Steven Gerrard’s comments after the Livingston game could’ve been aimed at anyone.
After the 1-0 defeat at the Toni Macaroni Arena, Gerrard claimed certain players were under the threat of playing their way out of his side.
Given the fact that it could’ve been any of the XI players who started, who was he most likely talking about?
Firstly, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if Ovie Ejaria was on his mind. The on-loan Liverpool midfielder put in a lacklustre display at Livi and didn’t do anything when on the ball.
It was down to Ejaria to create through the centre of the Rangers midfield. Instead, he was consistently looking side-to-side instead of moving the ball with pace. In a match where Rangers needed leaders, he was such a disappointment.
Given that Lassana Coulibaly and Scott Arfield are consistently providing for Rangers these days, Ejaria needs to catch up. In the tough away games so far, he’s been one that’s been found wanting.
Joe Worrall could’ve been another player on the Rangers manager’s mind.
How many times did Worrall receive the ball and fail to do anything meaningful with it? Livi were happy to give him plenty of space as they knew he was limited in his distribution.
Worrall’s woeful display
Where Worrall did impress was his constant shouting and bawling at team-mates. This was clearly in a bid to raise performance levels, but his own was poor in itself.
Added to that, he was bullied all over the place by Dolly Menga. Livingston’s goal-scorer seemed to have both Rangers centre-backs bouncing off of him until he was substituted late on.
Worrall certainly couldn’t have any arguments if the manager is asking for more from him.
Let’s be honest – it could also be any one of the two strikers up top.
We all want this Kyle Lafferty/Alfredo Morelos partnership to blossom. We were happy to admit this morning that we may have gotten it wrong in thinking this was the way to go.
Yet, is Gerrard also thinking the same thing? Both men were shockingly bad yesterday, and didn’t combine well at all.
In recent matches, Morelos has been improving in every aspect of his game. He’s clearly improved ten-fold under Gerrard, and yesterday has to be put down as an off-day for him.
Lafferty, on the other hand, seems to be struggling to control the football. Against Livingston, he was absolutely dreadful. His hold-up play was non-existent, whilst Livingston’s centre-backs muscled him out of the game.
A thoroughly disappointing afternoon for both, and Gerrard could be thinking of dropping either/or.
Out of the team yesterday, they’re the main ones the manager may have been talking about. Competition for places has increased at Ibrox this season, and Gerrard is looking to make sure the players know it.
