“THE team that tours England together, wins together” is unlikely to ever catch on as a slogan but Pedro Caixinha hopes Rangers’ pre-season jaunt down south will work in their favour when they began their Premiership campaign against Motherwell on Sunday. With the Ibrox dressing room now resembling the United Nations after a raft of summer changes – so many new faces, so many different nationalities – teething problems were almost inevitable.

That manifested itself most alarmingly for Caixinha in Rangers’ early exit from the Europa League at the hands of Luxembourgish opposition. With the club having, curiously, decided not to line up any other matches prior to that loss to Progres Niederkorn, some pre-season friendlies were hastily arranged.

As well as Marseille at home, a closed-doors game against Watford and then Sunday’s friendly against Sheffield Wednesday – managed by another Portuguese in Carlos Carvalhal – at Hillsborough at least ensures Rangers will not be completely undercooked when they head to Fir Park for their opening league commitment on Sunday. Victories in both games down south will have done no harm to confidence either.

For Caixinha, the trip to England had other benefits, too. Having had little opportunity to socialise and mix with his players since starting the job in March – Luxembourg was probably not the best time for making small talk about any recent visits to the cinema – spending time with them during their time around Watford and then Sheffield was also worthwhile, the manager getting to know his players better and they him. Caixinha hopes that could make a difference as Rangers look to put the disappointment of last year’s campaign behind them and get off to a positive start this time around.

“We need to look at it all together, the cycle of games that started with Marseille and finished with Sheffield Wednesday,” said the Portuguese. “Making the trip was really great. Before that we hadn’t really had time to be together and it is important to be together. The players only knew me as a man and through football but I am so much more than that. And they are more than that too. So these moments are very important for the team.

“That relationship [between the manager and the players] is very important. I can give them 20 or 30% of the overall product and they can give the rest. Relations are definitely going to make that 70% remainder solid.

“So that is what we looked for in our final preparation of matches and now we are going to look for the details in order to start the season in the best possible way. And the best possible way is to start very strong and to build on what we have done over the past week. We want to start with winning and that is what we are working towards.”

Rangers have moved towards a 4-4-2 formation during their summer preparations and Caixinha believes it is a system that suits them well given the resources available to him. With Barrie McKay having departed for Nottingham Forest, it requires either Josh Windass or Niko Kranjcar to play in an unnatural wide left role – at least until Jamie Walker arrives from Hearts as has been widely touted over the summer.

Caixinha told Rangers TV: “The main aspect that I’m pleased about is that we are playing as a team. That’s the focus that we need to keep looking for. It’s an easy formation that can be very suitable when we are defending and also when we are attacking. It is easy to understand, it is easy to perform and the players feel comfortable with it. With that formation we can play stronger as a team.”

Meanwhile, one former Rangers striker looks set to be on the move. Ross McCormack, who came through the ranks at Ibrox and once scored a pivotal Champions League goal away to Porto, is expected to complete a loan move to Sunderland from Aston Villa before the end of the week.

The 30 year-old, capped 13 times by Scotland, only signed for the Midlands club last summer for a fee of around £12m but was dropped by manager Steve Bruce in January for “continually missing training” and then spent the second half of the season at Nottingham Forest.

Sunderland play their opening Championship game against Derby County tomorrow evening and McCormack is expected to have finalised his season-long loan arrangement by them, reuniting him with Simon Grayson, his manager during an earlier spell with Leeds United.