Caixinha confident Rangers are on the up
Pedro Caixinha says his Rangers side are about to embark a new cycle that will see them surge upwards - but warned Derek McInnes that Aberdeen face a slide unless he "renews'' their squad.
Pedro Caixinha says his Rangers side are about to embark a new cycle that will see them surge upwards - but warned Derek McInnes that Aberdeen face a slide unless he "renews'' their squad.
The Ibrox boss has given up hope of catching the Dons - who are six points better off with a vastly superior goal difference - as they enter their final two games of the season.
But he does want to slash the Pittodrie side's current lead when Gers welcome them to Govan on Wednesday night.
A third victory this season over the Reds would give some weight to Caixinha's belief that the Light Blues are on the up.
But he suggested McInnes will have to make chances to his side if Aberdeen are to cling on to the tag of being Scotland's second best line-up.
"What I know is that football is about cycles,'' declared the Portuguese coach. I know that Derek has been doing a great job, a fantastic job, but I know that moments and cycles work like that.
"I do believe that they've had a fantastic cycle in the last three or four years and they need to renew it. That's what I understand looking at it from outside.
"We are starting our cycle so we are going to be up and up and up. That's the way the teams behave and organise themselves and it's our job to know when one cycle is about to come down and we do the planning in order to prevent that.
"That's what I read from outside with Aberdeen.''
Rangers will face the Granite City troops with their resolve hardened by victories over Partick Thistle and Hearts.
Caixinha was pleased to see his team grind out victories in both those clashes after seeing their confidence levels crash in the wake of back-to-back Old Firm beatings.
But now he expects to see his team add some substance to their displays after a last-minute winner was required to see off the Jags, while they struggled for spells against the 10-man Jambos during Saturday's Ibrox clash.
"After the matches against Celtic it was really important to give a strong reaction and the most important way to do that was winning,'' said the former Al Gharafa boss.
"We did that against Partick then the team realised a little bit more against Hearts. Overall I need to be satisfied.
"We were happy because we won again. There are moments when it's really important to win and we did. But in other moments when you have higher levels of confidence you have to combine the performance with the result.
"The last two matches I just wanted to win. I wanted that because we have goals and I'm goal-orientated.
"The next goal is that if we win, we stay just three points behind second position.
"If you ask me would I prefer the team to perform great and lose and lose all the time the answer is no. I want to win and they know that.
"Now we are in a condition to ask a little bit more from the players, knowing we have already beaten Aberdeen. But we know they are a strong side.
"There is also a situation that if we beat them we will be going into the last match with just three points of difference. We know we are not going to get second because of the goal difference.
"But it is totally different if we end the season with just three points, or even one or even zero points from second because it was our number one goal we established when we arrived.''
Meanwhile, Caixinha shot down reports he is ready to offer a deal to Hearts midfielder Alexandros Tziolis.
The Jambos' Greek international previously worked with the Ibrox boss during a spell together at Panathinaikos.
And reports on Monday suggested Caixinha had invited the 32-year-old into his office after Saturday's 2-1 win over the Tynecastle outfit to discuss a summer switch to Glasgow when his six-month Gorgie deal expires.
However, Caixinha laughed off the speculation - which he dubbed "pure rubbish'' - and insisted he was merely catching up with an old friend.
But he did reveal he is hopeful of landing a couple of his midfield targets in the coming days.
"We know exactly what we are looking for and we have a level for the players for that position already (in mind). Things are going in the direction we want,'' he said. "We are about to get one deal, or more than one deal, done in those positions.
"We appreciate the advice from outside but we work from inside.''