Graeme Murty apologises for Rangers' first-half display in Celtic loss
Monday 16 April 2018 07:51, UK
Rangers manager Graeme Murty apologised for his side's first-half performance after a 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic on Sunday.
Rangers produced a dismal performance at Hampden Park as they were swept aside by their Old Firm rivals.
Celtic scored twice in either half while Rangers defender Ross McCrorie was sent off shortly after half-time for fouling Moussa Dembele in the box.
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"I am frustrated, I don't think we turned up in the first half," Murty told Sky Sports. "I didn't think we got close enough to people, it took us half an hour to make a tackle. That's not tactical.
"I would like to apologise for the first half. It's a lonely place standing out there watching that but it's not something I shirked away from and the players shouldn't shirk from it either, if anything we need to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Rangers did come close to scoring after falling 3-0 behind as Alfredo Morelos and Bruno Alves were both denied by good saves from Craig Gordon.
But that was as good as it got, and Murty said: "I challenged them at half-time to get the second half going and give our fans something to cheer about. Obviously the sending off changed that. We still had chances to score but that's scant consolation."
Asked how the result might affect his position at the club, Murty said: "I am not going to talk about that at this time in the rawness of that."
He added: "The players know they have a job to do, they are professionals, and if I am not the manager next season you can bet whoever it will be, whether it's me or somebody else, will be watching them so they are playing for a contract and playing to be in the new man's plans, if it is a new man."
