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Derek McInnes makes stark Rangers admission and reacts to Ibrox boos as half-time change explained Rangers boss gives his reaction to dismal Europa League exit An anguished Derek McInnes has admitted that Rangers exiting the Europa League at the hands of Jagiellonia Bialystok is a stark illustration of the side’s lack of quality. The new manager knows he has a race against time to earn the faith of Rangers fans after the Ibrox side exited the Europa League on a miserable night in Govan. Although McInnes stressed he “owned” the poor result and performance, he added that it was a painful illustration that Rangers are not ready for the Champions or even Europa League. They will now play Czech side Jablonec in a bid to reach the group stage of the Conference League, the lowest tier of European competition. “We need to be honest,” he said. “This club is built for the Europa League and the Champions League, that’s the intention to get there. But I am not sure the team is quite ready. It pains me to say that. It does. We need to get more quality and confidence into the team. This wasn’t the outcome we wanted.” The new manager is still without a win after four games in charge. The latest, a 1-1 draw with Jagiellonia Bialystok, might stand as his poorest result yet. Having given themselves the chance to progress to the next qualifying round with a narrow 2-1 defeat in Poland, Rangers could not make the most of home advantage. Lawrence Shankland handed his side the lead from the spot after 19 minutes but Rangers could not build on this promising start. An equalising header from Nik Prelec after 65 minutes put the Poles ahead on aggregate and although Rangers threw everything at their opponents, including bringing on striker Bojan Miovkski for his first minutes of the season, they could not conjure up at least the goal required to force extra time. Deafening boos greeted the final whistle. “It was justified, to be honest,” said McInnes. “I felt we had to make the game open, but it was a bit too open in the first half at times. Obviously (Djeidi) Gassama and (Daisuke) Yokota playing effectively as wing backs, we were asking a lot of them at times. But I thought it paid dividends in terms of penalty box action and getting the goal. I thought we were good value for going in 1-0 at half-time. “But I still thought that Jagiellonia gave us a couple of scares. And mostly when the ball was dead or in transition. There was a bit of anxiety there.” He explained that he substituted Thelo Aasgaard at half time because he felt the Norwegian "was not getting involved enough". The midfielder was replaced by Ross McCrorie, who took up position at left back as Rangers switched from a back three to a back four. McInnes lamented another performance where Rangers only played for 45 minutes – at best. “Once again, it was not a 90-minute performance,” he said. “Last season, (one of the criticisms) strong 45 minutes were not followed up or they just played in stages. We have to be honest, it’s been a continuation of that already. In the four games we have played there have been some good moments, but it’s not been good enough. There’s not been a strong enough 90-minute performance.” He was aghast at the manner in which Rangers lost what proved the decisive goal, which was a far-post header from Nik Prelec after a quick break from the visitors. “The first forward pass they play is in the bottom left hand corner in front of the Copland Road (Stand) and for it to end up them scoring in the top right hand corner in front of the Broomloan (Stand) is just madness,” said McInnes. “It is inexplicable how we won’t don’t make a foul or don’t stop the flow of the attack or don’t sanitise that whole situation. It is not lack of bodies. It is lack of intelligence. Just make a foul and stop the attack. “Once they equalised, it was just so difficult,” he added. “The players lost more confidence and the situation becomes a bit desperate. I just thought we lost all composure. We huffed and puffed. Even when we threw (Manny) Fernandez up the pitch, we still don’t make enough good decisions and don’t play the ball up to him.” Sunday’s Premier Sports clash against St Mirren at Ibrox has now been plied with yet more significance. McInnes can ill afford anothe failure. He admits time is already running out. “Finishing third last season, what was served up was not good enough,” he said. “You get a job for a reason. You get a job to try and make things better and sometimes you get it because things are not quite right. We have to get things moving the right way quickly, there is no two ways about it. We should be winning this game. Jagiellonia are a decent team, they are well coached and have some good players, but Rangers at their best should be winning this tie. We have got work to do.” Comments Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.