Steven Gerrard’s controversial claim that Rangers were a “class above” Aberdeen had many in Scottish football riled.
The Rangers manager, however, isn’t willing to take back the remarks.
On opening day, Rangers were the much better side between the two at Pittodrie. Despite both having Europa League fixtures the previous Thursday night, Rangers looked sharp and put on a good showing.
Unfortunately for Gers, a late Bruce Anderson goal cancelled out James Tavernier’s first-half penalty. It was also the contest in which Alfredo Morelos picked up his controversial red card for kicking out at Scott McKenna.
Gerrard was furious post-match, and claimed the Dons had no idea what to do against the Ibrox side. Now, two months on, the Rangers manager still agrees with what he said.
“I thought they were the better team on the day and I stand by that. The players were asked a big question that day by a strong team in a tricky environment and I was really impressed by my side.
“I thought we were excellent on that day and deserved to win the game, especially having 10 men for 90 per cent of the game having lost arguably our best player, our most prolific player.
“We know each other more. We’ve been together for four months now, we’ve played more games together, we’ve got more experience. The players know the formation and how we want it to look. They know what they have to do to win the game.”
Nothing was a lie
In truth, nothing that Gerrard said in the Granite City was a lie. Rangers did dominate over the course of the 90 minutes, and from a rare sight at goal, Aberdeen snatched a point.
Even Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes has claimed his side weren’t good enough on the day. Having been totally overpowered by Rangers, it was anyone’s guess as to how Aberdeen stayed in the game so long.
One thing Gerrard has moved to clear up, however, is the context of his comments. Despite many believing that he meant Rangers were a class apart in general, Gerrard said he meant only on the day.
It’s an important distinction to make. If it was the other way around then it may come across as disrespectful and premature. But Gerrard is making no mistake in defending his comments.
It remains to be seen how tomorrow goes. It could be a totally different game or it could be an extremely similar one. Either way, Gerrard isn’t budging over those controversial comments back in August.
