Russell Martin: Tactics are not the problem at Rangers

Martin Macdonald

• 3 Oct 2025 05:59 CDT
• 2 min read

News

Russell Martin doesn't believe his tactics are the reason for Rangers slumping to yet another defeat on Thursday evening.

The Scottish side went into their Europa League clash away at Sturm Graz hoping to win two matches in a row for the first time the season, having defeated Livingston over the weekend.

However, some poor first-half defending allowed Sturm Graz to go into the break two goals up. Djeidi Gassama pulled one back with a fine strike four minutes after half-time, but the Austrian hosts held firm to claim all three points.

The second goal conceded by Rangers was particularly troubling for Martin, as his team's high defensive line allowed for a simple ball played in behind from a free-kick which was converted by Otar Kiteishvili.

Martin's side are now 32nd out of 36 teams in the Europa League league phase standings.

Despite fierce criticism again, especially from Rangers fans, Martin has defended his tactics.

"We have to improve the mentality quickly," the former Southampton boss said following the loss.

"This is not a technical, tactical problem. The mentality in the second half was brilliant - to compete, to fight, to run. We didn’t do that in the first 20 minutes and we paid the price for it. 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.

"That’s, like, a mentality issue. We caused them a lot of problems in the first half and were so dominant in the second half. Of course, we gave up a couple of chances late on because we were throwing everything at it, but we should have scored more goals. You come away from a game in Europe and have that many chances, big chances, you cannot lose the game. It is a mentality thing. We have to look at it. We have a lot of young men, and they have to learn really quickly."

Rangers are struggling domestically, too, having claimed victory in just one out of their opening six matches. They are currently eighth in the table, eight points adrift of league leaders, Hearts.

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