By Mark Pirie

Copyright dailyrecord

Under-fire manager Russell Martin has “tweaked” his rigid football philosophy amid mounting pressure from the Rangers fans. That is the view of former Ibrox midfielder Kevin Thomson – who spotted a change in shape from the Light Blues as they saw off Hibs in the Premier Sports Cup. During his time at Southampton, Martin became notorious for firmly standing by his possession-based tactical approach with the club rooted to the bottom of the Premier League. Infamously, he declared as he started his management career at MK Dons he would stand by his plan A and “if it doesn’t work and I get sacked, at least I get sacked doing something I believe in.” But that firm belief appears to be calming amid rocketing tensions in Glasgow – with the fans protesting against Martin and CEO Patrick Stewart. The Glasgow giants are winless in the Scottish Premiership and sit 11th in the table after a lacklustre start to the campaign. But speaking on Charlie Muglrew’s ‘Mulgrew Pitch to Par’ podcast, former Ibrox coach Thomson reckons there was a shift in the 2-0 win over David Gray’s men. He said: “It’s good to talk about what he has changed. (Max) Aarons, traditionally, is going in as a false full back, he was running in there – sprinting – for the first four or five games. Former Celtic man Mulgrew added: “What I now see is a back three – definitely against Hibs – (James) Tavernier has pushed on, and (John) Souttar, (Derek) Cornelius and (Jayden) Meghoma have made up a kind of back three. “You had (Dejdi) Gassama wide left, you have Tavernier wide right and you had your two 10’s became Mikey Moore and (Thelo) Aasgaard off the wing. I see him building like that.” Thomson noted that Martin has gone away from two holding midfielders – following Nicolas Raskin ‘s return to the side. The Belgian was frozen out after a behind-the-scenes falling out with the manager – but returned to the starting line-up against Hibs. He went on: “100 per cent he has tweaked it. You might get away with it in Europe against better players when the ball turns over, you want to counter press when you steal it off one of the sixes and break with a flat three, especially with space down the side. “Domestically you don’t need another player in there really. That player can easily jump up a line, and you could argue that player is now Nico. “Cause, that creates a bit more movement. You could argue where Nico picked the ball up, let’s just say you are (Dylan) Levitt and you are having to follow Raskin all the way out to the right channel; I’m not so sure Levitt is there.”