Derek McInnes wants more signings after stalemate in first Rangers game as boss
Derek McInnes highlighted the need for further signings to arrive at Ibrox quickly after his side were held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United in his first game as Rangers manager.
Lachlan Rose fired the hosts into a half-time lead before Thelo Aasgaard hit back in the 56th minute, but the Light Blues could not build on their equaliser and Jesse Randall missed a glorious late chance to win the game for the hosts at Tannadice.
McInnes said: “I’m disappointed with a lot of aspects of it. I felt we just wasted the first half. We had to defend more than we needed to.
“Second half, I think the changes helped us, but I thought the approach of the team was far better.
“I thought the desire to get the equaliser was clear. But I thought the desire to get the winning goal wasn’t quite the same as the desire to get the equaliser, and I’m disappointed that we never kept the shoulder to the wheel.”
United had played four competitive games in the Premier Sports Cup, but McInnes felt his side should have done more to counter the difference in match fitness.
“We tried to guard against that,” said McInnes, who has already had eight new players this summer.
“I didn’t want to make a big deal of that ahead of this game, but we’ve got so many obvious advantages that come with Rangers and what we can do in terms of transfers and level of players. But that competitive edge is just clear, it’s hard to replicate that.
“But it’s not an excuse. Nobody’s going to be perfect at this stage of the season.
“It’s those moments, it’s those kinds of quality signings along with the players improving that we’ve got in‑house that makes me really confident that we’re going to have a strong season.
“I know the evidence today would suggest we’ve still got loads and loads to do, but I do think we have got enough to be encouraged about.
“But the new signings need to land pretty soon; I need to say that. Everybody’s worked hard to get the right players in, and I appreciate the effort that’s been made, but we’ve got important games and we’re just really trying to crank that up to try and get players in the building as quickly as possible.”
United manager Jim Goodwin was delighted with the approach of his players.
“I thought we were the better team in the opening 45 minutes, hence the changes and the reaction that you get from Rangers in the second half,” he said.
“We didn’t manage that particular period well enough, and it’s certainly something that we can analyse and see how we can improve in that situation, but overall it was the type of performance that we want to be able to put on consistently.
“The players can take a lot of confidence. We just went toe-to-toe with arguably one of the league favourites and if we can do that against Rangers, there’s no reason why we can’t do that against every other team in the league.”