Here's every word of the manager's press conference after Rangers 2-0 St Johnstone.
How do you assess that game?
We did a lot of things well. We had control of the game from the start until the end. It is not easy to play against ten men when they are so deep, with no space. We kept our organisation, my defenders stayed focused. We could have had more goals, a few good saves also. We were waiting for that second goal, it came late. But we kept on pushing to get the goal and we had enough chances to do that.
On the injury front, how are Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram?
We need to make an assessment on that tomorrow. I didn’t see him directly after the game. It’s another player who is kicked off the pitch, so I am really frustrated with that. This for me is my main concern after the game - again a player kicked off the pitch. I’m not sure we can get him back before the winter break so that’s not a good situation. I don’t want to go in on emotions after the game, I am a little boiling so it’s better to cool down and make opinions about leagues or whatever. But it clearly wasn’t a good challenge with your studs forward like that. We had an even worse one later in the game when the guy luckily hit the ball and not my player, the intensity there was to break a leg. Those things are not good for football. It’s his ankle so we will see in the next couple of days what will happen.
Happy with the clean sheet and Cyriel Dessers?
We were dominant all the time. We could have been better with our last touches and the finishing, but the space was really small. If you score the second goal earlier, maybe you make three, four or five. We had the chances and there were a few good saves from the goalkeeper. That’s part of football. The important thing is we win 2-0, a well-deserved victory and clearly more chances than the opponent and a clean sheet. We have a lot of games. We had a team that twice wrote history in four days and stayed focused. It would be easy to be satisfied, think the game would be easy and become sloppy. But they didn’t do that. Those are really good points. It’s about a good recovery and to build towards Sunday. And to see which players are available because, of my three strikers, I only have one available. Maybe there are five midfielders out or something. That’s a really bad thing. I’m pleased about the performances of Kieran Dowell today, who did a good job in midfield. Dujon (Sterling), also. Leon King got some minutes at the end and we are going to fight really hard, all together, in the next couple of weeks to get as much points as possible.
Pleased with your team's mentality?
With only mentality, we will not reach our goals. There was also a lot quality, good position play, good actions. Maybe we lacked some freshness. But I rested a few players. They will be fresh for Sunday and we need to make rotations for these last four games. No, it was more to see I don’t lose any more important players for the next couple of week and not to take risks that another one was kicked off.
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