Steven Gerrard’s Livingston reaction saw just one player get pass marks.
It was a tough afternoon for Gers, as they failed a huge test at the Toni Macaroni Arena. Dolle Menga’s first-half strike was enough to give Livi a 1-0 win against Gerrard’s side.
As expected, the manager wasn’t particularly pleased with the overall performance. So much so that nobody bar one player got praise for their display this afternoon.
Speaking to Rangers TV, Gerrard touched on the performance of his solo star.
“Ryan Kent. The 45 minutes where he came on he was the one who was trying to open the door. He was the one who looked dangerous.
“No, I don’t think there were any other positives from the game.
“Daniel Candeias done okay and James Tavernier done okay. But we go down together and we go up together. As a group it wasn’t good enough today because we didn’t look like scoring. We have to come to these places and look dangerous – today we weren’t.”
Have to back the manager
Not one Rangers fan should be arguing with Gerrard when he praises Kent here. The on-loan Liverpool starlet came on for the second half and was the only player in white that looked like creating anything.
Granted, his influence waned the longer the second half went on. But it doesn’t hide from the fact that anything good that came from Rangers today came from Kent.
He simply has to start on Thursday night against Rapid Vienna. Without his pace going forward, Rangers seem to look a shadow of their potential.
Gerrard was also correct to hold any praising of Candeias and Tavernier. Both men put in solid shifts for the club, but nothing spectacularly good or bad that merited any form of criticism or praise.
After this huge disappointment, there will be plenty of questions Gerrard will look to ponder. Was pairing both Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty the correct thing to do? Was bringing off Lafferty just as Rangers went direct the right thing to do? Who needs urgently dropped for Thursday night?
For now, it’ll be a rough few days as the post-mortem begins on a dreadful defeat. Kent can look back on his own performance with pride, but other than that, everyone else should be looking in the mirror and asking whether they gave their all this afternoon.
