Martin: Rangers “lacked aggression” in 1-1 draw with Dundee

Russell Martin said that his side ‘lacked aggression’ during their frustrating 1-1 draw with Dundee at Ibrox. Rangers fell behind to a second-half goal from Ryan Astley and looked to be heading to defeat in their second game of the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership season, but a late James Tavernier penalty spared the Gers’ blushes and…

INMR

August 9, 2025

2–3 minutes

2025/26, Dundee united, football, PL, post match, Press Conference, Rangers, Rangers vs Dundee, Russell Martin, Scottish football, Scottish premiership, SPFL, SPFL 2025/26, sports

Russell Martin said that his side ‘lacked aggression’ during their frustrating 1-1 draw with Dundee at Ibrox.

Rangers fell behind to a second-half goal from Ryan Astley and looked to be heading to defeat in their second game of the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership season, but a late James Tavernier penalty spared the Gers’ blushes and meant that Martin’s side would escape with a point.

Rangers’ attacking output was heavily stifled by Dundee as they failed to create any major chances throughout the game, something that Martin put down to his side’s lack of fight.

“I think we lacked aggression with the ball and lacked a bit of speed.

“We lacked aggression in big moments, especially good moments, and lacked aggression with the ball really.

“We weren’t aggressive enough today, but there was more intent when we went down to 10 men,” said Martin.

Nasser Djiga was sent off for Rangers when the on-loan Wolves centre-back stopped a goal-scoring opportunity that could have seen his side go 2-0 down if not for his intervention.

Djiga has featured in every game so far this season and was part of the side that defeated Viktoria Plzen 3-0 on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League play-offs.

Martin elected to start with the same side from that game but admitted that his side possibly should have had a different look to it.

“We probably should have made some changes from Wednesday, but that’s on me,” said the former Southampton manager.

The result versus Dundee leaves Rangers with the possibility of being four points behind Celtic already should the Hoops win on Sunday, with fans inside Ibrox showing their displeasure at full-time with a host of boos, something that Martin feels they were entitled to do.

“Supporters are the most important people; they have every right to (boo), but it’s a long season, so we’ve just got to stick at it.

“We are a very different thing now; it’s a team that’s very early on in our way of doing things, and hopefully days like today don’t happen very often.”

Rangers’ next game is on Tuesday versus Viktoria Plzen as they look to secure a spot in the next round of Champions League qualification.