Rangers boss Caixinha wants Ibrox response against Hearts
Pedro Caixinha admits Rangers need to put on a show when they run out at home for the first time since their "disastrous" Old Firm defeat.
Pedro Caixinha admits Rangers need to put on a show when they run out at home for the first time since their "disastrous" Old Firm defeat.
The Light Blues welcome Hearts to Ibrox on Sunday just two weeks after being humiliated by a record 5-1 defeat to Brendan Rodgers' rampant Celtic.
Last week's last-gasp triumph over Partick Thistle has given Gers some belief back, but Caixinha admits there is still a lot of making up to do with his team's supporters.
Asked to assess Hearts' threat, the Portuguese coach said: "We know they are changing the formation because they want to start with that formation next season.
"Maybe Ian Cathro is making some sort of experiment regarding it.
"But we know what to expect. It is a team that tries to play positive football.
"We can not forget that in the last confrontation they beat us 4-1, so that needs to be present in our minds as well.
"But we gave a reaction against Partick and we need to show that reaction again at Ibrox because the last time we played there it was a disaster.
"We know we need to to give another strong reaction."
Like Cathro at Tynecastle, who has managed just five wins from his first 23 games in charge, Caixinha has had problems to overcome since taking charge of the Light Blues mid-season.
But while he could offer no guarantees to his Jambos counterpart, the Rangers boss firmly believes he will turn his side back into a major force in Scottish football, given the time to do so.
The well-travelled former Nacional, Santos Laguna and Al-Gharafa boss said: "Ian worked with Nuno Espirito Santo, the Porto coach. He worked with him at Rio Ave and at Valencia. We Portuguese coaches have the same philosophy which is the tactical prioritisation.
"It's not an easy thing to understand just like that. In order to understand what is going on with the training sessions and the transfer we want the players to perform, with the relation between the training session, the analysis of the opponent and your own team, and then to take it all the way into matches just like that.
"I can tell you one thing, I don't know about Ian, but we did it in Portugal because it's the philosophy. We did it in Mexico, we did it in Qatar and we are going to do it here as well."