No excuses
Gerrard: Don’t blame pitch if we lose
STEVEN GERRARD insists he won’t use Young Boys’ plastic pitch as an excuse if Rangers fail in Bern – despite admitting they should be banned.
And the Light Blues boss revealed he will enlist the help of former Celtic defender Stephane Henchoz as he looks to pull off a Europa League win against the odds in the Swiss capital tonight.
Jose Mourinho called for UEFA to ban astroturf surfaces after leading Manchester United to a 3-0 Champions League win against Young Boys last season.
Gerrard feels the same but has warned his players they must get the job done regardless of the pitch in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf. And he hopes that his
former Liverpool team-mate Henchoz – who had a short loan spell at Celts – can play a vital role after his Sion side lost 3-2 in Bern at the weekend.
Gers are looking to follow up their opening Europa League Group G win against Feyenoord when they take on the Swiss champions.
Young Boys are undefeated in almost a year on their own pitch and Mourinho’s United were one of the last sides to beat them.
Afterwards he called for a ban on plastic surfaces in UEFA competitions and asked if he agreed, Gerrard said: “Just ban them full stop. There are certain teams that use them for financial reasons so they can survive and cope and I totally get that.
“Some people are left with no option, I appreciate that, but when you spend the amount of money on a stadium like this, or some of the other stadiums, I don’t think you have an excuse.
“I don’t like astroturf. I see it as a risk but I don’t want to be splashed all over the papers talking about astroturf pitches because it looks like an excuse.
“Win, lose or draw the pitch won’t come into it. We will get judged on the result and the outcome. Nobody will have any pity for us so we won’t use the pitch.
“It doesn’t get mentioned in the preparation for the game, whether we are here or at Livi or Killie. It’s a game that’s 11 v 11 and that is what we will focus on.
“We will focus on Young Boys’ strengths and weaknesses and give the boys a game plan.”
Current United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also hit out ahead of their match with AZ Alkmaar’s on Den Haag’s plastic pitch in the Europa League tonight.
He insisted he wouldn’t have risked Paul Pogba on the surface and said: “It’s okay if you live in the North Pole more or less.
“You can’t play in March or December on grass but I’m surprised. If I was running a club here I wouldn’t have astro if you have a chance for natural grass.”
Gerrard – who put his players through their paces in Glasgow – and his squad inspected the pitch after they touched down last night.
He said: “If you’ve played on one then you’ve played on every one across the world. I don’t see the point.
“But we also prefer to prepare privately so we get the extra day for tactics because you can’t do that in other people’s stadiums.
“The pitch looks fine with the green pellets instead of the black. We get enough games to be able to cope on astroturf pitches.
“We have three teams domestically and it wasn’t so long ago we had to play a tough game at Ufa so we’ve had enough experience.”
Gerrard shared a dressing room at Anfield with Henchoz for six years and asked if he’ll be his secret scout he said: “By kick-off I will have spoken to him.
“We covered the game at the weekend when they lost 3-2 and it was interesting.
“It summed Young Boys up – they have some goalscorers in the team and are exciting going forward.”
Meanwhile, Gerrard admitted Jermain Defoe should be fit for Sunday’s clash against Hamilton after his head injury sustained in a car crash.