Michael Beale insisted the buck stopped with him after Rangers saw their Champions League dreams end in a nightmare defeat to PSV Eindhoven.
The visitors crashed to a 5-1 loss at the Philips Stadion and will now drop into the Europa League following the heaviest reverse of Beale’s tenure as manager.
James Tavernier gave Rangers hope after Ismael Saibiri had put Peter Bosz’s side in control but Luuk de Jong and Joey Veerman netted and Connor Goldson scored an own goal on a disastrous night in Holland.
Rangers must now pick themselves up for their significant Old Firm clash with Celtic on Sunday and Beale admits their European exit was a tough blow to take.
Beale said: “Obviously hugely disappointed with the result tonight. I felt over the two legs we were unable to handle De Jong and Saibari, the two forwards, in both legs.
“In key moments in the game, certainly at set plays as well, we concede. Listen, the buck stops with me. I wasn’t happy with losing the way that we lost tonight.
READ MORE: Rangers have villains but no heroes as Champions League dream ends
“There were moments in the game that could have gone for us. I thought there were moments in the second half and some other opportunities didn’t go for us but it is obviously bitterly frustrating.
“If you look at the Europa League this year, there are lots of good teams in it. We will wait and see what happens with the draw.
“For us coming into the first September international break, the aim was to get into the Champions League, get into the quarter-finals of the cup and to end this first period of league fixtures as high up or in front if we can. That is still in our hands.
“Today is obviously bitterly disappointing to be out of the Champions League but we played against an excellent team.
“An apology to the fans that came across. They stuck with the team in both legs and they expect a little bit more than what they got.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel