I attended a full Rangers training session under Russell Martin

Members of the media, including the Rangers Review, were allowed to watch Friday’s entire pre-season training session. With a Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos 11 days away and several new signings on show, here’s what stood out.

Martin's side have enjoyed tropical temperatures in Burton (Image: Martin Rickett)

Technical warm-ups and lots of running

“No mistakes”. That was the early message bellowed out at St George’s Park, not in order to send players into their shells but to ensure they warmed up properly during small, technical drills. It is the minor details that make up the big moments because, after all, football is just one big game comprising of lots of mini ones. “You have way more intensity than that Connor Barron”, chimed Martin early on as he also ensured new arrival Emmanuel Fernandez was at it from the off. “Intense” has been the unanimous verdict offered up by those watching and participating in Martin’s training to date, and the head coach has been encouraged by a young group, which has sometimes lacked obvious leadership, growing more vocal in the space of the past fortnight.

Butland was tested with the ball at his feet (Image: Martin Rickett)

The local contingent of the squad were the first to speak to the club doctor, seeking out sun cream in place of shade in 30-degree heat. Many players have commented on the fact that they’ve run more than ever before during the first weeks of pre-season. The night prior, the team had enjoyed a BBQ and time to relax, with this was one of the first days that had not featured a double session on the grass. Many were deliberately heavy-legged going into last weekend’s friendly vs Club Brugge as Martin seeks to build the hardest-working squad in the division.

Noticeably, bar coming out early to warm-up, goalkeepers Jack Butland, Liam Kelly and Kieran Wright were almost entirely a part of the overall group, not shunted into the corner as goalkeeping groups can often be. Martin wants his keepers to be part of the game and that detail played out in their involvement across the afternoon. Taking part in the boxes and small-sided match at the start of training, albeit placed at the sides to mirror the angles they will receive the ball during a matchday, both Butland and Kelly were exposed to small spaces and setting the tempo in possession throughout the entire two hours.

Players now in a small-sided passing drill that GKs have joined. pic.twitter.com/yqbT2xAK6Y — Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) July 11, 2025

What did we hear Russell Martin say?

Martin is a hands-on coach and that showed throughout yesterday’s session. The 39-year-old was involved in a small-sided game, composed on the ball himself bar one lapse pass that Kelly would save his blushes from, and although at points he took on more of an observe and input role, especially during set-pieces led by Mike Williamson, when it came to tactical walk-throughs, Martin was the dominant voice. Off the pitch, he is personable and close to his players, but when working, his demands are tough.

What stood out throughout training was that intensity cannot be an excuse for sloppiness. At one point, when Nedim Bajrami, who has impressed coaches in the past week with his aggressive running and technical ability, tried to play first-time around the corner from a throw-in, Martin reminded the Albanian, “Take that on your chest, you’re good enough to play”. Requests to run harder and faster were often followed up with the need for poise on the ball when arriving at it. “Don’t run like lunatics”, Martin shouted early on during a passing drill and “Be calm, the moment will arrive” at another juncture when play was breaking down frequently. His style, leaning heavily on positional play, requires midfielders and wingers to wait for the ball rather than always going to get it. They must learn the blend between aggression to regain the ball and a cool, patient head when it turns over.

Whole group now in one small-sided game, Martin taking part in the session. pic.twitter.com/HQcu2omkr1 — Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) July 11, 2025

John Souttar received special praise for “beautiful detail” with a pass and in another moment, others were asked to show “more love than that” in their passing details. It was his side’s care for the ball that drew most enthusiasm from a manager who wants to dominate possession first and foremost.

Another constant feature of the entire two-hour session was tactical fouls. Regular play was stopped if a defensive action was seen to be too passive with a late instruction during the tactical walk-through, reading, “If you’re going to foul, foul - don’t just leave your leg dangling out”. After a 2-2 draw with Club Brugge on Sunday, Martin admitted he was unusually angry during a friendly because of the lack of ‘dark arts’ to prevent moves in the lead-up to both goals scored by the Belgians. If you can’t take the ball, cynical or not, Martin wants you to take the man. It is a detail that isn’t identified enough with Pep Guardiola’s sides, who has had masters of slowing the game at the base of his midfield in Rodri and Fernandinho to stop dangerous transitions.

Extensive set-piece practice

Williamson, Rangers’ new first-team coach and a former manager himself, has been handed set-piece responsibility and will also work specifically with the squad on transition moments. As such, during a 20-30 minute period spent working on set-plays, every passage following the delivery was allowed to play out. The transitions that follow defending and attacking set-pieces are vital moments too.

Martin will know that, especially in games where a deadlock is proving tricky to break, set-pieces can offer crucial marginal gains. Rangers were, scandalously, the last team to score from a set-piece in the Scottish Premiership last season, and they operated like a side without any plan or variation beyond James Tavernier’s delivery. Martin’s Southampton team were the best performing in the Championship by contrast. He needs no convincing of the merits that this 'game within a game' can create. Seeking to rebalance the physicality of this squad has been a focus shared by Martin and sporting director Kevin Thelwell all window which should help too.

New Rangers first-team coach Mike Williamson (Image: Andrew Milligan)

The head coach ran the line at free-kicks, tweaking the height of his defensive line depending on in and outswinger deliveries. Throw-ins were also given attention at points which, while a small detail, can occur up to 40 times in a 90-minute match. Rather than over the top to consider the advantages that could be garnered from these breaks in play, it is an indictment of how poorly Rangers have been run at points that marginal gains haven’t been sought out and exploited whatsoever. Martin is believed to be working on set-pieces during every session in pre-season, with Fernandez, Djiga and Aasgaard all improving the physicality of this team.

