Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HEIR JORDAN’S READY TO TAKE PLACE AT TOP
after being headhunted following his decision to call time on his playing career at Hull.
Maloney, 35, said: “The past year has been a great opportunity for me to work STEVEN GERRARD is convinced Jordan Rossiter can go from the seldom-seen kid to the main man at Ibrox.
The Rangers midfielder made his long-awaited first appearance under his former Liverpool mentor with a cameo in Wednesday night’s Betfred Cup win against Ayr.
It came on the back of 45 minutes for the reserves and Gerrard believes the playmaker is back in business and can put two years of injury misery behind him.
Gerrard (inset) said: “We rate the player very highly and know the fans are desperate to see him on a consistent basis.
“No one more than the kid wants to be back and he’s shown unbelievable mental strength. He has really fought through the tough times, he came through the Ayr game and is back now.
“Once he repeats games his body will tune in and his confidence will build so we hopefully this is an initial short-term schedule.
“Pushing him to be available for three games in a week is not the answer right now. We will treat him differently.”
Gerrard doesn’t need any reminders of the player’s quality. Gers fans have only seen glimpses in a handful of appearances but the
Ibrox manager watched Rossiter shine as a youngster when the pair were at Liverpool.
Competition for places is fierce in the Rangers midfield but the 21-year-old has been challenged to force his way into the side. Gerrard said: “He’s a great player. He’s naturally fit in terms of his aerobic capacity. He can get around the pitch, he’s safe and a player you can trust to do a job for you.
“There’s no doubt, if he’s fit he makes us a lot stronger and gives us a big option in the middle of the pitch.”
Meanwhile, Nikola Katic has branded plastic pitches a danger to players and admitted the Rangers squad are still haunted by Jamie Murphy’s horror injury at Rugby Park in August.
It’s an astro run-out at Livingston tomorrow and the Gers defender said: “These pitches are dangerous for players. It’s hard to put out of your mind what happened to Jamie. We need to be prepared to cope with it.”
But Gerrard added:
“My players have handled artificial surfaces well. We managed it with nine men in Ufa. If we don’t get a result we won’t be blaming the pitch.”