Rangers’ transfer exodus is set to kick under way with a raft of players set to leave. This is what you would think is happening if you read media stories this morning.
Yes, it appears that Steven Gerrard’s comments about buying new players have been exaggerated greatly. The comments were made after Rangers were knocked out of the Betfred Cup by Aberdeen last night.
For those of you who may not have seen the comments yet, this is what the Rangers manager had to say.
“We got what we deserved. The performance was fine, it was quite good up to a certain point. But there was a serious lack of quality and a serious amount of bad decisions in the final bit of our play today.
“We didn’t deserve to score. I pick the players, I sign the players, I pick the game plan so I’ll take responsibility for this. But what I’ll assure everyone is that won’t be our last semi-final. If it means I have to go and buy better quality players for when we get to this stage, that’s what will happen.
“If the players that we’ve got now don’t improve and start showing the quality we need in the final third, my job is to go and find the players who will. Otherwise, we are never going to win anything.”
A warning to his troops
These comments were nothing other than a warning to the players after last night. Everyone who watched the contest knows that Rangers weren’t good enough in the final third. This is clearly what sparked such a reaction from the manager.
Yet, certain headlines this morning have totally exaggerated the comments. Gerrard is not “set to wield the axe” on his side. If you were to believe certain stories, you would think Rangers are set to announce the release of 10 players today.
The reality is, Gerrard is simply trying to instill a bit of fear in his squad. During his time at the club so far, many players may have started to feel too safe. By speaking about bringing new players in, the Rangers manager is simply hoping for a reaction from his players.
A side that can compete in the Europa League group stages can clearly beat Aberdeen. Gerrard knows this and so does every Scottish football fan. On that day yesterday, Rangers failed to do so due to their own sloppiness in the final third.
Gerrard is as angry as anyone with that display, but it doesn’t mean we’re set for huge changes at Ibrox in January.
All the manager is looking for from his words is a reaction on Wednesday night. Nothing more and nothing less.
