Every word of the manager's press conference after a 4-0 win over Livingston.
Your thoughts on the game?
We won our third game in seven days. Another clean sheet and we are in the semi-final and Livingston didn’t have a shot on target. It was a good night for us. We were a bit more patient. I thought at times we could have speeded up a little bit but our general possession was much better than the weekend. Abdallah showed the way really with his running off the ball. I was delighted for Ridvan. He’s had a rough year and a bit to his Rangers career. He’s shown in flashes why the club invested in him and why he was such a big talent in Turkey and their national team. Obviously injuries have held him back. Hopefully that’s the start of him showing what we can do more regularly.
Can you update us on the injuries?
Ridvan was suffering from cramp, Kemar has a groin problem. We will know more tomorrow.
A better reaction at full-time?
I just think we have to win football games. It’s four games now, it’s another clean sheet. I don’t know where the rubbish came from at the weekend that Motherwell were the better team at the weekend. Look at the stats. But I was right to say we were poor in possession. Tonight we were better and we deserved to win the game.
Talk us through the play on either flank?
I was pleased enough, the triangles on either side worked well. I thought Cifu went high and let Sam [Lammers] stay wider, other times James [Tavernier] came inside. You saw when Dujon came on we're looking at James going up a line and he gets a good assist for Ryan [Jack]. It's just at this moment in time with the games coming there's not much in between we can work on. Every time we play at the minute it's just making sure everyone is fit and healthy for the next one. Our left side was probably the reason we won the game, Ridvan and Abdallah between them the energy they showed led to the first two goals.
How do you build on it?
When you ask teams to play three games in seven days, then four in ten, the entertainment and energy levels are going to go down. I think for us it’s to just keep winning. Look at the list of players who are out. They are the players who bring guile and style. I thought in the first half Sam Lammers played well, I thought Abdallah was eye-catching. All the players who knew the way we played in the final third have moved on. We have come back this season without Colak, Morelos, Sakala, Arfield, Hagi, Tillman, Lawrence and Cantwell were out tonight, Ryan Kent, these guys had the relationships and we are building new ones. This is what the new guys are building. There’s a half chance we might see Kieran Dowell and Nico Raskin by the time we play St Mirren. To lose Kemar tonight possibly is disappointing and just shows how much strain the team is under at the moment.
Your thoughts on drawing Hearts?
They are the team I have watched probably the most this season because of Alex. I was at their game last week and unfortunately, he didn’t get on against St Mirren which was a good game. I think both ties look very, very good for the neutral and good for the competition. It’s quite a long way off with the amount of games we’ve got but it will be a really good day out for everybody when we get there. There’s no point getting to a semi-final without wanting to go back for the big day out in December. That will be our focus. Right now we need to recover and play against Aberdeen in two days' time.
Has your mood changed?
Not really it’s just we’re in the middle of a big schedule. We came back from the international break hurting a little bit as a team, naturally, you would. The boys have responded really well it’s important we are really honest with each other and drive standards but also important that we realise that at this moment with the games coming and the players we have out we continue to look robust and strong as a team. I want to be more free-flowing and expansive and with some of the names we have out, they will give us that after the international break hopefully.
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