Press conference | Derek McInnes: Pre-Rangers

Derek McInnes addressed the media ahead of our William Hill Scottish Premiership clash against Rangers.

Read every word of the press conference below:

How’s the squad?

Stuart Findlay is back training. David Watson’s had a wee shoulder issue going on.

He withdrew from the Under 21s. We managed to get a bit of work into him today. He took an injection to play Dundee, on his shoulder.

So we’re just trying to manage that situation with him. It’s an injury where if he gets contact on it, it can flare up again. He’s managed to do a bit of work today since coming back with Scotland.

But everybody else is fine apart from Kyle Magennis and also Liam Polworth who’s going to miss the game as well. He missed the Dundee game as well with a calf injury that became a wee bit more than we thought it was.

But he’s probably in the running potentially for Ross County next week, if not the game after.

Do you think a win in the manner of the Dundee one gives the guys a big lift? 

Yeah, I think any time you get a late winner, particularly coming from two down with so little to go. There’s lots about the game I didn’t enjoy the first half.

I don’t think we did enough to impose ourselves in the game. It’s something we spoke about. We lose a cheap goal. We’re losing the first goal in too many games. We’re giving ourselves too much to do a lot of the time, especially if we’ve been down to 10 men as well. We’ve had issues with that.

But the positive was going into the international break, it was such a brilliant end to the game. It was no more than we deserved. The second half performance was strong, albeit we were playing against 10 men.

But we know ourselves, we went down to 10 men at St Mirren and we still managed to win the second half and get a point. So the onus was on us to find the answers and the subs that came on had a real impact as well.

But the performance, the way the game ended was fantastic. That’s exactly what we needed. We’re five games unbeaten, but there’s too many draws within that.

Wins help us get to where we want to get to, draws don’t. We we want to try and keep that unbeaten run going. We’ve got a different test, Rangers coming on Sunday, but traditionally we’re very strong at home.

We know we’ve got that performance in us to beat Rangers and hopefully we can deliver that on Sunday.

Just on that, what have you made of Rangers this season? 

I’ve obviously seen them live a couple of times. I think there’s been a turnover in the squad. I think the manager has said himself it will take until October or so for them to find their best form. I think they’re showing little signs of that going forward.

I think they’ve got individuals within their 11 that can score and deliver big moments for them. They’ve got a different centre-half partnership that looks as if it’s doing well in general. Different options through midfield as you’d expect at a club like Rangers.

Much like last season, in terms of how the system, how they play, how they ask questions of you, how they play the ball forward quicker and a bit longer at times. Within transitions, when the gaps get a bit bigger, they’ve got players who can make a difference.

In terms of your team, Derek, how much impact the changes you made at Dundee, has it given you food for thought in terms of your starting 11? 

Yeah, there’s two sides to that. Managers can get a bit of credit for making the right subs, but then do you think they picked the right team in the first place?

I expected more from us in the first half, I need to say that. Obviously we’re going away from home and Dundee away is not an easy game, so you’ve got to go in and try and impose yourself on the game. It’s something we’ve spoken about, we’ve allowed the opposition to score the first goal too many occasions this season and I think it’s something that we want to stop having to come from behind, stop giving ourselves a mountain to climb and start to really impose ourselves on the game, in particular when you play against a team like Rangers.

We want to try and be the team that’s confident at home, as we’ve shown in the past. We’re only one point less off than we were this stage last season and that was after having beaten Rangers in the first game of the season. So it was a wee bit of a slow burner last year and we went to have a brilliant campaign.

If we can tighten up and stop giving opportunities to the opposition, everybody’s got a part to play in that. We’ve scored eight goals in the last three games, so we’re finding our feet. I think we’ll get that familiarity, a selection that was a real benefit to us last season.

But in answer to your question, there’s no doubt that making the changes early enough in the game definitely helped us and it shows that the strength, the options are there from the bench as well. It’s up to everybody to try and get to the levels to stay on the team.

That first league win is secured, is it all about kicking on from there? 

I think so. Since we went out of Europe, we picked the point up here with Hibs. We go down to 10 men at St Mirren, got a draw there. From a winning position, a combination of a penalty kick and a mistake allows Dundee United to take two points away from us when the second half performance was terrific. We had a strong second half at Dundee as well. To beat a team like Rangers, you’re going to have to get a 90-minute performance.

You can’t afford to have parts of the game where we’re as generous as we were and off the pace yet a wee bit. Outwith the St Johnstone game here, when we went down to 10 men after 15 minutes or so, we have been unbeaten at home outwith the old firm since the 2^nd of December last year. That’s including Cercle Brugge, Copenhagen and Tromso.

We are traditionally a strong team, so we’ll take any sort of positive thoughts and stats going into this type of game. But we have got the team and the performance in us to win the game on Sunday.

Just on that, you said you’re only one point worse off than you were last season, unbeaten in five. Is this the kind of game where if you win it, it can almost spark the season into life from here? 

