At Rangers boss Steven Gerrard’s pre-match press conference looking towards the Aberdeen game, he called out the Dons for only “raising their game” against Rangers.
On first listen, many rival fans felt it looked petty whilst Rangers fans almost unanimously agree with him. But was Steven Gerrard playing mind-games as we enter the title run-in?
Realistically, Celtic are not going to lose to Kilmarnock today. I’d love it if they did, and I hope I eat my words, but with two defenders suspended Killie have an uphill task.
Not to mention the fact it’s at Celtic Park, that the game will pay tribute to Billy McNeill, and that Celtic are lauding Scott Brown’s let off.
After today, Celtic will travel to Pittodrie where Rangers will be relying on Aberdeen doing something that they haven’t done all season. Beat Celtic.
Steven Gerrard has been superb with the press since he joined the club. This to me is another ploy.
He risks the ire of Aberdeen’s supporters and Derek McInnes, but he makes his point. Rangers need Aberdeen to step-up against Celtic next week. By saying Aberdeen “didn’t lay a glove” on Celtic, he’s trying to stoke the Dons.
Rangers need them to take maximum points off of our rivals to take the title race to Ibrox. And then potentially to the final day.
The Rangers boss is calling Aberdeen out – they now have to respond. Any tame performance will be analysed and criticised. A good one might just keep the title race alive.
Of course, that only matters if we can beat them tomorrow ourselves. That’s something we haven’t managed to do at Ibrox this season.
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