Michael Beale spoke to the BBC after Rangers progressed into the Champions League play-off round with a 3-2 win over Servette. Here's everything that he had to say...
Reflections on the game?
It was a really slow start. The crowd was up, it was a warm night and we conceded a goal. We needed to dig in and Jack made some good saves. We have moments in the first half but the biggest one was Danilo’s miss. It was a fantastic cross from Cifuentes and I thought he had another really positive night on his second start. Nico Raskin and him were good. We had strong words at half-time because it wasn’t the performance we were looking for in loads of areas. I thought we improved greatly in the second half and played with more control and tempo. It was a fantastic goal, with an excellent cross from Borna and James got in at the far post. We could’ve extended our lead as we had some fantastic chances.
Is the amount of missed chances a frustration?
Danilo was in a great area and so was Abdallah. We had two-on-two in the box, they made the movements that we want them to and I’m backing Dani to score that more often than not. Cyriel and Todd linked up well and the ball came back at Todd quickly off the post. We need to take those moments and their guy had an excellent finish. It was warm, their fans were up after the goal and we showed a fantastic mentality after the break to get back to our gameplan. I was pleased with the second half.
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Are you getting enough from your strikers given the outlay?
They’ve all scored a goal and that’s the positive as we are only three games into the season. It’s difficult away from home in Europe and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in 60 of them. It’s a big game against PSV, everybody knows how massive that was for both clubs last year and they are in good form. It’s Rangers, it’s Ibrox and we will go hell to leather. Before that, we’ve got a League Cup game which is really important too.
Any concerns over the defensive display in the first half?
The whole team was too passive in the first half. We were 15 or 20 yards too deep and we were much better in the second half. We won the ball higher up the pitch and it gave us more opportunity. We have to decide what team we want to be and we spoke about that at half-time. It shouldn’t take till half-time to get that and I want us to be a more positive team. You can’t afford to do that at this level.
How do you rectify the slow start?
We were the better team in three of the four halves against Servette, so we deserved to go through. We started sitting too deep in the first half and didn’t progress how we wanted to. We still had chances but it’s not how I or the players want to play. We have to respect the opponents and they did cause us problems.
Thoughts on PSV?
They have an excellent coach and they’ve recruited well. They spent big money this summer and they are a good team. The atmosphere will be great in both games and there’s nothing not to love about a knockout game to get into the Champions League. It’s what these players dream of so let’s have a right go. Let’s not have any regrets over the two legs and make sure it’s a cauldron at Ibrox.
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