Russell Martin scolds Rangers players ahead of UEFA Champions League qualifier – ‘Europe is not an excuse’

Captain James Tavernier got Rangers off to a fine start when he headed in the opener in the 14th minute at Fir Park, but the visitors could not hold on to head back to Glasgow with all three points.

Emmanuel Longelo struck with just three minutes of normal time remaining to rescue a point for Motherwell and leave Martin enraged by what he had seen from some of his players.

Appointed in the summer, the former Southampton manager has wasted no time in stamping his authority, questioning the commitment and mentality of his squad just one game into the domestic campaign.

“We were nowhere near where we need to be, and I’m extremely disappointed and hurt by that,” he told Sky Sports. “They were braver than us, they were more aggressive than us.

“There is a default here at this football club, and it’s not one person’s fault at all.

“The default is to revert to type, which is when it’s going really well, everyone’s all in and it’s really good. When it’s not going well, you protect yourself a little bit and self-preservation stuff.

“When you want to just jog around and do what you want to do, there’s a big problem.

“Some of them have to drop their ego. I’ll look at us tactically and accept my responsibility in it. But today, it’s not really tactical, it’s a mentality problem, and we got more than what we deserved actually.”

Rangers were fresh from a 1-1 draw away to Panathinaikos that wrapped up a 3-1 victory in the second qualifying round for this season’s UEFA Champions League, but Martin refused to accept that as an excuse.

The Scottish side welcome Viktoria Plzen to Ibrox in the first leg of the next qualifying round on Tuesday and have already guaranteed themselves UEFA Europa League football whatever happens.

With that in mind, Martin said he would continue to assess the team to get a better grasp of who is willing to put in the hard yards to help Rangers regain their place at the pinnacle of Scottish football.

“We need work out who really wants to be all in and who doesn’t,” he added. “But Europe is not an excuse.

“This club demands to play in Europe. We’ve qualified for that, so we’re going to be playing in Europe a lot and we’re going to have games after the European games a lot, and we have to manage them way better than today.”