Michael Beale offers Rangers January recruitment update - Full Q+A

Why didn’t you get a fast start?

We had control for the whole game but we were lacking a little bit of quality in the final third in the first half. We hadn’t tested the keeper enough. We got into good areas but we were frustrating. I thought Dundee United sat deep, made it difficult and tried to counter. That didn’t materialise in the game, we had full control. At half-time, we spoke about running off the ball more to disrupt and upping our focus and quality. At the start of the second half, we did that and it became a very comfortable game. This is a really difficult place to come and play, they’ve won the last couple of games and seemed in good form. That’s the most pleased I’ve been after a match because I thought as the away team we were never in danger. It was just a question of if we could find the quality and we did. The first goal I thought was an excellent goal.

What is your approach at half-time?

There are one or two things about how you can create space for yourself when a team drops down. You may have to overload in certain areas. We certainly needed to up our quality because there were times when our initial part of the action was good but the execution was horrible. We were honest with each other in there. Before the game we spoke about doing the difficult things, the second balls, being strong defensively. That still counted but now we needed to find that quality in the final third. We managed to do that and it became comfortable, we might have even scored another but we managed the game well. I’m pleased, it’s another clean sheet and win away from home. Although the game looked easy it certainly wasn’t. A lot of preparation and effort goes into the game and I thought that was a good performance today.

What more do you need to see?

It was nice to see Kemar Roofe come back. He was our top goalscorer in the season we won the league. The unfortunate side is Antonio Colak picked up a knock and had to go off at half-time. That was a forced change rather than one we wanted to make. I’m hoping it’s not a long one. We can improve by getting players fitter and stronger, understanding the ideas more, playing more games, adding players to it this month if they are the right ones to take us forward. We changed the team a bit today, changed the goalkeeper and again Jon kept a clean sheet. Again, Ryan Jack came in and had a really good game. There are a lot of positives, we’re winning, but it’s nowhere near where we want it just yet.

Does it seem the players are developing consistency?

Maybe it's just the emphasis on making sure we have three or four goalscorers in the team. I see Malik as a goalscorer so rather than picking between him and Fashion Sakala we pick both. Sakala is in fine form. I was a little frustrated with both of them at half-time, to say the least, and we just had a laugh and joke about it because they were two that I wanted to change how they were playing in the first half and they did really well in the second half. I’m delighted with that, now Kemar is back and Antonio hopefully has an issue that won’t keep him out of next week. We’re in a good place going forward and it’s another clean sheet which I’m over the moon with.

What can you tell us about potential arrivals?

We only bring people in that are starters. We want people coming in to be exciting now but exciting in the future as well. The players that come in need time to settle. Anyone that comes in is coming in to be a starter here, we’re not bringing any fillers or squad players in. We’re bringing people in for the future to build a new Rangers. There’s been a lot said about me coming back in and working with players I worked with a year ago. That is the case, there are a lot of good ones but I also want to build a Rangers for the future. It’s my turn to have a go at being manager and I am hugely excited about that opportunity. I want to bring new players on board to start that journey off.