Barrie McKay admits Rangers players were unsure of formation after three injuries against Motherwell
Sunday 2 April 2017 23:20, UK
Barrie McKay admitted he had no idea how Rangers were lining up after injuries forced three half-time changes during their home draw with Motherwell.
Injury and illness wrecked manager Pedro Caixinha's tactics for the visit of Stephen Robinson's men in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
With his side a goal down to Louis Moult's third-minute opener, the new Gers boss was forced to use up all three of his substitutions at half-time.
Skipper Lee Wallace had struggled through the opening 45 minutes with a stomach injury picked up on Scotland duty, while centre-half Clint Hill was suffering from a hamstring pull and Lee Hodson a fever.
All three were withdrawn at the break, with midfielder Jon Toral and substitute Andy Halliday forming a makeshift back three alongside Rob Kiernan. McKay and another of Caixinha's replacements, Michael O'Halloran, were asked to take on unfamiliar wing-back roles.
The Light Blues' final substitute, Joe Garner, grabbed the 61st-minute equaliser which earned a 1-1 draw, but Motherwell should have capitalised on gaps in the Gers rearguard to take all three points.
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Keeper Wes Foderingham had to bail out his team on three occasions and McKay admitted he had never experienced an afternoon like it.
The Scotland winger said: "I don't think I've been involved in a situation where we made three changes at the break. As footballers you have to be ready for these things and you just need to get on with it.
"We didn't really know what formation we were playing - we'd two central midfielders playing centre-half so it was obviously a change.
"First half we were a wee bit off the pace but second half I thought we did enough to get the win, we just couldn't get that second goal."
The match was Caixinha's second in charge but McKay thinks the players will get to grips with his methods quickly.
"Over the couple of weeks the manager's implemented what he wants us to do," he said after Gers fell 10 points behind Aberdeen in the race for second. "I don't think there's too big a difference under him.
"He still wants us to get the ball down and play, though maybe he's worked a little bit more on defensive security as a team, everybody going forward and back together.
"He's not drastically changed too much."
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