Shiels has plan in place to help NI get ready for crunch qualifier
Gerrard insists he is “all in” at Rangers as he moved to quash speculation about his future at Ibrox.
The Rangers manager was dismayed with the 1-0 William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Hearts on Saturday and admitted that it was “the lowest I have felt since I came into the job by a long way”.
Ahead of the home Ladbrokes Premiership game against Hamilton tonight, as Rangers try to claw back the 12-point lead that Celtic hold at the top of the table, Gerrard, who is contracted to the club until 2024, was asked if he had thought about his future in the wake of the Tynecastle defeat.
“Long-term? No, no,” said Gerrard, who confirmed striker Alfredo Morelos is available again after being left out of the defeat to Hearts for disciplinary reasons.
“From the end of the game at the weekend, which was bitterly disappointing, I have done a whole lot of thinking to myself and shared those thoughts withpeoplearoundmeandIam ready to go again.
“I’ve signed up to something here. I’m in, I’m all in.
“I always knew there was going to be periods like this that were tough, real setbacks.
“I think this is when the club needs me most, and that is to stay strong and fight on and push and continue to try to improve this and build on the progress we have made in a lot of areas, to learn from some of the things that haven’t gone so well and try to avoid them happening again.
“If you want to survive at this level you have to bounce back pretty quickly from setbacks, and the weekend was a low, I am not going to deny that.” Gerrard revealed that Morelos (left) has accepted his internal club punishment after returning late from a trip home to Colombia last week, which led to his absence from the game in Gorgie. The former Liverpool and England captain said: “He has been disciplined internally, which he has acceptSTEVEN
Ladbrokes Premiership
ed, and he has shown a lot of remorse for his actions, letting his team-mates down and supporters down.
“As a club we are very united from top to bottom in terms of our standards and what is expected.
“When someone goes against that trust it is important that they are punished for it, so that’s what’s happened.
“I think it is important that we are not stubborn and let it fester and carry on.
“It is important that we move on from these situations, it is dealt with strongly, which it has been, and we move forward.
“Is he going to be perfect? No. Is he going to make mistakes and frustrate me from time to time? Possibly.
“But I need to make sure I do the right thing for him and the club in this situation, and that’s what I felt I have done.”
Morelos himself issued an apology yesterday.
“I wish to apologise to the club, the manager, coaching staff, all of my team-mates and to the Rangers fans for disappointing them with my conduct,” he said.
“I understand that people inside and outside the club are disappointed that I let them down. It was never my intention. Everyone at Rangers and the fans have given me so much love that I’m grateful for and I want to show everyone on the pitch how much Rangers means to me.”
Morelos’ fellow striker Florian Kamberi also returns after he was cup-tied for the Hearts game, but Gerrard revealed some injury problems after Ryan Jack and Scott Arfield were substituted at Tynecastle.
He said: “Ryan Jack has got a bruise underneath his heel so he won’t be involved tomorrow. I think he has a small chance for the weekend but I still say he is a doubt for the weekend.
“We are waiting for news on a scan for Scott Arfield, it is not as bad as originally feared.
“Scott is a big doubt for the weekend. (Filip) Helander is due back in full training on Friday.”
KENNY Shiels won’t let what he describes as an ‘ideal opportunity’ pass him by as he looks to the future as well as the present.
The Northern Ireland women’s team will face Iceland this afternoon in their opening game at the Pinatar Cup in Spain, with further matches to come against Ukraine on Saturday and Scotland next Tuesday.
It isn’t just the meeting with three teams who are ranked among the world’s top 30 that will make it an intense week. Shiels has specifically tailored training plans too as he looks ahead to a potentially pivotal Women’s Euro 2021 qualifier in Belarus next month.
“We have 20 players in the squad and, as well as everyone getting a lot of game time over the next week, there will be a lot of time spent on the training ground,” said Shiels.
“We will change the team for each game so that everyone gets plenty of opportunities and experience against good teams.
“The players will know the team in advance of each game because, the day before, the starting 11 will take part in one session and the others will do a different session.
“This is an ideal opportunity for us to prepare for the match against Belarus when we hope to dominate the ball and the players have been responsive.”
With the squad progressing at a quicker pace than ever before, Shiels has seen the number of players playing in England and Scotland grow in the short time since he took charge last June.
Demi Vance and Megan Bell, who have moved to Rangers from Glentoran and Linfield respectively, are the two who have grabbed most of the attention, and half the squad is now playing outside of the Danske Bank Women’s Premiership.
Although it has been almost six months since the domestic season finished, and it won’t kick off again until after the trip to Belarus, the locally-based players have been putting in the time on the training ground with Shiels determined to ensure his team has the best chance of success.