Derek McInnes conceded his Rangers team were "not good enough to win" and cited "too many little mistakes" as key to their 1-1 draw with Dundee United on Friday. 

McInnes was unable to inspire Rangers to victory on his competitive debut in charge of the Glasgow giants, who underwhelmed in their Scottish Premiership opener. 

Rangers found themselves behind seven minutes before half-time when Lachlan Rose squeezed the ball into the net after dispossessing Emmanuel Fernandez in midfield. 

McInnes turned to his bench at the break and introduced Dan Neil and Youssef Chermiti, with those changes improving Rangers and helping them equalise in the 56th minute. 

Michael Forbes' headed clearance fell into the path of Thelo Aasgaard, who thundered a left-footed finish past Jack Walton following a neat first touch past Joshua Rawlins. 

The visitors were unable to find a winner in the minutes that remained as Rangers began a fourth successive Scottish Premiership campaign with just a point. 

Dundee United edged the expected goals (xG) battle with a total of 1.64 from their 11 shots to Rangers' 1.46 from their 21 attempts, and while McInnes was pleased by the impact of his half-time changes, he conceded his team lacked the desire to go and get the winning goal.  

"I thought the half-time changes helped us, but the approach from the players in the second half was really good," McInnes told BBC Scotland. 

"We wanted to get Thelo Aassgaard in the areas he wants to play in, and Diomande playing off the right. I thought Chermiti helped us as well.

"Dan Neil put his foot on the ball for us and got us passing a bit better.

"The desire to get the equaliser was clear, and I've got to credit the players with that. Then, I don't feel we did enough after that, and that's what's frustrating me.

"You see the desire to get the equaliser wasn't quite mirrored with the desire to go and get the winner. I just thought we played in fits and started after that.

Full-Time at Tannadice

It ends level.

Dundee United 1 - 1 Rangers pic.twitter.com/HtynsECIT0

— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 31, 2026

"What we need to do when we look in charge is make sure we don't make silly mistakes and give the opponent encouragement.

"After the equaliser, for five minutes I felt we made too many little mistakes and needed to communicate better and deal with that situation better."

McInnes did, however, avoid becoming the first Rangers manager since Graeme Murty in February 2017 to lose his first game in charge of the club. 

There were plenty of Rangers' summer signings on show, with Lawrence Shankland, Ivor Pandur, Cameron Devlin and Ross McCrorie all showing promising glimpses. 

Rangers face Jagiellonia Bialystok in the first leg of their Europa League third-round qualifier next Thursday before taking on Hibernian three days later, and McInnes acknowledged that his team must improve across all areas of the pitch. 

"We worked hard to get back into it, but I don't think we were good enough to win the game," McInnes added. 

"I thought the point was the right scoreline and we're disappointed with that. First half, we wasted a lot, we didn't create too much, and it was a bit too frantic.

"We never really connected the game well enough or looked after the ball well enough, and we lost a poor goal from our point of view."