide but there was no penetration, no aggression. I don’t mean kicking people I just mean an aggression – a tempo to the play .
The second half was miles better. Darren McGregor came on & he really influenced it – because he was going in to win the ball, he was aggressive. Marius Zaliukas then became a different player – he was aggressive & then everybody fed off of it.
We just played better all around in the second half & that’s what we’re looking for because the first half was disappointing.
It seems like you went back to a 4-4-2 for this match?
Yes. we did…
Was the last game just an experiment?
No, we’ll try it again. This is what preseason is all about – we’ve been working on it in training.
To be honest with you in the last game we defended as poorly as we have in a long time but I actually felt we defended worse in the second half with the four in the back rather then the first half with the three & five defenders.
So we’ll keep working on these things – that’s what preseason is all about. But we certainly looked better today but we still didn’t defend well in the first half with the four but it was miles better in the second half.
We’ll keep working on it in the preseason & we’ll try the three, the four, the five in the back. It’s nice to have a couple of strings in your bow or you become too one dimensional.
Are we going to see more of the youngsters in the upcoming matches?
I hope so, yeah. We’ve got a game Monday night & a lot of traveling tomorrow so we’ll definitely look to freshen it up.
It was hot today & we’re not used to playing in that temperature – so we’ve got a lot of players with us & I’d like to think that we’ll freshen it up in the next couple of games.
therangersreport.com 
Really enjoy your reports mate.
Keep up the great work
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Thanks — I just wish I could cover the team in person more!
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I just hope now McCoist can see what our whole support see on a regular basis. back to basics and playing decent attacking football. i still though question a few players in the starting eleven from last nights match. Foster McCulloch are not good enough. squad players such as Faure and Hutton have no impact whatsoever on the Rangers team. positive points for me are Zaliukas and McGregor look a decent pairing in defense. and Boyd and Miller upfront starting.
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Yesh, nom nom, I will have shum more dignity pies please. Oh, and geeze wan oh them free chicken sandwiches anow. Puuuure tactical geeniush needs nourishment.
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