Derek Cornelius has pinpointed mentality as the biggest difference between Danny Rohl’s Rangers blueprint and the way of working under former head coach Russell Martin.
Rohl marked his debut in the Ibrox dugout with victory over Kilmarnock on Sunday as Rangers recorded a much-needed Premiership victory. Cornelius opened the scoring before goals from Danilo and Youssef Chermiti got the German off and running as boss.
Read more:
- Danilo opens up on 'hurtful' episode under Russell Martin, Danny Rohl impressions
- Rangers 3-1 Kilmarnock: Tactical tweaks, Rohl's big calls and Chermiti opens account
A trip to Easter Road is next on the agenda for Rangers. It comes on the eve of the Premier Sports Cup showdown with Celtic at the weekend as Rohl gears up for what could be the double-header that kick-starts the campaign.
That is the ambition for Cornelius and his Ibrox team-mates. And the Canadian has been encouraged by the first few days under Rohl’s guidance following his appointment as Martin’s successor.
“Yeah, it's been good,” Cornelius said of the atmosphere around the group following the win over Kilmarnock. “It's been good. You know, it's been a more positive dynamic within the group, which is always more enjoyable to be in. But I think the group also knows that it's just a start and we need to keep going in this way.
“It hasn't been so much time really to implement his maybe his football tactical ideas. And we've had a lot of matches. We haven't had so much time on the pitch to train together. But I would say the biggest change would have been the mentality, just that we're aggressive.
"We bring intensity to each match, each duel that we run for each other. We help each other. And yeah, at the end of the day, when you play for Rangers, the most important thing is to win. So I think that's been the biggest change.
“I think we have to [draw a line under what happened at the start of the season]. We don't have another choice. Obviously the group is not happy with how we've started the season. The results haven't been good enough.
"The performances haven't been good enough. But we know that we can't change anything in the past and that we can only look ahead. And we're just hoping to continue to improve and get better and better.”
The arrival of Rohl and that improved performance against Stuart Kettlewell's side has raised the spirits of a support that spent the first months of the campaign flirting between anger and apathy. The reign of Martin started badly, and the mood come the end of his 123-day tenure was one of relief that it was finally over as the board admitted to their costly mistakes on and off the park.
Ibrox had a different feel about it at the weekend. It is a factor that Cornelius is keen to tap into more often as Rohl looks to give the fans something to believe in and something to be encouraged about after the dark days already this term.
"I've been told many times by many different people, that when Rangers is winning, it's the best club to play in the world," Cornelius said. "And yeah, I want to experience that. I want to see, Rangers when we're winning and when the fans are behind us, when things are going well.
"So yeah, it definitely is a big motivation for myself to obviously get the ship going in the right direction and to experience that because I get the feeling from around the club that that's an experience that, yeah, not many footballers can say they've had in their careers.
"From playing in Ibrox, I see that the fans, they want to get into the game. They're almost in it with us. And I think that can be a real advantage, you know. I think teams, when they experience a crowd like Ibrox, it can be an intimidating place to come and play.
"But I also get the sense that, you know, they want high intensity, upbeat football, attacking football. And I think that suits the new manager well because I think that's his idea of playing football as well. And if ultimately it's going to help us get us more wins, I'm all for it."
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