If there is one thing Rangers fans have learned about Steven Gerrard during his time at the club, it’s that he knows what to say and when to say it.
Whether it’s praise after a big win, or warnings on the back of poor performances, he rarely misses the mark.
However, there are also subtleties to his approach in press conferences. Ahead of this side’s biggest game of the season at Rapid Vienna, he showed that side once again.
While he addressed Rangers’ poor recent domestic form, he quickly asserted that he considered those results near irrelevant to tomorrow’s match.
“This is a completely different game and a different style of game”, he contended.
“I think this game could suit us being more of a 50/50 type game, and we handled ourselves well in those matches before”, Gerrard continued.
Underdogs
“We have huge respect for our opponents and like us, they were the underdogs in the group.”
Underdogs. Mentioned earlier in the presser by Andy Halliday, this was clearly the key message to take from tonight.
Few expected Rangers compete this well in the Europa League proper. Fewer, expected Rangers to sit top of the SPL in early December.
Nonetheless, these are things that have happened. The problem seems to be that when expectation arrives, the players find it hard to deal with. An issue evidenced by Rangers’ domestic performances.
Clearly, Gerrard’s intentions with this press conference were to try to calm the expectations once more.
Yes, call for energy and passion from the team. But importantly, assert how they have got here against the odds, in order to release some of the pressure.
All these efforts are made in the hope that, tomorrow night, they can win and progress one step further.
You would almost think he’s done this European thing before..
