Vaclav Cerny has been speaking to the media ahead of Rangers' meeting with Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership. Philippe Clement's side sit three points above Jim Goodwin's team. Here is everything he had to say.
Good to be back after the break?
Yeah, definitely had a good break, very good results with the national team, but just couldn't wait to come back and, you know, play games again for Rangers. So, it's been a good week and a half, but I'm happy to be back.
How important is this period for Rangers?
Very, but I would say every period is important. The busy schedule is coming up, which was already busy, but we're making steps, and we know what we want, and we're just looking forward.
Is the performance as important as the result tomorrow?
Again, every game is about good performance, good results, so it's always a mix.
How much are you enjoying your football at the moment?
I always enjoy my football when I'm fit and when I'm on the pitch.
So, I do enjoy it and just want to be part of the success of this club, so that's what's driving me.
Is coming to Rangers everything you thought it would be?
Pretty much, yes.
No surprises?
Some, but it's pretty much what I thought.
In terms of how you settled into the country as well, have there been changes that took a while for you to adapt?
No, again, I know that it's not easy to adapt quickly, but I just did my best and hopefully we can say the adaptation part is long over and behind us and let's focus for upcoming games and months and weeks.
Do you think the Rangers fans are still to see even more of you?
I hope so. That's what I'm working on, to be more dangerous, more effective. The numbers are ok right now for myself, but you will never hear me saying something that I'm satisfied or that it's ok like this. You will never hear that from me, so every day I can do something more or bring something extra, I will go for it.
Before the international break, the manager was talking about you and your resilience to be able to come through a tougher period - how have you switched off away from football?
I would say just the people around me, which are few. My life outside of football is very simple, it's just being home with my family and that's definitely the most important thing which got me through the tough two or three weeks. But on the other hand, you need to be mentally prepared for that because in football I think it's one week you're there, one week you can't be there, so it's on the edge. The people here in the club, all the guys, all the staff members, literally everyone gave me the support and I just got through it and I just want to keep this going.
Is that quite nice, having that bubble away from football, when things are a bit crazy and chaotic?
Yeah, definitely. It depends on the person, on the player itself, but that's what helps me and I'm just glad I had this experience but also very glad that I got through it.
I know it's a bit of a cliche, but going through a tough time and being able to make it through, does that make you stronger and make you feel that you'll just really kick on?
Yeah, but I don't think it's only in football, it's in life in general. I think tough situations make you the person you are and how you react to them just shows your character and also shows the people you have around you and I have to say again, the club, family, in the end that's all that matters.
How important is it to win convincingly in the league?
It is important obviously, but I think on the other hand, that's what we want, that's the goa we have to be consistent, to be playing attractive football, to be playing dominant football, win games above their heads. We all know that it's not always possible in football, so I think the three points are always the major and we want to play good football and that's why we're here every single day and we're working on that.
Creativity quite often comes from you and the team, how do you feel about that responsibility?
I like that responsibility obviously, but I think maybe those moments when you do something decisive, ok, it comes from me or the team, but the action takes long, it's a build-up or it's a counter or whatever. We are in the position that it needs to come from us mostly, but I think we're developing also, the things around and I'm glad I'm on the end of the action or to prepare the action, but I think we should focus more on all of us.
Did you see John Souttar’s cross for Scotland?
No.
Has John been talking about his performance against Poland because he had a good game for Scotland, does he come back confident on the training pitch?
He looks sharp as always obviously, but I will look to the highlights, I will do that.
Would you consider staying beyond your loan agreement?
If it's up to me, I would be open to talk obviously, but I think it's very, very soon to talk about that. If you don't mind, just let me focus on helping the team and achieve what we want to achieve, me personally and as a club. I think we've got plenty of time to talk about this.
But you're enjoying it here?
I am obviously, yeah.
Václav, do your international teammates ask much about Rangers? What do you tell them?
Yeah, I've got a lot of questions. Actually, since I got here, I can see that people are very interested in how it is inside Rangers. They want to know a lot about the rivalry and the club itself, because not everybody knows how big the club is. I kind of enjoy talking about it every time someone asks me that. So, yeah, from now on I can tell them how big it is.
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