Alex McLeish, the Rangers manager, was not of a mind to soothe the bruised egos of his players following their inept display in the 2-0 defeat by Viktoria Zizkov last night, preferring to lay the blame for this potentially catastrophic result firmly at their door.

McLeish did not pull out of challenges as a player and he was similarly uncompromising when it came to sharing his opinions in the aftermatch of yesterday's sub-standard performance.

The club having recently announced record annual losses, an extended UEFA Cup run would go some way to easing their financial problems, and McLeish realises as well as anyone that a repeat of such a shambolic showing will result in elimination instead.

''I'm very disappointed,'' he admitted, and no-one present doubted that they had just listened to a massive understatement. ''Rangers are capable of much better than this.

''We got off to the worst possible start, losing a goal at a setpiece. We knew it was one of the areas where Viktoria were strong and our players had been asked to be aware of these situations.

''Instead, mistakes were made and opponents weren't picked up. I've rarely seen my team play so poorly since I joined Rangers; they wanted it more than we did.

''Their opening goal seemed to deflate our lads and we look for a positive reaction in those circumstances. We didn't get it and looked one-paced throughout that first half.

''We have to bounce back from this and this time I want to see an angry reaction. I don't want them feeling sorry for themselves, because they need to make this up to the fans who travelled over here. The players need to be big enough to cope with that.''

McLeish said that the captain, Barry Ferguson, will continue to take any penalties awarded, even though he failed to convert from the spot for the first time in a senior match last night.

''He will stand up and be counted. You don't need to worry about Barry Ferguson,'' said McLeish, before adding: ''You will see a much improved Rangers in the second leg. The first thing I told my players at the end was that this is only half-time and the tie is still there to be won.''

Viteslav Lavicka, the Viktoria coach, looked as stunned as McLeish by the evening's events. He said: ''Rangers are a very dangerous team but they only played as well as we allowed them to.

''The second match in Glasgow will be very difficult for us because two goals aren't enough to make it a sure thing. We could have won by more tonight but that's football.''

Mikel Arteta was not risked last night because it was feared he would aggravate his back problem and that might lead to a longer spell on the sidelines. However, Craig Moore, who left the field after 63 minutes with a pulled thigh muscle, is already considered doubtful for Saturday's match against Partick Thistle at Ibrox.