DON’T TAKE IT EASY BOYS
STEVEN GERRARD ordered his Rangers players to put the pedal to the metal in their relentless pursuit of silverware – after moving to within a single goal of Celtic at the top of the Premiership table.
And the Light Blues gaffer admitted he’d have had a cheek to complain at failing to draw level with their rivals after watching his side hit hapless Hearts for five in an Ibrox romp.
Alfredo Morelos notched his 25th goal of the season, with Ryan Kent
adding to last week’s double against Hamilton. A second half Christophe Berra own goal and late brace from sub Greg Stewart sealed the rout.
After starting the day six goals behind Hoops following their 4-1 win at Ross County, Gerrard admitted it would have been greedy to expect any more just three days after a 2-2 Euro draw against Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
But the boss wants no let-up from his side ahead of a massive doubleheader with a trip to Aberdeen on Wednesday followed by the Betfred Cup final against Celtic at Hampden on Sunday.
Gerrard said: “We want to win by the biggest margin we can and probably in the eyes of the players I’m a bit of a moaner like that.
“Some of them maybe want to come off the gas and relax at three and four but not me – I want to continue to keep doing the right things.
“As a team we’re not at a level where we can just pick and choose when we can stay on the gas, so for me it needs to be consistent across the board. Forget the scoreline and play with the correct intensity, and try and score as many as we can.
“I can’t complain with a 5-0 win at home on the back of a European night that we had to really push and give a lot in. I’d have some cheek to go in and complain about the amount of goals!
“Credit to the players, it’s another box ticked and now we recover and go up to Aberdeen, which will be a tough game for us.
“You’ve got to go to Pittodrie at some stage in the season. You don’t pick and choose the fixtures and they’ve come into a bit form of late. We need to forget about the cup final until the final whistle at Aberdeen.
“It’s another important game for us and we need to go up there and show our best level, and if we do I’m confident we’ll get the outcome we want.”
Gerrard was able to rest Ryan Jack and brought off
Morelos and Kent early in the second half with one eye on Dons and Celtic.
He said: “We were okay in the first half. We had a nice 2-0 lead but still felt we could have turned the heat up a bit.
“Our second half performance was probably slightly better. I liked the hunger and intensity to get more goals. It was a very positive display.
“It was a fantastic header from Alfredo, it was pure hunger to score from Alfredo.
“With the second goal, it was about the movement from Joe Aribo without the ball and the patience to find Ryan Kent with the pass.
“That’s where we want Ryan. He will get more goals from attacking the goal. The key for Ryan was to get him match-fit and match-sharp.
“He missed a lot of football over pre-season because he was waiting to sort his future out.
“When he came in, he got the injury and I need to share some of that responsibility as well.
“But once we got him fit and sharp, you can see his contribution and how important he is to the team now.
“Whether that is through goals or assists, or just being out there because he terrifies defenders by being so sharp and quick.
“You are starting to see him move towards his best, which is great for us.”
Meanwhile, Gerrard played down reports that Juventus are interested in Glen Kamara after stories Gers were holding out for £8million for the Finnish international. He said: “There’s nothing from Juventus with Glen.”