Emmanuel Fernandez believes lack of ‘fight’ took Rangers out of title race
Rangers defender Emmanuel Fernandez admits they needed to show more fight during tough moments after their title challenge fell apart with three consecutive defeats.
Rangers gradually hauled themselves back into the William Hill Premiership running after Danny Rohl replaced Russell Martin as head coach in October, but all of their hard work was undone by losses to Motherwell, Hearts and Celtic.
Sunday’s 3-1 derby defeat consigned Rangers to a third-placed finish and they will need Celtic to beat Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup final to avoid slipping from the Europa League into the Conference League qualifiers.
Rangers had only lost two of their 33 league games before the split but have capitulated in the run-in.
Fernandez said: “I couldn’t pinpoint an issue, I just feel like maybe we needed to have a bit more fight.
“We knew it was going to be a fight. There were moments in games where we had fight.
“But in football there are going to be moments where you are going to struggle and go under in the 90 minutes.
“I feel that, as a young team if we are going to grow, if you are going to struggle you stick together and all defend together. Then, when you come out of it, you have opportunities to score. That is something we have to improve on.”
Rangers were undone at the start of the second half at Celtic Park when the hosts stepped up a notch after an even first half that ended 1-1.
Daizen Maeda scored twice in four minutes and Celtic held firm against Rangers’ attempts to mount a comeback in the final 20 minutes.
Rohl’s side have struggled to produce anything resembling a 90-minute performance even before their three-game losing streak, which is the worst league run of any Rangers team since 2000.
Fernandez understood why fans would be questioning the players’ mentality.
“This is going to happen when you lose three games in a row,” the 24-year-old said.
“I feel like when it comes to the point where you could potentially win the title people are going to question your mentality.
“Look, I don’t think it has anything to do with the mentality, I just think there are moments where we need to do better.
“Sometimes, this happens in football, sometimes you come under duress, and we just didn’t come through it. I wouldn’t say it has anything to do with mentality.”
The former Peterborough centre-back added: “It’s hard because I feel like we were in a good position. We took the lead early and then we let a goal back and I think we slumped down a bit. Things like this happen in football.
“But I feel like for me personally I am a centre-back and I need to bring my team up, talk to my players, maybe slow down the game at times, maybe speed it up at others. Maybe that is something I need to improve on to get the best out of my team-mates.”
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