IF the ramifications of Pedro Caixinha speaking beforehand about the opposition’s tactics are to be as entertaining as Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Motherwell on Saturday then few will be complaining.
The Portuguese had revealed in detail in his pre-match press conference how he expected Stephen Robinson’s side to line up and perform at Ibrox, possibly in a 4-4-1-1 formation or maybe a back five. In the end Robinson plumped for the latter, although Caixinha could not have foreseen Motherwell playing with three up front for most of the match and going straight on the offensive. They were well worth their point come the end – courtesy of Louis Moult’s early header – and had enough chances in the second half to go on and win it.
If Caixinha continues to outline how he expects the other team to play two days before the match, does that give the opposition time to rejig their tactics to catch Rangers on the hop? Will it develop into a series of mind games between rival managers? Regardless, it will add extra intrigue to Rangers’ games over the closing weeks of the season.
“If he [Caixinha] predicted what we were going to do, then we didn’t do that, did we?” said Scott McDonald, one of several Motherwell players denied in the second half by the saves of Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham.
“It didn’t go according to plan for him. We have worked on this shape a couple of times and we now have four fit strikers giving us great competition for places. We are disappointed not to come away with all three points as we created enough chances to win a few games.”
Caixinha sprung a tactical surprise of his own, removing three players at half-time – all were struggling with injury in mitigation –and changing the formation to a 3-1-4-2. They got an equaliser through Joe Garner but had to settle for a point.
“It wasn’t a total overhaul but we made changes and when you do that you either get a positive or negative reaction,” said midfielder Emerson Hyndman who would have been withdrawn at half-time if the three defenders had been fit to continue. “We did well to react positively and really looked a threat in the second half.
“We made a few personnel changes at the break and a few tactical. We went two up front and I was playing a bit more centrally and Mikey [Michael O’Halloran] was running havoc on the right, giving us a bit more of an attacking threat. I think it was a new one for Jon Toral playing in the centre of defence but he did quite well considering. He was composed on the ball and we had a bit more passing out from the back in the second half.
“I don’t think anyone was too thrilled with the first-half performance and the manager showed he isn’t scared to make changes. He told us what he wanted from us and we delivered it quite well.”
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