Derek McInnes says his Rangers players beat themselves in Poland after losing 2-1 to Jagiellonia Bialystok in the first leg of their Europa League tie. But he is adamant they can overturn the deficit at Ibrox in the second leg if they cut out defensive mistakes.
Sloppy goals prove costly
Rangers led through an early own goal but conceded two sloppy goals in the first half. Kajetan Szmyt scored a double for Jagiellonia as the visitors failed to clear their own box. Findlay Curtis hit the post late on, but McInnes' men could not find a leveller at the Chorten Arena.
McInnes warned his players to rid themselves of the defensive slackness that proved costly in Bialystok. He said: "The tie is there to be won next week. The atmosphere was brilliant here tonight. Our fans made a huge effort to get behind us and it's our turn to really turn up the volume at Ibrox and make it a big night for us."
Confidence high for second leg
He added: "There will be 50,000 at Ibrox and we now have to crank up the noise, bring a performance and hopefully that can see us through. I believe there's enough in us to go and win the tie. We'll be better for having this game."
But he stressed the need for improvement: "We can't give encouragement to any team, never mind Jagiellonia with their quality, by not doing the right things. There's no pleasure in that for us tonight. We lost two goals that were clearly mistakes."
Bad habits from last season
McInnes said: "I'm not going to watch us all season give up so many chances. We have beat ourselves tonight and I've said that to the players. We can't lose the ball on the edge of their box and have it end up with a chance for them. There are a lot of bad habits carrying on from last season. That's down to talking, organisation and closing the back door before the fire becomes bigger."
He added: "It's about a loss of concentration. Too often, we were slow on the uptake and didn't do our defensive work well enough."
Perfect start not enough
Rangers got off to a perfect start when Tuur Rommens' cross was turned into his own net by Jagiellonia defender Guilherme Montoia on four minutes. But Rangers then retreated, gave up too many opportunities and paid the price before half-time.
McInnes said: "We got off to a good start, securing the middle of the pitch and playing around their shape. It was exactly what we wanted and we got a break with the goal. We were in charge of it then and looked accomplished. No disrespect to Jagiellonia. They showed what they are: a counter-attack team with pace to take advantage of sloppiness and a lack of concentration."
Transfer news and debut positives
Rangers have cooled their interest in Frosinone wide man Fares Ghedjemis, but McInnes hopes to strengthen his squad with the arrival of PSV winger Couhaib Driouech and others before the second leg. He handed Japanese winger Daisuke Yokota a debut in Poland and was encouraged by his 45-minute display.
McInnes said: "There are positives from the second half. We kept a clean sheet even though we put it at risk a few times. We had a lot more control of the game and the subs all helped. Daisuke had some good moments on his debut. You can see what he's going to be for us. In the second half we were more of a threat. We obviously wanted to win the game and Jagiellonia will feel confident."
He added: "They've had a look at us and we've now had a look at them. I'm just disappointed that we gave them opportunities to punish us. I thought the pitch was difficult for both teams, it was slippy and bobbly. It looked good but it didn't play well, so the players had to really concentrate. But we'll be better next week as this was only our second competitive game."
