Steven Gerrard has bemoaned a lack of Rangers goalscorers in his side after watching a frustrating 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
Despite having plenty of possession, the Gers failed to make the most of it for large spells. The second half did see a lot more urgency than the first, but Rangers never looked too threatening.
In previous outings, Alfredo Morelos has scored four goals in the Gers’ last six matches. Outside of him, only three other players have scored during that time – James Tavernier, Scott Arfield, and Ryan Kent.
Gerrard is fed up of watching Morelos have to bail out Rangers time and time again, however. He opened the scoring against Killie with an early deflected effort – proving his worth to this Rangers side once more.
Speaking to the official club website, however, Gerrard wants more from the rest of his attackers.
“Then the onus is on us to go and break that down and someone to step forward to create something. We can’t keep relying on Alfredo; he is the only one at the moment who really looks a goal threat for us.
“Only probably two or three people really played to their maximum today so you can’t expect to beat a Steve Clarke or a Kilmarnock team, that is well drilled, when you only have two or three at it.
“My changes didn’t work out how I envisaged but I actually thought Andy Halliday gave everything he got; he delivered everything I wanted him to do. Tav did too and Tav has played every minute of every game and Tav has gone to the well for us. He was excellent.
A worrying trend
Rangers have barely looked a threat over their last three outings. Against Spartak Moscow and Aberdeen, Rangers huffed and puffed without having that killer instinct against either side.
Killie came to Ibrox and set up difficult to beat as expected. Rangers had shown a ruthless efficiency in the early stages of the campaign in breaking down opposition blocks. Last night, however, they once again never looked likely.
Morelos is the only one who looks anything near dangerous from open-play at the moment. Granted, James Tavernier is also getting forward and trying to test opposition goalkeepers.
Ryan Kent was unusually quiet against Killie, but he’s so often the main instigator of creativity for Rangers. Whilst he may raise an eyebrow at Gerrard’s comments on goal threats, he wasn’t good enough last night.
Rangers have a huge opportunity to bounce back against lowly St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday. The Buddies are winless in 10 under Oran Kearney, and come into the match as low in confidence as they could possibly be.
If Gerrard does have a lot more goal threats in his side, and we know he does, then they should easily be stepping up on Saturday.
