Steven Gerrard’s injury news last week certainly had each and everyone of us sitting up and taking notice.
Scott Arfield, Ryan Kent, and Connor Goldson were massive doubts. It looked as though Rangers were going into Saturday with a hugely patched-up squad against a Celtic side playing with some confidence in recent weeks.
Instead, however, it looks as though the Rangers manager played everyone like a fiddle – including Brendan Rodgers.
As we all know, all three players started and totally starred in the 1-0 win. It wasn’t just solid displays being produced either, it was dominant ones.
Goldson played through the pain barrier in impressive fashion to keep both Mikey Johnston and Odsonne Edouard quiet. Arfield, meanwhile, was a constant grafter and won so many key second-balls.
Kent’s influence doesn’t exactly need mentioning. He sent Lustig slding away as he set up the goal, and should’ve got on the scoresheet himself but for Craig Gordon’s heroics.
Not the same tone we heard last week
Interestingly, when Gerrard spoke about his injury concerns post-match, he had a slightly different tone to what the Rangers fans had been hearing beforehand. Speaking in the Daily Record today, Gerrard said the following:
“Ryan’s fine. He’s a naturally fit lad. Scott’s got a bit of cramp, a little bit of tightness but it was worth the gamble because we’ve got time to recover now.”
This certainly sounds like something Gerrard has known for a while now. Yet, just 24 hours before the game, the Rangers manager claimed he still had some big decisions to make on the injuries.
It seems, however, that this was just mind games. Just a way of giving Celtic some false hope that Rangers were going to be a lot weaker pre-match.
The fact all three performed and put in a trio of fantastic displays, it looks as though Gerrard has played a number on Rodgers. Celtic looked like all they believed they had to do as turn up. Instead, they were turned over in dramatic fashion.
Did Gerrard really perform some mind-games here with Rodgers? Let us know what you think in the comments.
