LENNON’S RETURN IS BACKED BY GERRARD
STEVEN GERRARD reckons Celtic have made the ‘sensible appointment’ by naming Neil Lennon as manager until the end of the season. The Northern Irishman returned to Parkhead this week after Brendan Rodgers’ shock decision to quit and join Leicester City. And Rangers manager Gerrard isn’t surprised to see Lennon back in the dugout so soon after his departure from Hibernian earlier in the campaign. Gerrard said: “I think it is a sensible appointment in terms of where Celtic are at, if you want my opinion on it. “He obviously knows the club very well, he has won there before. “So I am sure they are pleased that he was available to walk straight in and I am sure they are hoping for a seamless transition. “Whether that will be the case, we will have to wait and see. It is certainly a sensible decision.” Meanwhile, Gerrard hopes striker Alfredo Morelos is rewarded for his fine form with a return to the Colombia squad. Morelos made his international debut in the friendly match with Venezuela last September and has set his sights on a place in the Copa America squad under new boss Carlos Queiroz. The former Manchester United assistant has yet to make contact with Gerrard regarding Morelos but the 28-goal forward has done his chances of a recall no harm. Gerrard said: “I haven’t heard from him. He asked for my number recently, which I passed on, but I haven’t heard from Carlos just yet. He is more than welcome to come and watch Alfredo. “I am sure he has watched him from afar and really liked what he has seen. I think if anyone deserves an international call-up it is Alfredo Morelos. “It [the Copa America] should be a goal for him. It’s a goal for us. “We want as many international footballers as we can. We want to see all our players enjoying experiences playing for their countries.” Gerrard also hopes Andy Halliday will be fit to return to action tomorrow but admitted Scott Arfield is only rated 50/50 at present.
We played them at Ibrox and Hampden and the dressing rooms are miles apart, but I am sure Aberdeen were celebrating in them
WHEN Rangers beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie last month, it was one of the most interesting and eye-catching matches of the Ladbrokes Premiership campaign. The fallout from it was just as headline worthy. Six goals, two red cards and two penalties didn’t tell the full story as Alfredo Morelos was hit with a threegame ban and Allan McGregor retrospectively suspended for two. It emerged that Derek McInnes was upset about the celebrations inside the Rangers dressing room, while the pictures of Aberdeen’s Betfred Cup win over their visitors had served to motivate Steven Gerrard’s side even further. Now, the teams will do it all over again on Sunday. With a William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final spot at stake, this could be the best one yet. “I think it might be something that is in their thinking, it is not in my thinking,” Gerrard said. “If you have been to Pittodrie as a player or a manager or you have been lucky enough to walk round the stadium, the dressing rooms are basically sitting right on top of each other. “If you win a game there and you are happy and your players celebrate, which they deserve to do, I am sure they are going to hear it next door. “I am sure that would be the case if it was the other way round. We played them at Ibrox and Hampden and the dressing rooms are miles apart, but I am sure Aberdeen were happy in both those dressing rooms and I am sure they were celebrating. “It is just that the dressing rooms are far apart, we can’t control where the dressing rooms are. But I am sure it will come up in their team talk and we have to be ready for that.” In truth, neither side should require any added motivation tomorrow as the teams, two great rivals, meet for the fifth time this season. The animosity between Rangers and Aberdeen could take incomers to Scotland time to understand and become accustomed to. Gerrard is well aware of the significance of it, though, as he plots a victory that could be hugely significant for his side this season. “There is a lot at stake, it’s a big rivalry,” he said. “Both sets of players will be desperate for a result. Every game we’ve had against Aberdeen this season has been a physical encounter and I don’t think that will change. We hope we get officials who understand that. We want to focus on 90 minutes of football with all 22 players on the pitch. “That’s when you get a good spectacle and that’s when you get a box-office game to be involved in. “It’s more of a rivalry than it looks on the outside but you get educated on these things as soon as you walk in the door. It was one of the conversations I had early doors and I was up to speed pretty quickly. “I’m used to big rivalries. I had them as a player and walking into this job I knew the one here with Celtic.” In a potentially powderkeg environment, it will be crucial for Gerrard’s players to keep a cool head. Morelos has been sent off in each of his three outings against Aberdeen this term and missed the Hampden encounter through suspension. He will face a familiar adversary in Scott McKenna once again and Gerrard is relishing the battle. “I think I’ll speak to everyone in general,” he said. “It’s important we
play with discipline. I’ll never be someone who takes an edge away from a player because you can be taking a big chunk away from that player’s abilities. You hope the players go in and you can trust them to be physical and aggressive but to channel it in the right direction. “I don’t want to see any of my players getting stupid yellow cards or leaving the pitch because the job becomes much more difficult. “But I thought the battle between Alfredo and Scott McKenna was box office for the 60-65 minutes it was going on. It was an absolute spectacle to see from the side and it was a shame that both players couldn’t see the game out. “Because this is the reason why we all love football – battles, individual battles on the pitch and team rivalries. “I hope Alfredo and Scott go toe-totoe again and it’s another great spectacle. I just hope they both see the 90 minutes out because I don’t like seeing players from either team being sent off.” That win at Pittodrie last month saw Rangers clinch a fourth successive victory as they recovered from the shock defeat at Kilmarnock after the international break. It was followed by a cup draw at Rugby Park and a costly Premiership stalemate with St Johnstone at Ibrox, however, as momentum was quickly lost once again. Now, having overcome Kilmarnock, Hamilton and Dundee, Rangers can’t afford to slip-up with their silverware ambitions on the line. “That’s what has set us back at times during the season,” he said. “I said a few weeks ago that it feels like we take three, four, five steps forward then take a huge bump or setback. “For us to get better and grow, we need to go on longer runs of being consistent. I think the players are starting to understand that, in terms of their mentality and approach. “They realise every game is a different challenge and you have to show every opposition the same level of respect. “That will certainly be the case on Sunday. If they want go to four on the spin, they will have to adapt their thinking and mentality to know this is not going to be an easy game.”