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Danny Rohl apologised to the Rangers support after his opening match in charge ended in a 3-0 Europa League defeat away to Brann.
Rohl admitted his new charges had failed to master the basics as they slumped to the foot of the 36-team division after a third successive defeat in this competition.
It was the German’s first chance to see his players in action after being confirmed as Russell Martin’s successor on Monday — and he conceded there would need to be significant improvements, starting with the visit of Kilmarnock to Ibrox on Sunday.
‘We have high standards at Rangers and I think today we didn’t reach those at any point,’ he confessed.
‘After losing 3-0 we can’t just speak about the conceded goals. We have to speak about the performance and it wasn’t good enough today.
‘We faced a team today who were organised, aggressive and did the basics right. And we didn’t. Brann deserved to win.
Rangers boss Danny Rohl made his away over to the travelling support at full-time in Norway
The visitors had no answer to SK Brann as they fell to a third straight Europa League loss
Rohl was animated in the away dugout but couldn't muster up a response from his players
‘You see exactly where we are at the moment. My job now is to find solutions as soon as possible. I have to develop and improve the players.
'This is what I have to do. My job tomorrow is to lift them again, give them solutions and be ready for Sunday.
‘Everyone was hoping that we would have a good start after I arrived but, in football, you can wish for something and then there is the reality.
'I have to work hard with my group, with my players, but I am totally convinced we can do that.
‘We are part of a big, big club so we have to understand what the demand is. And that demand is winning games.
'I learned a lot about individual profiles from players, seeing them on the pitch, seeing them under pressure to see what they can do and what we have to improve.’
Rohl went over to say sorry to the travelling supporters at full-time and vowed to keep working hard to bring about improvements.
He added: ‘I apologised for this defeat and this performance. It is so hard for them to come so far away from Glasgow and then they see a 3-0 defeat.
Captain James Tavernier admitted that the performance was nowhere near the level required
'Nobody deserves that. I will try my best and work very hard to get Rangers back to where they have to be.’
Rangers captain James Tavernier — at fault for the first goal — lambasted the display that all but ends the team’s chances of reaching the Europa League knockout phase.
He said: ‘It’s a disgraceful performance, simple as that. All the years I’ve been here, the consistency of poor performances that we’re putting in — I’ve not experienced that before. I’m raging.
‘Some of us show our aggression after a game, after we get beat. You expect the lads to take that in. But individually we have to look at ourselves.
‘You can get instructions from managers but we have to simply put that [into action] on the pitch. But we were just second best to first balls, second balls, not enough fight.
‘And I shouldn’t be saying that as a player of Rangers. That should be a given. You should want to fight and go for the ball. And it’s just far too easy at this minute for teams to play against us. That’s the hurtful thing.
‘We knew at half-time that we could still get back into the game but we conceded two more bad goals. We’re just shooting ourselves [in the foot].
‘It’s an honour to play for this club and that’s nowhere near the requirements that we’ve shown tonight. You want it to sink in with the players but it just isn’t at the moment.’
