Gordon Smith: The more I hear from Pedro Caixinha, the less I’m convinced he can take Rangers forward

LAST Wednesday marked Pedro Caixinha’s 53rd day as manager of Rangers.

At the same stage of his time at Celtic, Brendan Rodgers presided over one of the most humiliating results in the club’s history – defeat by Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps in a Champions League qualifier.

The Northern Irishman has since transformed his team, guiding them to the lucrative group stages of Europe’s premier competition, an undefeated season domestically and a potential Treble.

Bookies will give you good odds – very, very good odds – on the Portuguese in charge of the Hoops’ greatest rivals performing a similar transformation.

A series of unconvincing displays under Caixinha’s watch culminated in last Saturday’s Old Firm humiliation, and Rangers’ biggest home league defeat in the 127-year history of the fixture.

Serious questions are now being asked about the previously unknown manager’s ability to turn the Ibrox club around.

Here Gordon Smith – a former player and director of football at Rangers – answers them.

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HAD YOU HEARD OF PEDRO CAIXINHA BEFORE HE BECAME RANGERS MANAGER?

NO. I had to look him up and my guess would be that most people in Scottish football would have been in the same boat.

I found out he was in charge of a team in Qatar, who were sitting fifth in their league. But I then spoke to Maurice Johnston, who told me he had a good reputation in Mexico.

But, much like Mark Warburton, it was still very much a surprise appointment by the Ibrox Board.

WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS?

HE beat the likes of Alex McLeish, Stuart McCall, Derek McInnes and Billy Davies to the post, so Caixinha must have done extremely well in his interview to have convinced the Board he was the guy to take Rangers forward.

When I heard him speak at his unveiling, he came over as a confident, articulate and intelligent guy.

But the more I’ve listened to him, the less sure I have become.

In particular, I just couldn’t understand his decision to name his team before his first away game at Kilmarnock.

Then on the morning of the 5-1 defeat by Celtic, he gave his formation on the radio over an hour before kick-off.

WHAT IS YOUR PERCEPTION OF HIM NOW?

EVERY manager has to be given a chance.

But huge question marks exist as to whether Caixinha is going to be able to fulfil the remit given him on his appointment – to deliver major honours and bring European football back to Ibrox.

The main issue for me is one of the Portuguese’s tactical awareness – or rather lack of it.

The signs haven’t been good, with the back-to-back defeats against Celtic particularly disappointing for all connected with Rangers.

Remember, this is a guy who sat and watched Graeme Murty – the Under-20s coach and stand-in manager following the departure of Mark Warburton – lead Rangers to a creditable draw at Celtic Park.

Murty handled that match exactly the way I would have. He played five in midfield and sent his players out to restrict the opposition’s time and space.

That is the approach to take against a stronger opponent. Then, if their players have an off day, you stand a decent chance of taking something from the match.

But despite watching from the stand and seeing the success of this approach, Caixinha decided not to copy it.

Instead he played it his way in the semi-final, with two up front in a more open formation, and the outcome was a comfortable win for Celtic, more comfortable than the 2-0 scoreline suggests.

Worse, six days later, he still hadn’t learned the lesson, going with two up again in the league match – albeit this time with a narrow midfield – and the result was a record win for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

CAIXINHA’S MAIN DEFENCE HAS BEEN THAT HE INHERITED A POOR SQUAD. IS THAT VALID?

I ALWAYS remember when I was playing in England, a team-mate telling a manager at half-time the system was making the players look bad, not the other way around.

And that in a better formation, we would look much better. The manager took the advice on board and it worked a treat.

An example of Caixinha’s intransigence would be last Saturday’s 5-1 game. The formation provided little in the way of support for Rangers’ two full-backs, Myles Beerman and James Tavernier, and as a consequence both men had a tough 90 minutes.

Good managers improve the players they inherit.

There’s no better example of that than across the city, where the Scottish trio of Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and James Forrest are all much improved under Brendan Rodgers.

