Danny Rohl tells Rangers winning is key in ‘nine cup finals’
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has focused on the finer details in each box following three games without victory as he told his players winning is all that matters in “nine cup finals”.
Rangers recorded 24 shots to none against Celtic on Sunday but still exited the Scottish Cup on penalties after failing to capitalise on their pressure during a goalless 120 minutes.
The Light Blues have also twice drawn 2-2 – against Livingston and Celtic – since beating William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts and could go into Sunday’s Paisley encounter with St Mirren nine points off the top.
Rangers have only won two of their past six league games and Rohl has sharpened the focus ahead of the title run-in.
After dissecting the derby defeat with his player, Rohl said: “We spoke about two things. There’s the performance and there’s the results.
“Especially now when you go into the nine cup finals, it’s all about results. You get nothing from good performances.
“Compare the first game at home against Celtic where we dropped after 50 minutes to this game, then you see that we can carry on over 120 minutes how we want to play football. There was a lot of positive things but ultimately, football is all about results and we got nothing.
“There was disappointment over the three games because I’m totally convinced that we should have won all three games and we deserved to.
“But ultimately we gift them too many opportunities to win or to take the draw.
“We created a lot of opportunities in the box. We have done a lot of finishing and this was also part of this week. We need to keep our defensive structure. I think in open play, teams have not really had chances against us in all three games.
“You see it also in set plays at the moment, at both ends. This is what we did really well in January and this is what we need again.
“But I totally believe in our process also there because we very often create situations where we can score.”
Rohl was encouraged when he watched the cup game against Celtic again.
“I watched it back and there are so many patterns, how we are connected,” the German said. “Even how much we improved in open play from the first to the second game.
“In the second half (of the first game) we played too long too often. We had more balance between playing short and long.
“When you look back at the chances, sometimes you have to give credit to the opponents’ defender, so often they made the right block at the right moment. Sometimes we blocked our own (shot) on the line.
“We have to create more and more opportunities and then I am sure we can score again and again.
“The problem is we have conceded goals with less chances against us. This is what we have to stop so it is good to get in the lead and stay on the front foot.”