I think the win at Dundee was a great spark in terms of that. It’s a reference for us in terms of, I think we might look back at the Dundee game and say that was when we really got ourselves going. When we get one, we go chasing two.

We get two and you think we’re not settling for that. The boys did brilliantly in that last part of the game. It was a win that the players, everybody needs that.

You need those three points, you need a winning performance. There’s no doubt, in answer to your question, if we can beat a team like Rangers, it just adds to that confidence and feel-good factor. I’m sure the supporters will turn up here expecting us to make it a difficult game for Rangers.

If we can get those fine lines right and those small margins, it’s a game we can win.

Did you notice a change in attitude, Derek, after that win at Dundee, compared to previous results when you didn’t quite go over the line? 

Yeah, I think sometimes like the Dundee United game, there was so much about the performance, particularly the second half, that I loved about us. The stats backed it up, three goals in about 16 minutes.

We were relentless, it was a proper Kilmarnock performance. But we let the points drift away. It was a mistake for their second goal and then we lose a goal in the 99^th minute.

Again, it’s only really winning that can reinforce confidence. I can try and it’s my job to sell it to the players, we’re doing a lot right, we just need to cut out certain things. But winning games of football is the biggest factor in all of that.

It was absolutely right to just get the game won, take the good from it, see the positives from it, and go into an international break feeling good about ourselves, which was badly needed.

And just on Sunday then, as you said, obviously the team are historically good performances at home. Is it just about making Rangers feel as uncomfortable as possible, especially the home crowd? 

Yeah, I think that’s the way it’s got to be.

I think any team when they come here, you hear opposition managers say it all the time, it’s a tough game. They make reference to the surface, they make reference to Kilmarnock’s strong home form. That pleases me no end, to be honest.

The fact that people do recognise we’re a strong team at home and it’s important that we give Rangers exactly that. A tough game, I expect us to do that. I’m expecting a tough game because Rangers I think can test your organisation, they’ve got players that can come up with moments.

They’re obviously a team that you’re expect to win week in, week out. So the players are starting to get used to that. We have to try and make sure that we expect to win at home all the time as well. So that’s what we’re looking for.

Do you feel there’s a difference in the squad now after the results you got against Rangers and Celtic last season? A lot of the same players as well. A lot of times after a good season you lose a lot of players but you’ve managed to get a bit of continuity. Do you sense that the players are really itching to show that they can do what they did last season? 

Yeah, I mean it’s still early on in the week but obviously we’ve spoke about it. I think when it comes to game day and running out there at 12 o’clock on Sunday, I actually do believe that. I’ve said this before, it’s my job to sell that we can do this and we can spread that belief.

But you’re right to mention the fact that there were so many involved in wins against Rangers and Celtic last season that you kind of remind them but it’s kind of reinforcing that we’ve got that performance in us. It’s partly a bit of the fact that they’ve lived it and experienced it I think is more important. We have got more or less the same team.

There’s two or three additions from last season and hopefully as I say the squad show the level of performance we’re capable of at the weekend. I’ve no doubts they will.

Derek, when you’re talking about starting games well, how do you actually go about trying to make the players do that?

I think you’ve got to factor in some of the level of opposition but I think particularly at home it’s important we impose ourselves on the game.

I think outwith both Tromso games and Copenhagen here we haven’t scored the first goal which is far from ideal and it’s something that we’ve looked at, changing the warm-up. We’ve looked at different messaging, how we start the games, concentration parts. Sometimes I think it’s maybe a lack of belief at times, maybe just to go and suss the opposition out and have a wee look.

You can’t afford to do that in this league and you can’t afford to do it particularly at home. We want to try and make it as uncomfortable for teams when they come here from the get-go and hopefully that can be the case at the weekend.

As you were saying, the confidence presumably helps with that.

I’ve never actually felt that confidence was an issue because I think we’ve looked at reasons why, I genuinely think it was a struggle for us to come back off of Europe and deal with those early games. Then playing a few games with 10 men which doesn’t help, we’ll have to own that, we get that. I also think that performances in each and every game have been decent.

We’re just trying to put a 90-minute performance together and that will help us to no end. The demand of the game brings that on Sunday. We’re not going to dominate the game for 90 minutes but equally we can’t allow Rangers to dominate the game for 90 minutes.

We’ve got to have big spells and times in the game where we can really make it difficult for them and set about the task.

You spoke last month about a red card that wasn’t, Shaun Rooney. Willie Collum comes out earlier this week and says it should have been a red card. What do you think when you hear that? 

I’d spoke to Willie at the time on the Monday after this game and he’d reinforced what he’d come out and made public. I don’t want to say that publicly until the refereeing department want to make it public. I was satisfied with his response to how he felt things should have went.

He was disappointed he thought it was a bad day for the refereeing department. We suffered, there’s no doubt about it. The fact that that’s out into public domain from them, we had to deal with a lot that day.

We feel St Mirren should have been down to nine men in the first half. There’s mistakes that have been recognised and I think he said whatever he thought.