GERRARD: SLIP UP WAS ON ME!
Rangers Kilmarnock Tomorrow, 7.45pm
v STEVEN GERRARD has revealed his regret at picking Alfredo Morelos against Ayr and exposing himself to the toothless semi-final flop against Aberdeen.
The Ibrox outfit are smarting from the disappointing 1-0 Hampden loss to the Dons.
Rangers struggled badly for creativity and cutting edge at the National Stadium with star-striker Morelos banned after being yellow carded for dissent in the last-eight tie against the Championship side and Kyle Lafferty cup-tied having played for Hearts.
Gerrard thrust Umar Sadiq into his team for a first Rangers start in the semi, but that move backfired with the Nigerian toiling and the boss says he may have made a mistake in picking the Colombian in the previous round.
He said: “I probably wouldn’t have played Morelos against Ayr United. That’s one regret that’s swirling round in my head. So I’ll learn from that.
“Listen, I’ll take responsibility. I picked the players, I picked the gameplan, I signed a lot of the players. So if anyone wants to point any fingers, throw them my way.”
With the first trophy of the season gone, Gerrard (above) wants an instant response to the setback.
Rangers entertain Kilmarnock tomorrow night in the Premiership and the gaffer wants to see a squad in pain and determined to make up for the Hampden heartbreak.
Gerrard told Rangers TV: “If you’ve got anything about you it should hurt for a little while and in the coming performances you should take that frustration out on them.
“We’ll do what we do, nothing changes. We’ll try and recover, we will analyse, debrief and besides that we hope some players self-reflect and we get a reaction. That’s what you have to do.
“But this one will be tough to move on from because of the stage, because of the opportunity that’s gone.”
will not demand 50 per cent of the tickets for next month’s Betfred Cup final with Celtic.
Both clubs were locked in talks yesterday with the SPFL in a bid to thrash out allocations for the first major showpiece of the season.
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