Source: Team_Talk
Gers boss has faith in small squad
Rangers boss Walter Smith insists he has no fears about his small squad coping with the demands of huge games after they beat Motherwell 4-1.[LNB] The Scottish champions fell behind to a Nick Blackman goal in the first half at Ibrox, before hitting back through goals from Steven Naismith, Steven Davis, Kenny Miller and Vladimir Weiss, who netted his first goal for the club.[LNB]Smith has injury worries at the moment, with Lee McCulloch out for at least a couple of weeks, James Beattie and Kirk Broadfoot still sidelined and major summer signing Nikica Jelavic facing around three months out of action.[LNB]But Smith has every faith in the players at his disposal to deliver against Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday, before taking on Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season, despite having a compact group of players.[LNB]He said: "The boys who play for us know that's the case. There is no getting away from that.[LNB]"We have a situation where we have a small group of players and we know we have to handle it. It's more a mental thing than a physical thing, it's not tiredness in any way.[LNB]"It's difficult for the Scottish lads especially, they are playing the world champions on a Tuesday night and having to come back and play in a league game.[LNB]"It's not easy to lift yourself mentally for that. It's difficult to adjust to an ordinary league game after playing the world champions.[LNB]"It'll be different for the next two games that we have, we will have no problems in that respect."[LNB]The win against Motherwell allowed Rangers to maintain their 100% record in the SPL and move clear of Celtic at the summit ahead of their game against Dundee United on Sunday.[LNB]Smith said: "It's a great start from us and we are delighted. We managed to have a little bit of a gap between ourselves and Motherwell at the end.[LNB]"A lot of other games have been fairly close, it's been by the odd goal and we have had to work extremely hard to win the games.[LNB]"Credit to our group, they have played well. There was a little bit of slackness in our play earlier in the season but overall we are delighted."[LNB]Smith refused to look ahead to the clash with Celtic, adding: "We have the Valencia game before then and we will go in with a bit of confidence after our performances in the league and the Champions League."[LNB]Motherwell boss Craig Brown urged his players to get nasty and show some belief against both halves of the Old Firm in future.[LNB]He said: "There are too many nice guys and good lads in our dressing room - we need a wee bit of an evil streak.[LNB]"When we are ahead, we need to make sure we don't lose anything. We need a couple of guys in there who are not going to lose.[LNB]"They need to show conviction and belief to win the game and maybe one or two of our lads didn't have that belief.[LNB]"They find the Old Firm a little bit intimidating and that's not acceptable. You want guys who can win in any context, at any venue."
