I won’t need to do a team talk tonight. Progres did that for me 12 months ago
SAYS STEVEN GERRARD
MERSEYSIDE was not immune to the shockwaves emanating from Luxembourg.
Sitting at home on July 4 last year, Steven Gerrard’s eyes were widened in disbelief by the scoreline his television screen was relaying. Progres Niederkorn 2 Rangers 0.
‘I remember it coming across the yellow bar on Sky Sports News,’ Gerrard recalled yesterday. ‘You were like: “Woah, that’s not going to go down well”.
‘I certainly don’t want to have that surprise on Thursday night at quarter to ten, certainly not.’
Twelve months on from the debacle that defined Pedro Caixinha’s hapless tenure, Gerrard will make his competitive managerial debut by leading Rangers back into the Europa League first qualifying round.
A sell-out crowd will be drawn to Ibrox by the fresh optimism for the future that his appointment has generated. Even so, Gerrard insists the warning provided by the recent past is one his players cannot ignore.
Like Progres last year, FK Shkupi of Macedonia finished fourth in their domestic league to earn continental qualification. Gerrard is utterly determined to make sure that is where the similarities end.
‘I have got every confidence and belief in the players and the team that they can go out and do the job,’ he stated.
‘The team talk is already done, someone did that for me 12 months ago. I am not nervous or scared. I can’t wait to walk out there and get the game going and the lads are really ready for it.
‘I hope (what happened against Progres) is in the back of their mind and I hope they are determined — they have to be. A club this size shouldn’t lose games of football like that. We have to show this team respect and show the competition respect.
‘There are no gimmes, no walkovers. We will approach the game right and show the level of intensity and desire that we have done in the friendly games. If we do, I’m sure we won’t have a problem.
‘We are not good enough at the moment to take our foot off the gas or be complacent or be enjoying ourselves.
‘We have tonnes of work to do, tonnes of improvement before we can be relaxed and pick and choose when we turn up. I don’t expect any complacency and if I see it in any individuals, I won’t be happy.’
What would be considered a success in this competition is not something Gerrard is willing to yet contemplate. Four ties would have to be negotiated if this revamped squad, with nine new signings already made, were to reach the group stage.
‘Other people will judge it,’ insisted the 38-year-old. ‘My job is to get us through to the next round and that is my priority at the moment.
‘We are not sure who we are going to be facing if we progress further down the competition, so there is no point putting any targets on it. We will take it one stage at a time.
‘I think that was probably part of the problem last year, being drawn against the team from Luxembourg and thinking: “Who have we got in the next round and what is happening there?”. All of a sudden, bang. There you go. There is the slap in the face for you.’
The scale of Gerrard’s overhaul means there might be as few as three survivors from the Luxembourg fiasco in tonight’s starting line-up. One assured of a place is James Tavernier.
The right-back was last week named as Gerrard’s captain, with the manager resisting any temptation to look to those he has recruited over the past two months.
‘When you select a captain, you look at all kinds of different aspects,’ said Gerrard, who wore the Liverpool armband for more than a decade.
‘The first one is obviously the player. Is he capable of finding the consistency to handle playing well every week for Rangers?
‘I think James is certainly one who has come out with credit in terms of the tough few years here.
‘Every time I have watched him, he has been Rangers’ stand-out performer and watching him in the last few weeks, he ticks every box.
‘He’s very well-liked and respected within the dressing room. He wants to be the captain, he wants that pressure.
‘He made it very clear to me in my opening chat with him that he wanted to stay at Rangers, his feelings and his love for the club, and how much he was craving winning some trophies here.
‘That’s exactly what I’m feeling, so we’ll work together and try to build on that relationship and that partnership.
‘I think it was important the captain had been around and been through the highs and the lows. I didn’t want to select someone who was pretty new.’
Inevitably, so much of the attention this evening will focus upon Gerrard himself. Having almost filled Ibrox for a friendly against Bury last Friday evening — when Belgium were locking horns with Brazil — he is eager to get his tenure under way for real in front of a 50,000 crowd.
‘I can’t wait,’ he smiled. ‘These fans are incredible.
‘There will be no prouder man than me tomorrow.’