Derek McInnes provides update on Rangers' transfer pursuit

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• The one underlying message that Derek McInnes is drilling into his Rangers squad
• Rangers appoint former Scotland international to recruitment team

Can I ask you what you took from the game?

I think, obviously, you understand pre-season is there to serve its purpose. For the majority, we managed to get good minutes into them and we were up against a good team. I thought we started the game well, we took a bit of confidence from that start, getting the penalty. We were aggressive with our work, played forward and didn’t let them settle.

A lot of good teams manage to work it out. They played similar to Motherwell last season, in the sense that they flooded the middle of the pitch. They played with two sixes, two eights on the same line as the sixes, and two willing runners up top. When you’re not quite on point, they can make your team look a bit disjointed and I thought we were guilty of that. They passed up a couple of half-chances to equalise before they did, so it was no surprise to me when they scored, they deserved that.

There were things we needed to speak about at half-time. We matched up their shape and we got an extra midfielder on, which helped us. Cammy made more tackles in the first 15 minutes of the second half than anybody else had up until that point. It’s not the most important thing, but it’s part of the game. Sometimes you need that just to get the crowd into it and let people know they’re not going to get it all their own way. I’m delighted with how they’re doing in that sense.

All of a sudden, the technical game that it was became more of a duel and we started coming out on top. I thought we kept our arms left through the whole second half, we stood up to it, and I don’t think they enjoyed the second half as much as they did the first. I certainly enjoyed watching my team a bit better in the second half. Without us being really expansive or brilliant, it was just important, I felt, that we got through the game.

We won the game, which is important. I always think it’s important to try and win the game. The width came from the full-backs. We had to sacrifice wee Findlay to try and get an element of control and stop them enjoying it. It was good to get a win. The second goal comes from good penetration, breaking the line centrally. Breaking the first line, Dan breaks the line, and that’s a good one for Bojan to get a penalty. All in all, we came to get a lot from the game. Results aren’t the most important thing in pre-season, but it’s still nice to win the game.

From my point of view, it’s important. There’s a lot of lads that have never quite gone through that. Sometimes, when a new manager goes into a club, you want to try and give everybody the opportunity.

With a league game coming next Friday, I’ve got to be conscious that I’ve got to make sure there are enough players getting as close to 90 minutes as possible. On that, every day is an audition to show who we should be playing. We’ve had enough training days up until now, so the team picked, the players who were getting as much as 90 minutes, was important for me to make sure that, having been a player myself, you don’t want to be undercooked going into that first game. It’s important that we’ve got enough, the nucleus of that potential starting team, with the minutes under the belt.

Will that be the case against West Ham on Sunday?

Yeah, it’ll be a different opponent. We’ll play wee Findlay. I’d like to have a ball carrier in my team, at least one. A lot of my teams have had wingers, but I just felt, in the context of the game, we were losing a bit of confidence because they were dominating through the middle of the pitch.

So, West Ham, we’ll start looking at them tonight and tomorrow and see. Hopefully, as I say, you might get one or two who didn’t start tonight playing this game on Sunday. But again, based on your question, you’ll see a lot of players who played tonight playing again.

How close are you to adding to the squad?

Well, I think the recruitment team have been really aggressive. We’re clear on what we’re trying to do. In terms of the positions we’ve identified, it’s clear to me we need a bit more in wider areas and we could do with another defender in the building.

Dujon had an injection in his ankle on Friday. We were only going to put him on in an emergency today. He’s due to play against West Ham, so we resisted him going on. He will train, he’s training now. We’ll work tomorrow and get himself ready for Sunday. We’re not overly blessed with defenders at the minute.

We are looking quite close to completing one or two things. I know I said we’d try to get one or two done for tonight. I think we hit the post with one or two, but we’re still close. I certainly think we’ll be at least two in for Sunday’s game and hopefully another one next week for Dundee United.

I think, for us, you want everybody ideally in as quickly as possible. But sometimes you’ve got to be patient as well, you don’t want to blink too early. There might be better options. We’ve tried to cover every eventuality, but I do think there are key positions we could do with in the building now.

Normally, when there are good players available, you’re not the only show in town. There are other teams you’re competing against, but the good thing for me is the recruitment team and the board are really supporting us. They’re really aggressive with what we’re doing, at least giving us a chance to get good players here, and hopefully we’ll see that.

Can you give us your reaction to the SFA ban?

Obviously I had my hearing this afternoon and I was pleased to put my points across, but I don’t agree with it and the club don’t agree with it. I’m glad that we’re going to appeal against that, but, with it being an appeal process, I’m reluctant to say any more on that.

Is Thelo someone you think you can get more out of?

I think I can, but also Thelo has got to get that from himself as well. He’s so smooth and he looks every part a footballer, the size, the technique, the speed. We just need to try and get him at his best week in, week out. There’s a few that haven’t, to be honest. I think there are a few players who, from their best performances to their poorest performances, have too big a gap.

We need to try and get Thelo and others a wee bit more consistent, but sometimes, being young players and with the size of the club and the demand, you’ve got to work through that. That was the thing that disappointed me in the first half, that we were really quiet as a team and just kind of feeling sorry for ourselves walking in at half-time, and that’s not going to get the job done. We need to make sure that we galvanise each other. Football is not always sunshine and rainbows.

Sometimes you’ve got to dig deep and be more consistent. Players like Thelo and others need to fight through that and show their capabilities. Sometimes, in a technical game, these games are a bit easier to show, and other times, when you’re not getting it all your own way, you’re going to have to dig deep. Thelo, without question, has got huge potential and it’s up to us and him to get it out of himself.

How did it feel to be on the touchline as Rangers manager?

Yeah, it felt nice, I’m not going to lie about that. I’ve thought about it all day. It’s been a bit of an unusual day, because I was involved in my hearing. I’ve thought about that one for a long time. You allow yourself to think about it momentarily, it’s not something you’re completely obsessed with when you’re in the job.

I’m more concerned about getting players in and the responsibility I’ve got. I’m fully aware of the weight of this job and how much I want to do well. I’m more thinking about that than having that little moment to myself. But, of course, for myself and my family, it was nice, of course.

Is it important that managers feel they can speak their mind?

I’ve been a manager for 19 years now and part of my job is, you know you’re going to be asked on contentious decisions and all the rest of it. I’ve never wanted to make it personal. For me, the decision was wrong. I feel as though I made my points at the hearing today.

I do think, in general, broadcasters pay a lot of money to hear managers’ reactions. We’ve got to be careful that we don’t have managers and players who have to be really sure of themselves and check themselves before answering a question. At no point was I wanting to inflame the situation.

The situation was already being discussed before I did my press. It was quite a big moment in the season and there was a lot of emotion, but I felt as though what I said was controlled, and that’s what the appeal process will now discuss and consider.