Dan Neil believes Rangers' team cohesion and togetherness is finally starting to show on the pitch after the midfielder and vice-captain played a starring role in the 3-0 Old Firm victory over Celtic.
Derek McInnes' FULL reaction to Rangers 3-0 Celtic
Neil scored twice as Rangers produced one of their most impressive performances of the season to book their place in the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals.
The midfielder was handed the captain's armband for the clash due to Lawrence Shankland being unavailable due to a hamstring injury and delivered a superb individual display, netting two stunning strikes from outside the area, but he was quick to stress that the victory was built on a complete team performance.
Rangers have endured a difficult start to the campaign following a major overhaul of the squad, with several new arrivals needing time to settle but Neil believes that process is now beginning to bear fruit.
“I thought all the lads did the game plan to an absolute T, in possession and out of possession. I thought we were really aggressive, really intense, but also mixed it up as well and were really compact and narrow in a block,” he explained.
“I thought we judged when to jump out of that block and the man for man, very well. I think you've seen that probably in the last few games, which is why the clean sheets are starting to come.”
Neil living the Old Firm dream
The 3-0 victory was made even more memorable for Neil after he scored twice in his first Old Firm appearance.
The summer signing admitted he had been dreaming about finding the net ahead of the match but never expected to produce a brace.
“Yeah, massive. Two goals for me in any fixture is pretty good. I haven't scored many braces, if any, in my career, so unbelievable,” he explained.
“I was putting my head on the pillow last night thinking of scoring one, never mind two. To come away with a brace is immense, but I have to give big credit to the whole team.
“I thought it was a real team performance out there and everyone deserves massive, massive applause for it.
“The second one was similar [to his dreams], it’s obviously brilliant to get the two.”
Rangers finally starting to click
The former Sunderland midfielder believes the time spent working with McInnes and integrating a new-look squad is now beginning to have an impact.
He pointed to the difficult opening weeks of the season but insisted Rangers have been working hard behind the scenes to correct their problems.
“I think we go back to the start of the season when it wasn't going great. You've got to think of all the new signings and all the change at the club,” he said.
“I think you've seen after a few weeks now that, one, the team cohesion, the team togetherness is there. There's no doubt about that.
“And two, the things that we've been working on in training are starting to come out on a match day. We all want it to happen as a click of a finger, but football's not like that.
“We've worked very, very hard on the training pitch to rectify what we've been doing wrong. And listen, there's still loads of things that we need to improve on, in my opinion as well as everyone else's.
“But the fact that we're churning out results and things are starting to look more positive is really good and gives the group confidence.”
Neil hails Raskin partnership
Neil has also developed a promising midfield partnership with Nicolas Raskin.
The Rangers midfielder revealed he had already been impressed by his teammate before arriving at Ibrox, having watched the Belgian at the World Cup.
“I think Nico's a fantastic player. I watched him at the World Cup before I even joined the club and I thought he was absolutely brilliant for Belgium,” he revealed.
“He's shown his qualities since he came in. Not just his qualities as a footballer, but as a lad as well. He's desperately doing well for this football club, and I think you can see that in his performances.
“It's not all about our partnership, but we've still got some other midfielders that are very good that need to be ready also. Everyone has to work together.
“Bojan [Miovski] is the biggest example of that in the striker situation. He was ready to come on and make an impact. It's a team game and from what I've seen, everybody's ready to make an impact when they can.”
Sunderland experience helped prepare Neil for Rangers
Neil arrived at Rangers from Sunderland, another club where expectations are extremely high.
The midfielder believes his time on Wearside helped prepare him for the scrutiny and pressure that comes with playing for Rangers.
“Sunderland's a big club in England and the expectation is big. That's what gets us going for football games. The expectation of winning and the absolute dread of losing,” he reflected.
“Knowing that you're making my break on people's weekends, that's what motivates you day in, day out. I think it did set us up well for it.
“For me, the emotions up here are a little bit more up and down than Sunderland.
“But that's just a testament to how big of a club it is and how much people care about it. I think that's the main thing I was looking for.”
Neil embraces Rangers vice-captaincy
McInnes has also handed Neil the responsibility of becoming vice-captain, something the midfielder described as a huge honour.
He insisted he will not try to become someone he is not, instead focusing on providing leadership in his own way.
“It's a massive honour being their Vice-Captain and Shanks as a captain is absolutely outstanding,” he said.
“I've said many times that there's many leaders in this group and we all have to work together to drive the group. Not everyone's got the same character, the same characteristics and be quieter.
“The leaders in the group have to step up and do that. I just try to be myself and whatever leadership qualities I can give to the team, I'll keep doing it.
“But I won't do something that I haven't done before. I'll just be myself and try to lead lads as well as I can.
“But we've got a group of leaders in there now and I think you can start to see that on the pitch.”
Celtic response already on Neil's mind
Despite the celebrations at Ibrox, Neil knows Rangers will face a very different challenge when they travel to Celtic Park next weekend in the Scottish Premiership.
The midfielder expects Celtic to respond and insists Rangers cannot allow the cup victory to distract them from the league.
“They're a good team and there's going to be a reaction. It's at their place and although we've won today, by no means have we over-celebrated in there,” he said.
“We know that it's a job done this week, but we've got a massive game in the league.”
The cup victory gives Rangers a route towards Hampden and potentially another trophy, but Neil is already looking towards the league clash.
“We got through the League Cup today, which is brilliant. It gives us a chance of going to Hampden and a chance of a final,” Neil explained.
“But we're under no illusion of the league and the points at the minute. And full focus is on next week before the international break.
“Even when things weren't going great, I was still enjoying it. I knew that there was going to be a turn in form from everybody because I see the quality in the changing room.
“Maybe we just needed that little bit of getting to know each other, getting to know each other's games and getting to know each other's people as well.
“I think people underestimate how big that is in the changing room. You've seen that over the last few weeks since the disappointment of Europe.
“A more together team and one, I can see that off the pitch and I'm sure you can see it on the pitch as well.
“We have to keep striving to improve the relationships in the team and keep improving the actual football itself.”
Rangers now have the result to back up their growing confidence.
For Neil and McInnes, the challenge is ensuring Sunday's spectacular Old Firm victory becomes a starting point rather than a one-off.
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