Huge win for Rangers ‘has been coming’ all season says Gerrard
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard believes his team’s form so far this season meant the kind of rout they inflicted upon Hamilton was due to happen sooner rather than later.
G err a rd’ s side extended their unbeaten start to the 2020 -21 campaign to 20 games in all competitions with the 8- 0 drubbing of bottom of the table Acci es. It’ s the first time Rangers have scored eight goals in a topflight match since an 8-1 win at Kilmarnock in 1981.
Joe Aribo,Ke mar Roofe and James Ta vernier all scored twice with goals from Scott Arfield and Brandon Barker contributing to a result which sees Rangers go into the international break with a nine-point lead over Celtic at the top of the Premiership, having played two games more than the defending champions. "It has been coming, we have threatened to do that and get a really big win,” said Gerrard. “But the pleasing thing today was that we were very clinical. We suffocated Hamilton from start to finish, we stayed on them and never let them off the hook.
"We never took our foot off the gas and you could see the quality throughout the squad. I made five changes today, brought five sub son and it didn’t affect our level of performance. That is the most pleasing thing for me.
“Look, we are not at the stage yet where we can play with ego in any game or at any stage. We are trying to become a winning team, a successful team. We are in no position to disrespect any opponent or any team. It is about Rangers trying to be as strong for as long as we can and be as consistent as we can.
“It was a very impressive performance, a strong win and another clean sheet. The thing that pleased me the most was the standards that we maintained from star t to finish.
"I have been onto these players, probably onto them too much, about keep - ing standards no matter what stage the game is at. It pleased meat half-time that we carried on looking to score goals and win even more emphatically.”
As a reference point for the change of mentality Steven Gerrard has instilled in Rangers since the season b egan, this was perhaps the clearest indicator yet of why he now has a team capable of going the distance in the title race.
A focused and merciless 8-0 demolition of Hamilton Accieswa sin the sharpest possible contrast to the last time these sides met at Ibrox back in March.
On that evening, animplod ing campaign reached a low point for G err a rd and Rangers when they lost 1-0 amid increasing scrutiny and scepticism of their ability to en dC etic’ s unprecedented dominance of Scottish football.
Eight months on, there can be few who still doubt G err a rd has built a squad now fully equipped to finally tilt the balance of power back in Rangers’ favour. Doubles from Joe Aribo, Kemar Roofe and James Ta vernier along with single strikes by Scott Ar field and Brandon Barker gave G err a rd the biggest win so far of his two-and-ahalf year tenure as his team signed off ahead of the international break with a ninepoint lead at the top of the Premiership.
Successful rotation of G err a rd’ s squad has been a key factor in Rangers’ impress ive progress and momentum this season.
He made five changes to his starting line-up here as he looked to ensure freshness and energy following the exertions of the3-3Eu
ro pa League draw against Benfica in Lisbon on Thursday.
Jon Mclaughlin replaced A ll anMc greg or in goal, the Scotland squad man making his first appearance since October 4. Fi lip He land er, culpable for two of the goals conceded at the Stadium of Light, dropped to the bench as Leon Balogun stepped into the back four.
Ar field came into midfield, while the front three was significantly shuffled with the inclusions of Roofe and Jermain Defoe.
Glen Kamara and Alfredo Morelos were both among the substitutes, while 35- yearold Steven Davis – outstanding against Benfica – missed out altogether, perhaps with a nod towards the Northern Ireland captain’s assignment in Belfast on Thursday when he will lead his country in their Euro 2020 play-off final against Slovakia.
It duly proved to be another seamless transition from European to domestic duty for Rangers.
Full of intent from the start, they effectively ended this as a contest with a threegoal blitz in a four-minute spell early in the first half which left Hamilton reeling.
The signs were ominous for the visitors from as early as the second minute when a fine reaction save from Ryan Fulton was required to turn over Connor Goldson’s effort from a Borna Barisic corner.
As they had been against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park seven days earlier, Rangers were happy to take a more direct approach at times as they looked to make an early breakthrough against Accies’ ultra-defensive set-up.
An excellent through ball from inside his own half from Gold son found Ryan Kent inside the Hamilton penalty area but the winger’ s first touch let him down and he was unable to test Fulton with a clean strike.
It was one-way traffic, although when th e inevitable opener arrived in the 16 th
minute the visitors were the architects of their own downfall.
An almost comic al mixup between defenders Ben Stirling and Hake em Od offin was pounced upon by Defoe whose clever reverse pass set Kent racing clear on the left. His cut back picked out Ar field who calmly steered home a simple finish from around 12 yards.
Two minutes later, Rangers doubled their lead. It was yet another assist from Tavernier as the right-back’ s cross was met by a precise header from Roof e to steer the ball beyond the wrongfooted Fulton.
There was no indication of Rangers taking their foot off the pedal and it was 3-0 a minute later.
Good build-up play from Kent and Arfield created the opening for A rib ow hose shot nicked off both Scott M cM ann and Brian East on on its way past Fulton.
This was now a major opportunity for Rangers to enhance their goal difference and, after Kent forced a save from Fulton and Roofe saw a shot blocked by Odoffin, they added their fourth nine minutes before half-time
Another superb cross from Tavernier was gathered by Roof ea nd shuttled back into the path of A rib ow ho was again aided by a deflec - tion, this time off Will Collar, as his shot looped overFulton into the net.
Gerrard made two changes at the start of the second half, Calvin Bassey replacing Barisic while there was a debut for Bongani Zungu as he took over from Ryan Jack.
The South African midfi elder made a positive first impression, keeping it neat and simple in the middle of the park and helping Rangers maintain their attacking momentum.
The rout continued with a Roof et a p-in after a Defoe shot hit a post in the 54 th minute, then substitute Brandon Barker made it 6-0 shortly after his arrival with a smart finish after a dynamic Bassey surge down the left.
It was then Ta vernier’ s turn to get in on the act as the captain took his impressive goal tally for the season to 12.
His first came from the spot, after O do ff in fouled Defoe, before he smashed in the eighth from close range after a Roofe shot was saved. It was remarkable that Defoe was not among the scorers, although he hit a post again in the closing stages.