PEDRO Caixinha yesterday branded his Rangers players an embarrassment to the Ibrox club – less than 24 hours after accepting full responsibility for the Betfred Cup semi-final defeat.

Caixinha, who will hold talks with chairman and major shareholder Dave King this week, also admitted that his men, who lost 2-0 to Motherwell at Hampden on Sunday, lacked a big game mentality.

The Portuguese coach, under mounting pressure ahead of the Ladbrokes Premiership meeting with Kilmarnock at home tomorrow, admitted he had been ashamed by the display and called on his side to prove they are behind him.

“I've told the players ‘you are embarrassing me, you are embarrassing our club, you are embarrassing our fans',” he said.

"If they are in a semi-final (with the chance) to make history for this club and they play like that, then something is wrong.

“Now I expect to be paid the other way around. These players play for this club, for this badge, for me. Are they behind me? That's what they need to show.”

Asked if his Rangers side, who have lost all of their meetings with Celtic as well as two semi-finals since he took over, failed to perform in big games, Caixinha said: “That’s a fact.”

He continued: “We feel we prepared in the right way to show the players what we wanted from the game. But there was a huge difference from what we had been working on to the way the team played.

“We have spoken before about not being able to win three games in a row and we found that the pattern is there.

“The pattern is that when the third game comes along – and normally it is a key game or a very important game like the Old Firm or a cup semi-final – the team doesn’t give you a strong response.

“They are not reaching that last level, the final stage of being a Rangers player, and we have to keep looking forward to find that level of transfer.

“That’s why we didn’t play our game. We tried to play put from the back once and when it didn’t work we didn’t try it again. I have a word for that and I discussed it with the players. We cannot be afraid of winning.

“I want my players to understand my feelings, to understand that we were ashamed at what happened on Sunday and I want them to react properly.

“However, in the last part of the analysis I said to the players ‘I believe in you’. I am the one who has brought many of them here and extended the contracts of existing players.

“So I told them that this belief and conviction I have in them must lead to the character of playing for Rangers, knowing that we are going to be under what other people call pressure.

“Pressure is when one guy has no money by the end of the month to fulfil his responsibilities. He has no money to feed or to give education to his family. That is pressure.

“Playing in front of your fans in a semi-final or in other key matches needs to be something that creates ambition, passion. You play it and enjoy it rather than the opposite.”

Dave King, the Rangers chairman and major shareholder, was at the semi-final on Sunday and Caixinha confirmed he will hold talks with the South African-based businessman this week.

However, he denied that he felt under additional pressure after failing to book a place in the Betfred Cup final against Celtic at Hampden next month.

“I just saluted him down there in the stadium, but we are going to meet,” he said.

“I already give you my definition of pressure. I thank God I am not under those conditions and I hope not to be. Maybe if, one day, I am under those conditions I will feel that pressure."