Steven Gerrard’s warning to his Rangers players was ferocious, as he claims certain stars won’t get further chances.
Rangers were held to a dreadful 1-1 draw at Dens Park against Dundee this afternoon. Kenny Miller returned to haunt his old side, before a red card for Nathan Ralph had Dundee down to 10 men. Andy Halliday immediately made it count with a stunning free-kick, but Rangers failed to get another despite playing over an hour with a man-advantage.
The result also sees Rangers fail to go level on points with rivals Celtic. Instead, they’re now two points behind having played a game more.
It was a woeful performance from Gerrard’s charges, as they failed to bounce back from the Aberdeen defeat. Gerrard spoke to Sky Sports after the game, however, and said certain players could stop getting chances.
“We never got a reaction today. I’ve been giving players chances and maybe that’s got to stop, because they’re not taking them.
“It’s frustrating because I was expecting a reaction. We were so poor in midweek so it’s a concern that we’ve performed badly twice on the spin.
“Seven days ago we get a fantastic result at Hearts. People were speaking very nicely about us. But the last two performances certainly aren’t like how we’ve performed up to last week.”
Who was Gerrard talking about?
The big question here is who was the Rangers manager talking about in his critcism of the players? There are several standouts, with the likes of Kyle Lafferty, Joe Worrall, and Jordan Rossiter all failing to perform once again when given the chance.
Rangers were missing both Alfredo Morelos and Scott Arfield from the side this afternoon. It’s fair to say that both players would’ve made a difference, with Rangers lacking inventiveness in the final third once again. Arfield in particular would’ve given the Gers something different going forward.
The problem is, however, with a packed schedule still ahead of Rangers between now and the end of January, the squad will still need rotated. Huge games are coming up including a massive double-header with Hibs, as well as Thursday’s Europa League crunch-tie with Rapid Vienna. Celtic at home and St Johnstone away are also tough games on the radar.
The same XI won’t be able to step up and feature in every game for the club this month. It could very well be the case that Rangers fans have to put up with Worrall and Lafferty on plenty more occasions between now and the Winter break.
Gerrard, however, has left them in no uncertain terms how poorly he feels they’re performing.
