A primary-half defensive horror present price Rangers a 2-1 defeat at Sturm Graz to stay with out a level within the Europa League, which retains the stress on Gers boss Russell Martin.
Rangers conceded after simply seven minutes from their very own throw-in, whereas the second got here from a easy through-ball at a free-kick that uncovered their excessive line.
The targets left Sky Sports activities’ Kris Boyd surprised as he labelled the defending for Tomi Horvat’s opener “embarrassing” and Otar Kiteishvili’s second “an absolute shambles”.
Rangers did produce a a lot stronger second half as Djeidi Gassama powered house simply 4 minutes after the break.
Youssef Chermiti, Derek Cornelius and John Souttar all pressured good saves as Rangers pushed for an equaliser.
However Oliver Christensen’s most interesting cease got here within the 89th minute as he reacted fantastically to disclaim Souttar’s strike from shut vary.
The Dane’s heroics noticed the Austrian champions maintain on to maintain Rangers winless from their first two Europa League video games and inflict extra ache on Martin, who takes his aspect to Falkirk within the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, dwell on Sky Sports activities.
Sunday fifth October 2:30pm
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Martin: Mentality in charge for poor begin
Rangers head coach Russell Martin chatting with TNT Sports activities:
“You can’t start that poorly. We still had loads of chances in the first half, but they had too many, all from set-play or throw-in.
“However we simply must be brighter, organised, faster, assist one another extra. The mentality is the issue. It is not like we’re not doing what we must always do on the set-play, we’re not doing what we must always do on our throw-in. That is a mentality difficulty within the first little bit of the sport.
“We still had loads of chances in the first half, we caused them a lot of problems.
Rangers’ Thelo Aasgaard exhibits his disappointment
“So dominant in the second half. Of course, we give up a couple of chances late on because we’re throwing everything at it, but we should score more goals. You come away in Europe and have that many chances at goal, and big chances, you can’t lose the game.”
“We gave up chances from set-plays early on, not in open play. Open play late on in the game when we’re trying to get an equaliser, and of course, there’s going to be space – so I just said, it’s a mentality thing.”
On methods to repair it: “We have to look at it, we need to be brighter, we need to help each other more.
Nicolas Raskin exhibits his frustration within the loss
“We have a lot of young men, but they have to learn really quickly.
“We’ve got to enhance the mentality shortly as a result of it isn’t a technical or tactical drawback.
“The mentality in the second half was brilliant. To compete, to fight, to run. We don’t do that in the first 20 minutes and we pay the price for it.”
Cornelius: We will not be naive going right into a sport
Rangers defender Derek Cornelius chatting with TNT Sports activities:
“We didn’t start the match well, and that’s something we need to stop doing. We can’t be naive going into any game.
“Second half we had been chasing the sport and we weren’t ok at present. We have to do higher.
Djeidi Gassama scored Rangers’ aim within the loss
“I don’t know what the problem is. It seems like there are moments when everyone is switched on and tuned in, and then other moments when we are just not.
“It might probably simply swap, and I do not know why. We have to repair these issues.”
Opta stats: Rangers’ European clean sheet woes continue
Youssef Chermiti (left) and captain James Tavernier began within the defeat
- Rangers have now gone 22 away matches in all competitions with out a clear sheet, equalling a membership document that has stood since January 1897.
- Rangers have misplaced 37.5 per cent of their matches in all competitions this season (6/16), their highest share in a season since 1985-86 once they misplaced 38.6% of video games (17/44).
- Rangers have conceded 60 targets in 44 video games in all competitions in 2025, a mean of 1.36 per sport; that is their highest in a single yr since 1961 (1.43 – conceded 77 in 54 video games).
