Rangers Exit Europa League Early Under McInnes

Rangers were booed off into the Glasgow night, and Derek McInnes did not try to dodge the verdict.

His team had just drawn 1-1 with Jagiellonia Bialystok at Ibrox, a result that sealed a 3-2 aggregate exit from the Europa League in the third qualifying round – their earliest departure from the competition since 2017. Four games into his tenure, the new manager is still waiting for a first win.

“It was justified, to be honest,” McInnes said of the chorus of boos that greeted the final whistle. “It wasn't good enough. What we served up, particularly second half, wasn't good enough.”

“The club’s built for Europe” – but the team isn’t

The admission that followed cut even deeper.

“We need to be honest, the club's built for Europa League and Champions League and that's the intention, to get there,” the former Rangers midfielder said. “But I'm not sure the team is quite ready for it at the moment and it pains me to say that, to be honest, it does.

“We need to get more quality, we need to try and get more confidence out of the team.”

This was supposed to be a night to reset the narrative after a poor domestic start. Instead, it underlined how far Rangers have to travel to look at home on a European stage they once strode across with authority.

Bold shape, fragile core

Injuries stripped McInnes of left-back Tuur Rommens and striker Youssef Chermiti, and he responded with a gamble. Five changes from the weekend defeat to Hibernian, a switch to a back three, and Gassama and Yakota pushed high as makeshift wing-backs.

“I felt we had to make the game open and it was a bit too open at times in the first half,” he admitted. “Gassama and Yakota playing as kind of effectively wing-backs, we were asking a lot of them at times.

“But I thought it paid dividends in terms of penalty box action, getting the goal. I thought we were good value for getting it one and a half-time, but I still thought that Jagiellonia had a couple of scares.”

The pattern felt familiar. Bright spells, chances, a sense that Rangers were edging on top. Then the drop-off.

“Once again, it's not another 90-minute performance,” McInnes said. “That's been in the Rangers for a while now. It's been a continuation of that this season, already.

“In the four games we've played, we've had some good moments, but it's not been good enough and certainly not a strong enough 90-minute performance.”

“Inexplicable” defending and lost composure

The turning point, in McInnes’ eyes, came with the concession of the Jagiellonia goal that killed their momentum and the tie.

“But for us to lose the goal. It's inexplicable how we don't make a foul, how we don't stop the flow of the attack, how we don't just sanitise that whole situation,” he said.

“It's not lack of bodies, it's lack of intelligence, it's lack of doing the right thing, to be honest.

“We lost all our composure after that, if I'm going to be honest with you.”

The words were as pointed as any he has delivered since walking into Ibrox. Intelligence. Composure. Doing the right thing. Qualities Rangers once took for granted on European nights now look in short supply.

A sixth man in a restless era

McInnes is Rangers’ sixth permanent manager since Steven Gerrard walked away in 2021. That churn tells its own story. So does the fact that, by his own assessment, what came before simply was not up to standard.

“What we served up last year wasn't good enough. You get a job for a reason,” the former Hearts head coach said.

“You get a job to try and make things better and obviously sometimes you get it because things aren't quite right, and we have to try and get things moving the right way quickly.

“There's no two ways about it, we should be winning this game. Rangers, as strong as they can be, should be winning this day and we have got work to do between now and the end of the window, but between now and Sunday to get ready to win a [League] Cup tie [against holders St Mirren].”

The transfer window clock is ticking. So is the patience of a support that expects group-stage football, not August exits.

McInnes has identified the problem in blunt terms. The question now is whether he can find the quality, the intelligence and the composure to fix it before this season starts to run away from him.