RUSSELL MARTIN says he is excited to see what his team can produce on the pitch on Tuesday as the competitive action gets underway with a crucial UEFA Champions League qualifier.
Rangers enter the competition at the second-qualifying round and will come-up against Greek side Panathinaikos in the two-leg knockout tie. With a positive pre-season in the bank with the squad, the head coach wants to see a performance which supporters feel they can connect with.
In an exclusive interview with RangersTV, he said: “I am excited about Tuesday, I am excited about what we are going to see on the pitch.
"It is by no means going to be complete because we need time to really embed what we want and for the team to really look how we want it, but we need to put in a performance that looks like us.
“We need a performance that gives us a platform to win the game, to excite the crowd and to make them feel like this is going to be a team that they can connect with.
“The focus has very much shifted from conditioning to performance in the last week. The players have worked so hard, and they have a really good base of fitness. I have really been happy with a lot of the tactical stuff they have taken on but now it is about performance and being ready for that game and to win a game of football.
“There has definitely been a little bit of a shift in the dynamic, not in their work rate because they have worked so hard the whole way through it has been great, but I think you can feel that it is getting close now.”
TICKETING: Watch Russell Martin take to the Ibrox dugout for the first time competitively as Head Coach against Panathinaikos HERE.
Martin took to the Ibrox dugout for the first time in a friendly earlier this month against Club Brugge but knows it will be a completely different experience this time around in his first competitive fixture as head coach.
He continued: “I don't think it's going to be anywhere close to being a similar experience and I can't wait. I can't wait to watch the team fight, run, try to play in a way we want to play and be as dominant as possible. It is not all going to be plain sailing for sure, but I hope they give us enough moments, and we give the fans enough moments to firstly win the game, but also to feel really excited about moving forward.
“It is going to be a brilliant experience for me to be in charge of the team and an absolute honour to do that and I am looking forward to it.”
The head coach provided an injury update on summer signing Thelo Aasgaard, who he hopes will be fit for the fixture, as well as strikers Hamza Igamane and Cyriel Dessers.
He explained: “It is disappointing for Thelo, he has given everything we thought we were getting and more. He has been incredible. His understanding, his athleticism, the power he has, the technical capability, he is a really exciting player for us.
“Unfortunately, it is a different level of intensity and there have been high demands in pre-season and he has picked up just a little something, so he is going to be touch and go. We hope he can be involved but if not, we are really hopefully he will be ready and raring to go for the second-leg.
“Hamza and Cyriel have both been really good, they are both a little bit behind the group in terms of fitness because Cyriel came back with a small injury, and Hamza had visa issues, but they are both working incredibly hard and that is all you can ask. I have enjoyed having them back on the training pitch properly for a week now.
“We need talent at the top end of the pitch and need goals in the team and they both definitely bring that. We are going to try and work out ways to get those two guys to play together at times, it might be one of them, it might be both and it is up to us to work out what they can do and what they are comfortable doing.
“There have been moments from both where you look at it and you go okay, they can really help the team, and I am looking forward to having them fully fit and firing very soon.”