Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has dropped a major selection hint ahead of the Gers’ Premiership clash with Ross County on Sunday [RangersTV].
Gerrard’s side hammered Motherwell 6-1 at Fir Park last weekend but failed to take their momentum from that game into a Europa League clash with Brondby in Denmark on Thursday.
The Gers drew 1-1 with the Danish champions, with a 77th minute Ianis Hagi strike cancelling out Leon Balogun’s first-half own goal.
The equaliser came around 20 minutes after the manager changed his entire front three. Joe Aribo was moved back into midfield, while Alfredo Morelos and Fashion Sakala were substituted, with Kemar Roofe, Ryan Kent and Hagi coming on.
After the game, a visibly frustrated Gerrard admitted that he may have made an error with his team selection and strongly hinted that changes would be made for the Ross County game.
“I think we’ve underperformed tonight, certainly in the first half,” he said [RangersTV]. “There was a massive improvement when I made the substitutions – we passed the ball better, looked more dangerous and we were overloading them in the right areas. But, in the first half, I thought the whole game was lacking in quality.”
“Maybe I got the front three wrong today, or, the front three didn’t bring to the game what I wanted and expected of them. There are probably two sides to it. But once we got the right players on the pitch with quality in the right areas, I thought we passed through them, I thought we looked more dangerous and if any team was going to go on and win the game, it was us.”
Then, after specifically praising Ianis Hagi and Ryan Kent for their impacts off the bench, he said pointedly:
“Obviously, I might have to look at a different front three come the weekend.”
While it didn’t work out well, Gerrard’s front three selection made sense.
Morelos had scored twice in his previous three appearances, Sakala netted a hat-trick at the weekend and Aribo also impressed against the Steelmen.
Meanwhile, it was Kent’s first time back in the squad following a hamstring injury and Roofe has looked a little below par recently.
Yet, while Morelos had an early header disallowed and Sakala dragged a shot wide, the trio barely threatened the Brondby goal.
After Gerrard’s comments, it would be no surprise if the front three of Kent, Roofe and Hagi that finished the game in Denmark, was deployed from the start at Ibrox on Sunday.
A former Premier League referee was at the Brondby Stadion to support the Gers.
