Steven Gerrard has praised Allan McGregor, as captured by RangersTV, for his efforts against Feyenoord on Thursday evening.
The Gers keeper was forced into a big save in the opening stages but was largely a spectator for the remainder of the first half, with Rangers very much on the front foot.
His contributions were crucial in the second period, though, particularly in the final 15 minutes. As the Gers tired and sat deeper to protect their one-goal advantage, the veteran was called upon to make several quality saves.
He got down low to his left to tip a well-struck Steven Berghuis effort round his post and did extremely well to stay big and keep out Luciano Narsingh at the death after the winger was sent through 1v1.
His manager was suitably impressed but feels we’ll need to see a lot more goalkeeping heroics to progress in Europe.
Steven Gerrard says Rangers will rely on McGregor
“We’re going to need Allan McGregor in every game we play at this level”, said Gerrard, as captured by RangersTV. “That’s where we are, that’s the reality. Allan is going to have to be big for us.”
“Certainly, once the group was made, with Feyenoord, Porto, Young Boys – Champions League opposition – we were going to need Allan to be big for us and he was again tonight.”
Verdict
These are interesting and very honest comments from Gerrard.
He’s essentially admitting that no matter how well he sets his team up and how well the Gers defend, both as a unit and individually, the quality possessed by their opposition will ensure that they will get multiple opportunities in each game.
Last night, in the main, Steven Berghuis was marshalled well. Yet, he’s a quality Dutch international, so he still fashioned shooting opportunities and provided chances for teammates meaning McGregor was called into action.
In those moments, the stopper showed his true value and recording a clean sheet first up constitutes an excellent start.
Things will step up a notch next time out in Switzerland, but as long as the defence help him out, we know he’s capable of staying big and shutting out the opposition once more.
