RUSSELL Martin believes his team are leaving their St George’s Park training camp in a ‘much better place’ after an intense week on the pitch.
The head coach was speaking following this afternoon’s game against Barnsley as Rangers rounded off the camp with the closed-door fixture.
Danilo was on target for Gers in the 1-1 draw, which provided another strong test for his side. Speaking to RangersTV at full-time, Marti said: “I can take loads from that physically, it has been so hot all week and they have trained so hard so it was a good test again. The heat will prepare us for the game in Greece in a few weeks for sure.
“I saw loads of improvement today, tactically and in understanding, there was some really good stuff. There is some stuff we need to work on a lot, but it was a really good exercise for us.”
On the week as a whole, Martin added: “It has been brilliant. There has been loads of physical work and togetherness. There’s more noise from the group, they are growing, and it has been nice to see. We leave this week in a much better place than we were at the start of the week, so that’s all you can ask for.
“They have a willingness to try , and their understanding is growing all the time, which I have been so happy about, so that's what we need to keep doing. We need to keep building, keep getting better and be in a position to be ready in the next couple of weeks.”
On what’s next in pre-season, he continued: “We have a few more games before Panathinaikos to try a few things and make sure we are ready. We are working and it is all about getting ready for that game now and making sure we pick the best team we think is right for that game.”
RANGERS: Butland, Tavernier, Aarons, Souttar, Rothwell, Diomande, Aasgaard, Dowell, Djiga, Gentles, Curtis.
Subs: Kelly, Cortes, Barron, Bajrami, Cameron, Jefte, Fernandez, Raskin, Fraser, Rice, Hutton, Danilo.