Every word of Derek McInnes' message after Rangers Europa League exit

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What are your thoughts on the reaction from the fans at the end?

Yeah, I think it was justified to be honest. It wasn't good enough. What we served up throughout the second half wasn't good enough. We've got to be honest with that, we've got to own it. I thought the game was, I felt we had to make the game open. It was a bit too open at times for us to happen. Obviously, Gassama and Yokota playing as effectively wing-backs, we were asking a lot of them at times. But I thought we paid dividends in terms of penalty box action, getting the goal. I thought we were good value for going in 1-0 at half-time, but I still thought that Jagiellonia had a couple of scares.

And mostly again on when the ball was dead and on transitions. So, there was a bit of anxiety there. I thought we took Thelo off at half-time, just felt we wasn't getting involved in the game enough. And we go a back four, and the reason we'd go a back four is to try and get Gassama and Yokota a wee bit more effective higher up the pitch. Because I think it was a lot to ask of them to do that for 90 minutes, playing in the position they were in. And by doing that, hopefully to provide the service a bit more regularly for Shankland and Naderi. We have to say, once again, it's not another 90-minute performance. That's been aimed at Rangers for a while now. Last season, I think it was aimed at strong 45 minutes. It wasn't followed up. It was just playing in stages and playing in parts of the game. And we have to be honest, it's been a continuation of that this season already.

In the four games we've played, we've had some good moments, but it's not been good enough. And it's certainly not a strong enough 90-minute performance. And I just thought that, although I didn't think we were great in the second half, I didn't think we were creating too much. But for us to lose the goal that we do, where it's your set play. I think the first forward pass that they play is in the bottom left-hand corner in front of Copland Road. And for it to end up scoring at the top right-hand corner in front of the Broomloan is just madness. It's inexplicable how we don't make a foul, how we don't stop their flow and attack. How we don't just sanitise that whole situation. There's no lack of bodies.

It's lack of intelligence. It's lack of doing the right thing, to be honest. Just make a foul and stop the attack. And I think once they equalised, it was so difficult. Because the players lost more confidence. The situation becomes a bit desperate. And I just thought we lost all our composure after that. That for me is not great to watch. My team kind of go from some good highs in the first half to being as poor as we were in the second half. And I have to say, we didn't do enough. I know Bojan has got a chance with a header. I'd like to see the Naderi challenge again as well when he was running through. To be honest, I thought it was a foul the other way and potentially a red card. But we huffed and puffed. 

And even at the death, we throw Fernandez up the pitch and we still don't make enough good decisions to how we don’t even play up to him. So we just lost all our composure. And I think we need to be honest. The club's built for the Europa League and Champions League. And that's the intention, to get there. But I'm not sure the team's quite ready for it at the minute. And it pains me to say that, to be honest. It does. We need to get more quality. We need to try and get more confidence into the team. But there wasn't an outcome that we wanted. 

How do you assess the task for you trying to get the team where you want it to be? 

Yeah, that was the job when I came in to do. You know, Rangers just finished the third last season. What was served up last year wasn't good enough. And we've come in to the job for a reason. You get a job to try and make things better. And obviously, sometimes you get it because things aren't quite right. And we have to try and get things moving the right way quickly. There's no two ways about it. We should be winning this game. I think Jagiellonia are a decent team and I think they’ve got some good players, and I think they're well coached. But Rangers at their best, Rangers, as strong as they can be, should be winning this tie. And we have got work to do between now and the end of the window but we have to be ready for Sunday to win a cup tie against St Mirren.

Is it a mentality thing, is a quality thing, and how do you change it fast?

I do think quality comes into it but it is also a wherewithal to keep doing what you’re doing and improving. We said at half-time there was no back slapping. We're winning the game here. We've done what was expected of us. No more. We were expected to win the first half. But we still need more to do to win the tie. And, you know, the game was finally poised. I think Jagiellonia had enough opportunities and enough confidence about them at times. They look like a team that's been together a bit. And they’ve got a good way of playing. So we knew the game still needed more full attention. But we weren't good enough second half. But the reason I think is a bit of both of what you said. I think there is an element of we need to show more quality. But we also need to stay on top of the job more. And I think it's a concentration thing as much as anything.

Is James Penrice close to signing?

Yeah, I think until deals are done and over the line, it's tough for me to actually comment on that. You know, we're actively trying to get players in. The club is working so hard. I see it first hand. My office is next door to the recruitment lads and to everybody else and there's constant conversation. So everybody's working extremely hard to get the necessary players, the type of players that we require at the club. We're not just signing any players. We're hopeful we can land a few. I know Andrew said at the shareholders' meeting between three and five. So there's still a lot to do to get that type of number in.

How concerned are you by the lack of creativity and ball retention?

Well, we had 76% possession on Sunday against Hibs. So we're retaining the ball fine on Sunday. It's how effective you can be with that possession. I think possession was fairly even again tonight. But lack of creativity, certainly. I think ball possession, I think we've been decent at times. I think we've had more possession than Jagiellonia away from home as well. But it' what you do with it. It's to be more effective. I do think we're lacking a cutting edge. Obviously, losing Youssef doesn’t help matters. We are looking at a No.9 position as well in terms of trying to get somebody in. It's clear, I've been saying since we came in, we'd like to try and get good wingers to the club to try and bring that creativity. Because I think a club like Rangers, a team like Rangers certainly my team, is something that we'd like to try and address.