Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Rangers Q+A in full: Solving the Alfredo Morelos jigsaw

Here's the full transcript of what was discussed.

What is your assessment of the night? 

Very good, very positive of course. I think we had a very good performance today for the 90 minutes. The first half was really good and we created a lot of chances but we only scored once. I’m very proud of the team and the way they reacted after Sunday. And although we only had two training sessions I think they did the gameplan really well in creating a lot of danger to score and create chances. So I’m very happy. Of course, the second goal got us through to the next round which was the ultimate goal for today. We achieved that one and for us, as a club, it’s fantastic to be involved in Europe after the winter break. 

How important was Allan McGregor’s double save? 

It was very important. Keeping it at zero today after we were 2-0 up was very important because if they scored a goal we wouldn’t go through. I am very proud of my team - the goals Morelos scored, the performance of the midfield players, the back four were excellent. At the right time, McGregor made some fantastic saves. Overall it was a really good team performance.  

You received a raucous welcome back to Ibrox. How was it returning? 

It was incredible. For me it is very special to be back at the club as a manager. I had wonderful European nights, wonderful memories of my time here but going out for the first time as manager is something special. You want to win and that was the important thing today. Truly it was really special and I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s always special to have your first game as a manager at Ibrox and I was really happy we could give the fans a game like we did today. 

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How important was it for confidence the team managed to keep a clean sheet? 

It’s important no matter which game you play. If you have a lot of goals against you in the previous week you want to keep the zero, especially in Europe, when you keep the zero it’s a good thing to have, because I know at Ibrox, in this atmosphere, you will create chances.  I think we created three or four clear chances in the first 20 minutes but only scored once. We hit the crossbar and other good chances mean we could have scored more. But keeping the zero is the base for the win. 

How important is Alfredo Morelos as part of the Rangers jigsaw? 

As you said, he’s a piece of the jigsaw. If all the pieces are right then we are a good team. Of course, he is the striker so he will be getting the most chances out of the players on the pitch. I like him to be sharp, I like him to be in the box and when we are pushing very high up the pitch and getting the crosses in, he has to be there. Not only him but we need bodies – Kent was there, Aribo was there, Hagi was there. That’s very important. You want to have a clear way of playing to create as many chances as you can in a game. Sometimes it’s harder because of the opponent but our objective is to play football and create chances. 

What impressed you tonight? 

It hasn’t been easy for the team coming back from a loss last Sunday and only having two sessions to prepare for the game today. I made some changes in the system, the way we play when we have the ball, the way we pressed. I put a lot of effort in the last days in showing my players how they have to play in the training session, with meetings, with images. I think they handled it really well and they executed my game plan really good so I'm really pleased with the way they worked. They put the energy into the training sessions and you saw the energy today from the first minute. I think that’s the way we have to play every game no matter who or what competition. 

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What did you think of Calvin Bassey tonight? 

He was fantastic. He had to come in and he did really well. He’s a sharp and strong defender and I think he was very brave. Both centre-backs did really well and the full-backs too. He had a very good performance, in marking, in pushing the team forwards, in his duels. I’m really pleased. 

Nathan Patterson played in a more forward role tonight. Is that something you see doing again in the future having him and Tavernier in the same team? 

Tes, that’s possible. We have two great right full-backs. I have in the past used two full-backs in games. Today, you saw Prague push a lot of players forward so the left-back was almost playing like a winger so if you have two defending that space it’s easier because Nathan and Tavernier can defend. A winger would not be used to that so defensively he did very well in controlling that space and of course, we know with his drive to always go forward he can be dangerous in the transition moments. 

Ryan Kent seemed to pick the ball up in wider areas tonight. Is that something you’re looking to introduce in your system and how do you think he played? 

Yes, I think so. We play with a central striker and I like my wingers to have a free role. At times they have to keep it in the wider areas to create one vs ones or overloads but I think when we have a decent way of playing, the right speed of play, we can get the ball really quick to danger zones where we can have Hagi, Kent or Sakala on the ball so I think they did really well and hopefully, we can continue the development in the next few games.