There’s no sign to date of any Rangers player improving under Caixinha.

CAIXINHA’S TACTICAL APPROACH SEEMS TO VARY FROM GAME TO GAME. ARE HIS PLAYERS CONFUSED?

YES. I think if I was a Rangers player being told we were going to play a more open system against Celtic – a team who haven’t lost a domestic game all season – than we had against Aberdeen, I would definitely have been confused.

That approach can’t make much sense to anyone.

WOULD THE RANGERS MANAGERS YOU PLAYED FOR HAVE STAYED AWAY FROM THE DRESSING ROOM AFTER LAST SATURDAY’S 5-1 DEFEAT?

NO. They would have certainly had a word straight away rather than let it linger.

That is what the players would have been expecting from the manager.

I remember in my first Old Firm game back in 1977, being two down at half-time to Celtic and very fearful of what Jock Wallace would say to us.

Yet he was extremely positive, stressing we had played the better football and that they were lucky to be winning.

That approach worked a treat, too. We ran out 3-2 winners – I scored our first and third!

SHOULD THE IBROX BOARD TRUST CAIXINHA WITH THEIR LIMITED FUNDS IN THE TRANSFER MARKET?

VERY much so. They brought Pedro in, so they have to back him.

“Limited funds” is right, though, and I would only expect two, at the most three, signings on the scale of the £1.8-million spent on Joe Garner.

Caixinha needs a better return on his investments than the striker has provided.

I would also like to see owner Dave King make some sort of assurances on the way ahead in the coming week because those two defeats to Celtic have left the club in limbo just now.

If the Board want season-ticket sales on the sort of huge scale we have seen in recent years, it is important they show everyone is pulling together to try to achieve the progress required.

ARE COMPARISONS WITH RONNY DEILA FAIR? NICE GUY, POOR COACH?

NO, it is far too early for that one. Remember in the early days of Brendan Rodgers’ charge, Celtic lost in Gibraltar and Israel and were thumped 7-0 by Barcelona in the Nou Camp.

HOW MANY PLAYERS DO RANGERS NEED TO BUY?

THEY really need to bring in three GOOD ones – a centre-half, a controlling midfielder and a quality striker – as well as some others to strengthen the squad.

To do that, though, they will doubtless have to first get others out which, as anyone involved in football will tell you, can be easier said than done.

WILL THE MAJORITY BE FROM ABROAD, GIVEN CAIXINHA’S LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF SCOTTISH FOOTBALL?

I’D say we will probably see a mix.

With Rangers still having no scouting set-up in place, I expect to see Caixinha lean heavily on his agent and friend, Pedro Mendes, to both source and recommend players, including those who can potentially make the club money.

Celtic are past masters at that, with the likes of Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk, but Rangers have had an example of their own, Jean-Alain Boumsong.

He was snapped up as a free agent in 2004 and then sold for £8-million later the same season.

At the same time, there is no way Rangers can afford to turn down good Scottish players from the English Championship, such as Steven Naismith and Graham Dorrans.

WILL THE APPOINTMENT OF A DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL HELP CAIXINHA?

NOT directly but it should really help the club as you would expect the new man to sort out the lack of competitive scouting, recruitment and sports science staff as a top priority.

AS THINGS STAND, HOW LONG BEFORE RANGERS ARE BACK COMPETING WITH CELTIC?

HARD to tell. Fans will be desperate for them to stop Celtic doing 10-in-a-row, but that is going to be very tough while Brendan Rodgers remains.

My feeling is he will want to hang around to try to see it through as he is in a well-paid job, which he loves and which gives him the chance to lead a team in the Champions League.

That being the case, you would expect it to be a few years before Rangers can get past Celtic.

But things can change very quickly, and the game is always finding new ways to surprise us.

Who could have expected Leicester City would win the Premier League, or that Greece would lift the Euros in 2004?

Both have been described as miracles. Right now, Rangers could do with one.