Danny Rohl repeats his Rangers mantra and sends 'small step' message to relieved hitman
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has urged his side to use their 3-1 Scottish Premiership win over Kilmarnock as a springboard heading into two mammoth games against Hibs and Celtic next week. Goals from Derek Cornelius, Danilo, and Youssef Chermiti gave the German head coach a win in his first league game in charge at Ibrox, ending the club’s search for a first home league victory in 165 days in the process. Rangers now sit in fifth ahead of their trip to Easter Road to face Hibs on Wednesday night, and with a Premier Sports Cup semi-final against rivals Celtic on the horizon next weekend, Rohl has repeated his insistence that only a run of consecutive victories will rescue their season. “I said before the game to my players that this is the good thing in football: it's a short memory,” said Rohl. “Every win goes very straight in one direction, and I think this is what you have to understand. If you are ill, you cannot change it so quickly sometimes, you have to work on this, but in football, with one win, with one week, you can turn a lot of things in the right direction. I think this should be our mindset, step by step. Today was a first step, and on Wednesday, we have to take the next step. “I must say I really enjoyed our performance. It was not perfect, but it was a good step forward. A first win is always important for the group to create confidence. Today I saw many more good things. We looked back on Thursday, and it was a big disappointment, not just from the tactical part, but how we played with intensity. Today it was much better. It is a small step in our journey; we know where we want to go.” Serenaded by the home support both before and after the final whistle, Rohl thanked Rangers fans for his the welcome, but remained focused on his team’s performance as he opened up on the importance of Chermiti’s first goal for the club following his £8.5million move from Everton in the summer. “As I said to my players after the game, they should also really enjoy this moment today,” said Rohl. “The last weeks and months have not always been easy, but this is our goal: we want to win games, we want to play attractive football, and we want to do it together with our fans. If you bring everyone closer and closer, and we are really strong together, then I think we can really be successful in the future here. Today was a small step, not more, because the journey is still long. “I think generally, I must say it was a good outcome from the team. We put Danilo on from the start, and he scored, after not playing so much in the past. After 70 minutes, it was clear we wanted to bring the next striker on. This was for him [Chermiti] as well a good step, a small step, not more. I think this is also important: we saw today what is possible, he still has to improve some things, but for me it's important to improve the self-confidence of the players. “I think there were a lot more players with confidence, and from minute to minute you saw players who wanted to have the ball, there were also some good moments where players started to work against the ball, not just think ‘I want to have nice football’. If you do this, then you feel really you are in the game, and this is what I liked.” Sign up to The Scotsman’s daily football newsletter to get unrivalled Scottish football news and analysis - subscribe for free here.
