{"id":932504,"date":"2026-09-07T11:18:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/emmanuel-fernandez-identifies-what-rangers-must-improve-despite-motherwell-win\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T11:18:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:18:45","slug":"emmanuel-fernandez-identifies-what-rangers-must-improve-despite-motherwell-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/emmanuel-fernandez-identifies-what-rangers-must-improve-despite-motherwell-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmanuel Fernandez identifies what Rangers must improve despite Motherwell win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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\"Soccer<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers. Copyright: ImagoxAlexxToddx<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nigerian defender Emmanuel Fernandez has\u00a0revealed\u00a0the key area Rangers must improve despite their narrow 1-0 win over Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday,\u00a0Soccernet.ng\u00a0<\/u><\/a>reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gers secured their third successive league victory after being made to work hard for all three points against Motherwell.\u00a0Rangers have now recovered from a slow start to the season, winning their last three matches across all competitions.<\/p>\n

They suffered an early setback when striker Lawrence Shankland was forced off through injury. However, his replacement, Ryan Naderi, made an immediate impact by scoring the only goal of the game in the 12th minute. He capitalized\u00a0on a mistake by Motherwell goalkeeper Alex Paulsen to score into an empty net.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers vs Falkirk. Copyright: ImagoxJamiexJohnstonx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rangers dominated the encounter and created several opportunities to extend their lead but were unable to add to their tally.\u00a0However, they held on for the victory, following previous wins over Aberdeen and Falkirk.<\/p>\n

The result moved Rangers up to third in the Scottish Premiership standings, five points behind leaders and champions Celtic.<\/p>\n

The Super Eagles defender has faced criticism for some of his performances this season, with\u00a0Rangers manager Derek McInnes also admitting that his displays had largely been below the standards expected at the club.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Derek McInnes Rangers Manager gives instructions to Emmanuel Fernandez. Copyright: ImagoxFredxPalmerx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, Fernandez has now played his part in two consecutive clean sheets as Rangers continue to improve defensively.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the latest victory and another clean sheet, Fernandez said he was pleased with Rangers’ performance but admitted the team must become more efficient in front of goal.\u00a0The Gers\u00a0registered 27 shots against Motherwell, with only six hitting the target, while they scored just once.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was good, and we know we could have scored more, but we got the win and the clean sheet\u201d,\u00a0Fernandez\u00a0said, in quotes revealed by the\u00a0club\u2019s official website.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cIt is a positive that we created those chances. We know we have to finish them to get greater leads, but the fact that we know we are creating those chances is good.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cWe will work on it in training to look to get more positive results with that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cWe know we have three wins in a row and two clean sheets in those matches, and we are going into the next few games with confidence.\u00a0We know we can create chances and we are keeping goals out of our net too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Soccer Fernandez talks up growing partnership with Makhanya<\/h2>\n

The Super Eagles defender\u00a0has formed a new partnership in Rangers’ defence following the arrival of South African defender Olwethu Makhanya from MLS side Philadelphia Union.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers. Copyright: ImagoxJamiexJohnstonx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pair helped Rangers secure another clean sheet against Motherwell, and Fernandez believes their partnership can continue to improve as the season progresses.<\/p>\n

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\u201cChanges happen, be it different styles or different players, but you have to adapt to that\u201d,\u00a0Fernandez\u00a0added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cIn your career, you will have to deal with it. It is exciting, and you have to grow those relationships.\u00a0The relationship I have with Maka is very good. He has done well since coming in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cWe are growing as a partnership; we are keeping clean sheets, but there is more to come.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cSince we lost the European game, we went straight to Aberdeen, and we grew closer. We spoke about what happened, and as a team, even if you aren\u2019t performing well, you know you are together.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cWe have St Mirren on Wednesday, and it is about continuing the form we are in.\u00a0We want to win again, and then we move on to the next game\u201d, the Super Eagles star concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Soccer
Emmanuel Fernandez during Poland vs Nigeria friendly match. Copyright: ImagoxFotoxOlimpikx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rangers will face St Mirren in their next Scottish Premiership clash on Wednesday, with Fernandez and his teammates hoping to continue their impressive run of form and close the gap on Celtic at the top of the table.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"<!--Ayomide Oguntimehin” src=”https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/zmwfydkHBdXjhs7OwCCIAo3r_GQ=\/150×150\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2024%2F12%2FAyomide-Oguntimehin-pics.jpg” height=”80″ width=”80″>\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Chief Editor at Soccernet.ng. He has interviewed Super Eagles stars like William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, and Ademola Lookman, and is known for breaking major transfer stories.<\/p>\n

Ayomide has worked with Sports Brief, Naija News and served as Social Lead Editor at Legit.ng. He has also featured on Goal, TVC News, Sports Mole, and Milan News24. He holds a Master\u2019s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Follow Ayomide on X (formerly Twitter): @ayo_oguntimehin\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers. Copyright: ImagoxAlexxToddx Nigerian defender Emmanuel Fernandez has\u00a0revealed\u00a0the key area Rangers must improve despite their narrow 1-0 win over Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday,\u00a0Soccernet.ng\u00a0reports. The Gers secured their third successive league victory after being made to work hard for all three points against Motherwell.\u00a0Rangers have now recovered from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":932505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43016,32172,2005],"tags":[43015,6599],"class_list":["post-932504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-emmanuel","category-fernandez","category-soccer","tag-emmanuel","tag-fernandez"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}