Glasgow Rangers legend Ally McCoist hit out at the Gers after their “unacceptable” Champions League exit to Club Brugge.
Rangers lose 9-1 on aggregate after 6-0 second leg humiliation
Russell Martin continued his woeful start to life as Ibrox manager on Wednesday evening, with Rangers exiting the Champions League with a 9-1 aggregate playoff defeat to Club Brugge.
Already trailing 3-1, the Gers quickly went a goal down before Max Aarons was sent off after less than 10 minutes of action.
The floodgates then opened in Belgium, with Rangers now in the Europa League. Talking after the embarrassing 6-0 second-leg defeat, McCoist labelled the Gers’ display as “unacceptable” and said “Rangers supporters deserve a lot better”.
“That was unacceptable. I wasn’t confident Rangers could get a result tonight. Hopeful, yeah, you have everything crossed haven’t you, but realistically, you look at the performances this season, look at our first half against Club Brugge last week, miles off it.
“But what those travelling fans and watching back home expect is a level of competition and competitiveness which they didn’t see tonight. They took their foot off the gas ever so slightly in terms of the finishing, but the substitutes they brought on didn’t slow the game down at all. But in terms of the urgency to score goals, in terms of the level of finishing, it dropped second half.
“Rangers supporters deserve a lot better than the level of commitment, organisation and willingness to defend that they saw tonight. It’s a sad reflection when the best player on your team is the goalkeeper who has lost six goals, because make no mistake about it, if it wasn’t for him – he’s had two or three tremendous saves – that could have been a cricket score.”
McCoist makes Rangers transfer claim on new signings
There were eight new signings in Rangers’ starting line-up, including Aarons, and McCoist has not been impressed by the club’s recruitment this summer.
Talking after the game, McCoist slammed the squad and their new signings’ physicality.
“Physically, because they’re small, they look like wee boys. They’re clearly not wee boys, and they won’t thank me for saying that, they’ll hate me saying it, but they look like wee boys.
“There’s no men, you need men. And your men don’t need to be 6ft 5ins, 6ft 6ins. They just need to have heart, head and a bit of organisation and desire. That’s what men do and they’re short of that in this department.
“There’s no doubt they’ve got skills and they’re a talented group of individuals. Are they as talented as the team they had last year? I don’t think so. They’ve gone back the way. But in terms of what you’re looking for from a Rangers team, you’re not going to go out and dominate opposition, particularly of that quality. But you deserve a lot better than you got tonight in terms of a willingness to work for each other.”
Max Aarons
5ft 8
Nasser Djiga
6ft 3
Jayden Meghoma
5ft 8
Lyall Cameron
5ft 10
Thelo Aasgaard
6ft 2
Joe Rothwell
6ft
Oliver Antman
6ft
Djeidi Gassama
5ft 8
It is a quick turnaround for Rangers and Martin, with a Glasgow derby against rivals Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon before the international break.
