'Not a tactical problem!' - Russell Martin defends himself from Rangers boo-boys as he slams players' mentality after suffering sixth defeat of tenure

The result leaves Rangers languishing in 32nd place out of 36 in the group standings, with two defeats from two in the league phase. To make matters worse, Martin’s record now reads a bleak five wins from 16 games, and his side have matched a shameful club record: 23 away matches without a clean sheet, a stat not seen since 1897.

Martin, who has already faced the fury of supporters this season, insisted the problem wasn’t his tactics but the lack of fight within his squad.

"We have to improve the mentality quickly," said Martin. "This is not a technical, tactical problem. The mentality in the second half was brilliant - to compete, to fight, to run. We didn’t do that in the first 20 minutes and we paid the price for it. You can’t start that poorly. We still had loads of chances in the first half, but they had too many, all from set-play or throw-in.

"That’s, like, a mentality issue. We caused them a lot of problems in the first half and were so dominant in the second half. Of course, we gave up a couple of chances late on because we were throwing everything at it, but we should have scored more goals. You come away from a game in Europe and have that many chances, big chances, you cannot lose the game. It is a mentality thing. We have to look at it. We have a lot of young men, and they have to learn really quickly."

The defeat has only stoked louder chants for Martin and CEO Patrick Stewart to be shown the door. Supporters are tired of the excuses and even more tired of watching their side implode in Europe. Breaking down the horror show, Martin told the club’s in-house TV channel exactly why he was livid.

"(For the first goal), we’ve been hurt by our own throw-in, because we don’t do the right thing, and then a set-play where we don’t want to block runners and we don’t want to compete," Martin reasoned.

"That’s really frustrating, especially when we have done so much work on it and improved so much in that area recently. The most frustrating thing is we are not set up in the way we should be and the way we work on. I said to the players the mentality in the first half-hour compared to the rest of the game is too far apart. Yes, we changed shape in the second half, but it is about aggression, mentality, to actually run and fight and compete."

Despite the gloom, Martin bizarrely insisted there are signs of progress. He highlighted the positives from a match that fans will only remember as another embarrassing defeat.

"It is an interesting time," Martin told TNT Sports. "It is frustrating, because we are showing signs of so much growth and improvement. Even in this game, we had some brilliant moments and were really dominant. It is just frustrating to lose the game."

Rangers now face Falkirk in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, and for Martin, it feels like a defining moment. Another slip, and the calls for change could reach a breaking point. With his record tumbling and patience in short supply, the pressure on Martin has never been greater.