Steven Gerrard has praised Rangers stars Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent following Friday night’s 3-0 win over Hibernian, but although delighted with the overall performance, he wanted his players to be more ruthless.
Kent opened the scoring in the opening stages with a composed finish following a mistake from Ofir Marciano, before an excellent Aribo goal doubled the advantage just minutes later.
(Photo by Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Jermain Defoe showed ‘world-class’ quality to extend the lead to three goals after the interval, but the pace of the game slowed somewhat following a red card to opposition centre-back Ryan Porteous on the hour mark.
“Joe Aribo was outstanding,” said Gerrard. “He’s been very consistent since he’s gone up into that right-side ten position.”
“Again, Ryan Kent was very dangerous. I’m very pleased with the front three and they’ll deserve all the headlines because they were three real outstanding goals, but I thought the back seven were solid and managed the game really well and gave us the base to go and be so dangerous down the right and down the left.
“The only disappointing thing for me was when we got the red card and we still had a lot of football to be played – continue to strive for more goals. That’s the only thing you can maybe be a bit critical about.
“In the main, I’m extremely pleased with this away win because it’s a tough place to come.”
