Former Celtic player turned pundit, Kris Commons, has launched a bizarre criticism of Steven Gerrard, as quoted by the Glasgow Evening Times.
The Gers hammered Aberdeen 5-0 at the weekend, yet somehow, the 36-year-old has contrived to find something he doesn’t agree with.
He has criticised the Gers manager’s reaction to Greg Stewart’s performance.
Yes, that’s right, Commons is angry because he thinks Gerrard didn’t praise one of his own players enough…
Former Celtic player launches Steven Gerrard criticism
“I found Gerrard’s post-match comments on Saturday a bit strange, given how good Stewart had been and how key he had been to victory,” he said, as quoted by the Glasgow Evening Times. “He had admitted that Stewart had taken his chance, before then saying that the performance had ‘given me something to think about’.
“Sorry, but what is there to think about? The answer is staring Gerrard square in the face because, on that form, Stewart is his most creative player. As a player, I wouldn’t like to hear my manager saying something like that about me.
“After this performance on Saturday, the Rangers manager shouldn’t be speaking about him like he’s some kind of outcast.”
Verdict
This is very pedantic stuff from Commons, after an outstanding Rangers performance.
Does he expect Gerrard to come out and say that because Stewart put in an impressive showing, he now becomes an automatic pick every week?
The manager was at pains to point out after the match that the 29-year-old had consistently delivered ‘outstanding’ training performances where he’s showed his ‘quality’ and that his selection against his old club was ‘nothing to do with sentiment’ [Scottish Sun].
Those aren’t the words of a manager treating a player as an outcast. In fact, they are quite the opposite.
He’s actively praising the attacker for his efforts in the build-up to the game before recognising that he took his chance during it.
The pundit has latched onto one part of Gerrard’s comments and created an issue that wasn’t there.
It’s also easy for Commons to say Stewart is Rangers’ best creative option on the back of Saturday’s display. We could be wrong, but we didn’t see him singing the player’s praises when he was struggling at Aberdeen last season.
Now, with the benefit of hindsight, he’s acting as if he’s his number one fan.
