Rangers manager Derek McInnes said he was "mortified" and "embarrassed" after his side suffered a Conference League catastrophe, losing 1-0 to Jablonec on penalties in their league phase shoot-out.
The defeat ended Rangers' European campaign and means the club have failed to qualify for group stage action for the first time since 2017. The result was sealed when Findlay Curtis and James Penrice missed their kicks in the shoot-out, leaving both players in tears on the pitch.
McInnes issues apology to supporters
Speaking after the match, McInnes apologised to the 600-strong group of supporters who had travelled to Bohemia to watch the game. He said: "First of all, I'm embarrassed with the performance. It wasn't a good performance at any stretch of the imagination."
"Then you think you might just get through… But it shouldn't have come down to two boys, James Penrice and Findlay Curtis, in tears for missing a penalty kick. It shouldn't have come down to that."
McInnes refused to make excuses for the display, despite acknowledging the significant turnover of players. "I'm not going to sit here and make any excuses whatsoever. It wasn't good enough. Yes, there's been a big turnover of players. Yes, we looked very inexperienced at times. But the responsibility is mine to make sure that we are better than what we served up tonight. And we were miles short."
Players told brutal truth
The manager accepted responsibility for the result but insisted the players must also take their share of the blame. "I'll take responsibility for the result, but the responsibility is shared. The players have got to be better than that. It's my job to help the players, but they've got to help themselves as well."
He added: "I'm embarrassed with the result. I'm gutted for the supporters because they've come here. We come over on a charter flight, we stay in a nice hotel, we get all the preparation, and they come here whatever way they can. They'll still make their way to Aberdeen on Sunday."
"They don't always need to see their team perform brilliantly, but they do deserve to see their team perform way better than that. For that, it's not good enough."
Missed chances and shoot-out heartbreak
Rangers had taken a narrow one-goal lead into the match from last week's first leg in Glasgow, but Vakhtang Chanturishvili's equaliser with 15 minutes remaining cancelled that advantage and forced extra-time.
There was an early warning sign for Rangers when Jablonec striker Lamin Jawo missed a golden opportunity to score. But Rangers failed to respond and repeatedly surrendered possession.
It looked like they might get away with their ragged display when Ivor Pandur saved Filip Zorvan's effort in the shoot-out. But Curtis and Penrice were the fall guys as Jablonec pulled off a stunning upset at their tiny 6,000-capacity home.
McInnes said: "You've got to be proactive and do more with the ball when you get it. I look at us now and I'm thinking, well, we're no great as a possession-based team at the minute. We're not a counter-attacking team enough, or effectively enough, at times. We don't look like a team who are happy when we go direct. And teams need to be something. It's my job to try and find the answers on the pitch because what was happening wasn't working."
He added: "But listen, I can accept us not being on point and playing well all the time, but I can't accept—and we shouldn't accept—losing individual battles, losing duels and second balls, not winning enough tackles, and not getting the momentum of the game going our way."
Raskin future remains unclear
McInnes will now hope that the arrival of Minsu Kim and Kevin Kelsy will lift his squad. But Nico Raskin is no closer to securing his exit despite McInnes announcing the Belgian star had stayed behind in Glasgow amid suggestions of a big-money move away.
He said: "There have been no offers for Nico. It's just been quite a few conversations, so I don't know where that was. Certainly not today, ahead of the game—I hadn't heard anything. So, I don't know where that's at. That may well change."
"But I did think we lacked a bit of experience in the middle of the pitch at times. I think any team would miss somebody like Nico, but I need to say that's not the reason why we've lost tonight. We should still have enough in the building, as I said."
