If you’re a man to the good with that amount of time on the clock I’d expect my team to run all over Celtic
SAYS STEVEN GERRARD
IT was the narrowest of defeats on a day when Rangers were supposedly just out of luck.
A game that showed how football can be decided on fine margins as Alfredo Morelos blew a late chance to salvage a draw with a horror miss.
But as Steven Gerrard watched the drama of an Old Firm thriller unfold from the Ibrox directors’ box all he could see was the huge gulf in fitness levels.
Forget the sitter from Morelos or talk of not getting the rub of the green after that 3-2 loss back in March when the game could supposedly have gone either way.
The way Gerrard viewed it that day there should have been no hard luck story and Rangers should have steamrolled their fierce rivals after the Hoops were reduced to 10 men.
Celtic played the last 33 minutes at a numerical disadvantage after Jozo Simunovic was shown a red card for an elbow on Morelos.
With the teams locked at 2-2 after a see-saw first half Gerrard insists there should only have been one winner.
And it shouldn’t have been the Hoops who snatched it thanks to a brilliant goal from inspired sub Odsonne Edouard. Graeme Murty described it as a psychological blow from which his side never recovered but it was the physical aspect that concerned Gerrard. And what the former England and Liverpool captain witnessed as he analysed the final games reinforced that view – including a 9-0 aggregate loss in the last two Old Firm derbies. Improving fitness is something new Light Blues boss Gerrard is looking to address after touching down in Spain ahead of a 10-day pre-season training camp. He said: “It’s the easy thing to say ‘we didn’t get the luck’ but when you go into it in a bit more detail, if you’re a man up with that amount of time on the clock then I’d expect my team to run all over