Giovanni van Bronckhorst Rangers Q+A in full: The Celtic game plan, sticking to principles and changes for Hearts

We had a really bad start in the game on Wednesday. We weren’t ready for the game it seems, so instead of picking the moments to press, in these big games you have to be compact because you know the storm is going to come. You have to pick the moments to go out as a team to push up and find the right time to press.

I think it was an important thing we didn’t do and secondly, on the ball, we were not good. We were very uncertain which meant you cannot break their pressure. The pressure came wave after wave but I think around about 25-30 minutes, the game changed, we had more possession, we were much higher up the pitch than the first minutes of the game.

Second half we totally had it under control but to go in with two goals conceded just before half time, 1-0 to 3-0 is a big difference and we also have to take that into account. We made it difficult on ourselves with the goals we gave away.

Will you make a number of changes to the starting 11 come Sunday?

Well it’s another game, of course you take into account the game you played before, what kind of subs you made and how they performed. But obviously I want to see a different team, a different mentality, a different intensity. The things you always have to have when you go into games. We have to act different than we did on Wednesday.

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Last season the team were playing with a high press, we’ve not seen it recently, will you look to reintroduce it?

Of course you want that. When you can press a team high you have to do it but you also have to have the courage to go up. If you see last Wednesday, I didn’t change any tactics at half-time, just personnel and we had a whole different attitude in the second half compared to the first half.

It’s how you behave on the pitch, how you communicate with your team, how you give the signal to go and press. I think those things are much more important. It’s easy to say you want to high press but you have to do it at the right time and you have to go as a team, that is the thing we have to improve.

Did Wednesday night teach you which players you can trust moving forward?

We gave two goals away, especially the second and the third one. It’s losing sight of your opponent, not tracking back, not closing the lines, that’s the basics you have to have to win games and to be strong as a team. Those things, we have to improve.

Last season is gone, it’s gone. This is the season we want to be champions again and we have to give everything to achieve that so the challenge is there now to be the champions at the end of the season.

Is there anything you can take from the Celtic game to use as motivation moving forward?

Of course, we had a de-brief today, we showed the images, we saw the things we didn’t do right, the mistakes we made. You have to look at the images and be honest and to talk with your players and each other on things we have to improve. It’s from these moments that you learn the most but you have to learn from it and it has to give you energy for the games that come.

We are very disappointed with the result but there’s another game to be played on Sunday and we have to improve the things that we didn’t do right and improve ourselves to get a good result.

How important is it that you stick together and get back to winning ways?

It’s very important. It’s still a group that is together. The results aren’t there, we lost the second game in 60 games so they’ve proved they can bounce back from disappointment and that’s what we have to do on Sunday.

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Is there an injury update and is Alfredo available for selection on Sunday? 

Yes. He trained today. He came back late last night. I think he had three flights again coming back from Colombia but he trained as normal today so he will be available for Sunday. The only one who is not available is Ianis Hagi and Filip Helander. The other ones are available. Aaron Ramsay had a session today and it went really well so we have to assess him tomorrow but he looks good. We have more players on Sunday. 

How have you and the staff approached the defence to rectify the issues of the last two games? 

The back four have been very stable, very determined since I got here and we didn’t give a lot of goals against us. So that was really good but in the last two games we have given away to many easy goals. And it hasn’t been the way like that. We have to improve on that. If you see the goals we lost against Ross County, especially the first two.

Against Celtic the second and third goal... that’s too easy to give those goals away like that. We have to improve to make sure we bring back the determination in the backline but also the players in front to do everything they can when needed to block goals. That’s the mentality we need to have. 

Is there a need for a change in the system or do you believe in your principles and the form will come good? 

Of course, I believe in my way of playing. It’s easy to say now it’s working and of course, in the first eight games, I didn’t hear about that. It’s very easy to say it now but I believe in the system but we need to make sure we keep doing the things we always did. And those are the basic things. To trackback, to make sure you mark your man, the aggression, the moments we go forward you have to take your chances.

I’m sure if we have those things back, or do much better, we will be fine. For us it’s about bouncing back and making sure on Sunday we have the same determination we had a couple of months ago. 

Leon Balogun returned, can we expect that he will partner Connor Goldson going forward? 

He would have played before. People forget how many centre-backs I had available and how many were injured. Leon is one of them and he’s been out of the team. He only came back a couple of weeks ago but he showed it on Wednesday how strong he is, how valuable he can be in the squad. It is the same with Ryan Jack. He played 45 minutes which was the maximum because he hadn’t played for months. He has only played at max, 20 minutes in the last three months. So again, another valuable and important player who also comes back from injury. It’s not always easy to have those players out especially when they come back and you see what they can bring. 

Is there a temptation to return to a formation that allows the full-backs to attack more freely and brings the wingers inside? 

I mean... we have done it before. We have built up many times with three at the back and the wingers inside so it’s a 4-3-3 but I think in most of the games we are not playing in a 4-3-3 system. We are very dynamic, we can change and play with the wingers inside, we can move the full-backs higher up.

You saw against Celtic, Ryan came in and we can build up with three. I know when the results aren’t there everyone has questions about the way of playing, inside, outside, last season champions or not, it comes with the results you are getting. Our focus is to keep building the way we are playing, with the same intensity and determination. We had a bad result but there is one point difference. There are still 42 points to be won. The challenge is on. That’s all I can say. 

The players seemed to retract into a deep defence against Celtic, was that the tactics on the night or was that the players? 

No, if you have three attackers on your side it’s a bit pointless to be only defending. If you speak to the players and you speak about the first 15 minutes, it wasn’t' the way we wanted to start. It wasn’t the way we intended it to be. It’s possible when you play against a team that is strong at home and wants to play with intensity and speed and puts you under pressure big time those are the times you have to overcome that. We knew they were going to come for 20 minutes, we knew they were going to push hard to get the early goal.

You have to have the mentality to say ‘Guys, first 20 minutes, whatever happens, we stick together, we win our battles and we make sure we have a good result to build on’. The first 20-25 minutes was a storm, then we took over and in the second half, we get more space than we had in the first half. As I said, to go 1-0 down or 3-0 down at half-time is a big difference so in that way, you always want to have domination.

Sometimes in games, that is difficult because of the opponent you face, and we faced a strong opponent. When you have the ball you have to be brave, doing your possession game and make sure you break lines, but that’s the thing we didn’t do in the first 20 minutes. We gave the ball away and then it was very difficult to get into the game and push up as a team.