Transcript for:
Team Performance and Development Insights

Philippe, how pleased were you with that performance today? Of course pleased because you go through in the cup and it's important against a difficult team to break because Dundee is good in that, in making a very good organisation and dangerous on the counter-attack with Murray. So he had this experience already with Ross County last season.

So I'm pleased about the goals but also about the clean sheet. What's very important, and I'm pleased also with so many new faces. The first time at Ibrox, that they feel the energy, that they feel the fans, that the fans can see also the new players coming in and performing already well. But it's just the start of a story, so I see also a lot of things we still can improve. So I'm hungry about that.

How good was it just to be back here? and as you say, especially for the new players to experience that? You cannot describe that. Yeah, I said it this week, it felt like 10 years, and it's that feeling I had.

So we've been playing like two, three months, only away games. So that's really, really difficult as a team. So we were super happy to be back, and I'm happy also that the players could give this performance also, because we wanted to... to give the fans something special.

But of course, we should have scored maybe six or seven today and to be more clinical in that way. Yeah, we need to keep on working on that. Philippe, one player who's impressing people a lot is Chephty. You've spoken about him previously, he's only 20 years old. Is he the exact type of player, the type of profile that you want to bring to Ibrox, who is ready to perform now but can still make you a profit in the future, hopefully as well?

Yeah, of course, and we wanted him already in January, and he wanted to come also. But at that moment it was stopped by his team, but we stayed in touch all these months. And he showed also really desire to come and to fight for that. Yeah, of course, I've said it so many times already, it was the end of a cycle.

We had a lot of players in the squad who were over there. Best period. We had seven players going out of the building for free or could go out for free.

There were some we wanted to keep, but they could earn much more money somewhere else. So they made that choice. So it was a hard way to start a rebuild. And it's just a start in that way. We could not do everything in one window.

But it's good now that people start to see the young, talented players. came in that they have the quality now or for the future for sure to become important Rangers players. And I understand that in the beginning there is skepticism about that because players coming in who never played at this level. So fans want to see that. But if I learned one thing about this club is that the fans know really well what quality is and they desire quality.

So we've been looking for that in the pool with the money we had, what was not much compared to other teams, to find really quality for the short term, but for sure for the longer term. What will a result and performance like that today, Philippe, do for confidence and belief going forward, especially being back here at Ibrox? No, it was important, like I said, to come back in a good way, but we were hungry for that. For me the most positive thing is we're working hard with the group every day on a lot of things. In movement, in how to pass, where to pass, all the timings, to take out the transitions, to be good in the set pieces.

Almost every day with videos with the players and you see everybody's taking it. Everybody's hungry to do it and there's a lot of potential in the building. It's now about...

pushing them, develop them and making them better and create also experience together. So the longer you play together, the better you get. The best teams that I played in, we were always two, three, four years together as players. So this is only the start of this team together.

So it's a positive way then to get the result of today with the quality that they showed. But it's just the start. There's still a lot of things to improve.

You've just left Hamden but you must be pleased to be going back to the semi-finals. Yeah, but can we not play one time at Ibrox now? The semi-finals, we've been enough in Hamden.

You took off James Tavenier and he got a really nice ovation from supporters. Was that pleasing? No, it's normal, I think. It's normal.

He played a good game and he deserves that. And maybe after the Celtic game we have a few individuals who are crossing a certain line, what's not good and I understand the frustration. But there are a lot of people who understand the value that Tev had and has for this squad and that's also good for him to feel that.

But that's the life of being a captain in a big club. You're the symbol in the good days and then it's nice, like today. And in the difficult days, you're also the one everybody looks at.

But that's life of being a captain or a manager in that kind of club. So you need to embrace that also. And he did, last couple of weeks.

He worked hard. He wanted to dig in, to come back strong. And he helped all the young lads in their integration also, because he has an important job in that also. Phil, you could get back that you've had four games at Armden already this season, could that work in your favour? Can you go back there for the semi-finals as well?

No, I don't think so. I don't think it's a difference. Last year we didn't play those games, and we played our games there and we did our work there, so it's more like an away game for the two teams.

It's more like that.