The Gers were unlucky not to claim all three points in their opening fixture of the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, with Aberdeen scoring at the death through Bruce Anderson to level the scoreline at 1-1 – that after Alfredo Morelos received his marching orders in just the 13th minute.
It meant that the visitors were forced to play over 80 minutes with 10 men, and the general feeling after the game was that, on another day, the Light Blues would have won the game.
It was a gutsy display from Gerrard’s side, and McCulloch reckons had the same thing happened last season, then the team would have been ‘petrified’.
Writing for the Evening Times, he said: “Rangers dominated the game even with ten men and there were leaders on the pitch.
“You got a sense of leadership coming from the park and from the dugout and you could feel the difference. If that was the start of last season and Rangers had gone down to ten men as early as that at Pittodrie, the players would have been petrified.
“They wouldn’t have known what to do or where to turn. It was completely different on Sunday and there are leaders in that team. Rangers will improve this season under Steven Gerrard, there is no doubt about it.”
One particular positive to take out of the game was the fact that even with 10 men, Rangers seriously limited Aberdeen, with the hosts only registering their first shot on goal after 75 minutes.
The team appeared to be continuing on from a solid pre-season on the defensive front, and as McCulloch believes, the players will only improve the longer they spend under the guidance of Gerrard, who has clearly shown strong leadership so far.