Revealing tactical walkthroughs

Martin’s session, lasting well over an hour and a half, moved from technical warm-up to rondo boxes and a team-wide small-sided games before 11vs11 tactical walkthroughs preceded set-piece work. Starting play from a variety of different scenarios (be that throw-ins, goal-kicks or spells of possession in the opposition half) this section featured regular pauses for instruction as Martin continued to explain to his team what he envisions in each phase of play. Whether that be building the game beyond pressure, sustaining possession or breaking down defences. Full-back runs inside the pitch, the correlation of movement between No.6s and No.8s and condensed gap from No.9 to high line off the ball were all observable differences.

There was real emphasis on the No.9, whether that be Danilo or young forward Josh Gentles, to “keep the distances the same” when a midfielder dropped, creating gaps for high-and-wide wingers to exploit higher up the pitch and replacing passing options. Rotations were visible too with No.8s dropping into wide channels of space as full-backs rolled infield at other points, finding solutions to find the spare man in build-up.

Thelo Aasgaard is an exciting addition (Image: Martin Rickett)

The reality is, Rangers were a team last season who played on instinct. They needed space, or a certain Vaclav Cerny, in order to make their attacking decisions for them. The reason last season’s squad thrived in games where they saw 40% possession was the same one that saw them exposed when handed 60% of it - this was a group that lacked a real in-possession identity. They were unable to manufacture space or control matches. This work under Martin, in contrast, to not rush forward, keep the ball at all costs and constantly think about territory and control is such a change.

The attention to what each starting 11 was doing off the ball during this part of the day was just as ovbious. Both forwards were stopped on some occasions when their starting position, marking the opposition’s No.6, was slightly too high, this allowing their marker to run-off the back of them goalside and escape pressure via a third-man pass down one of the flanks. “Shut the door, nothing gets through” was another frequent request from Martin to keep spaces as tight and narrow as possible, helped by an extremely high line, which new defenders Fernandez and Djiga have the athleticism to marshal.

Speaking later, Martin would reiterate the importance of relearning habits in all such situations to provide solutions and understanding in high-stakes, high-pressure game days. Players were constantly told the “why” of what they were doing to communicate the logic of the idea. “There are no pointless passes in his system” was new arrival Joe Rothwell’s assertion last week, discussing his past experience working under Martin. That level of understanding is what the new head coach hopes sessions like this one will offer the entire group.

Who wasn’t involved - and why?

Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane have both travelled to England with Martin’s squad but, alongside Ross McCausland and Robbie Fraser, didn’t take part in the session, which featured two starting 11s. Dessers had a small knock returning to Glasgow and Igamane is behind the group after a visa issue delayed his return. Ridvan Yilmaz was training individually and, as already revealed, has seen his No.3 shirt handed to Max Aarons. Igamane continues to attract interest from France with Rangers yet to receive a transfer offer. One has arrived for Dessers from AEK Athens earlier in the window, but it was far short of the value placed on the Nigerian at Ibrox, thought to be in the region of £5million.

Robin Propper, who is close to a FC Twente return after Rangers accepted an offer from the Dutch club, was left at home, as was Jose Cifuentes, Ben Davies, Clinton Nsiala and Leon King. Asked if that was an indication they won’t be involved this season, Martin said, “I think you can probably ascertain that if they're not here, they're not involved with us, they've either been close to something else, or they're just not needed in their position this week, because we have a lot of players.”

What other details did we notice?

Noticeably, in a lot of the drills, it was Rothwell, and at times Connor Barron, occupying the pivot spot at the base of midfield. With the rough 4-3-3 shape witnessed last weekend likely to be how Martin starts in the coming weeks, Rothwell feels a likelier candidate to anchor the midfield than Nico Raskin, perhaps due to his safety and experience in possession. For all of Raskin’s strengths, could he be a little too active for Martin to trust him as the side’s metronome just yet in possession?

Will Rothwell be Martin's No.6? (Image: Martin Rickett)

One of the positions that will require a lot of learning in Martin’s system is full-back. At times, the head coach wants them to roll infield and in the build-up their movement relative to their opposite winger is key to unlocking routes forward beyond the first line of pressure.

At the end of the session, young right-back Zander Hutton received some extra time with his manager, who, alongside Williamson and first-team physio Steve Walker, walked through the different prompts and signals a full-back should look for from his teammate and opposite number when receiving the ball from centre-back.

As Williamson and Walker feinted pressure from different angles, Martin coached Hutton to pull wide or roll inside depending on his marker’s positioning, encouraging the young defender not to make his movement too early and give the defending player a headstart, trying to stay in his blind spot wherever possible. Timing and triggers were key. It was an example of the number of intricacies the position will entail in possession. Earlier in the session, Martin encouraged his captain, James Tavernier, against rushing balls in behind from right-back. Only in certain situations should passes be played down the sides, where angles are limited and pressing opportunities are better with the touchline acting as a defender.

The head coach took regular breaks to explain details to his squad (Image: Martin Rickett)

There was also extra work done with defenders Souttar, Djiga and Fernandez from crossing situations, with Martin asking his centre-backs to limit the freedom of movement enjoyed by a striker in the penalty box by getting touch tight and always keeping said opponent in front.

At the other end of the pitch, Gill took midfielders and attackers through some unopposed finishing work. The standout in this scenario was Thelo Aasgaard, who wrapped shot after shot into the back of the net. Martin is understood to be enthused by the prospect of working with the Norwegian international who managed 14 goals last season. In a Rangers midfield that had no one scoring more than four from that area last season, Aasgaard, who some Luton staff compared to the likes of Ross Barkley and Morgan Rodgers in terms of profile upon signing him from Wigan, will be a vital player this coming season.

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