Ibrox boss wants fringe men to seize their opportunities

STEVEN GERRARD last night insisted that ‘one or two’ places remain up for grabs as he prepares to put a team together for his first cup final as Rangers manager.

The Ibrox side face Celtic in the Betfred Cup showdown next Sunday — and Gerrard admits that the two intervening league fixtures against Hearts and Aberdeen will provide an opportunity for players to earn a jersey at Hampden.

Even after a hard-fought Europa League battle against Feyenoord in midweek, Gerrard admits he is reluctant to change his starting XI too much for today’s visit of Hearts.

But having taken Sheyi Ojo off in Rotterdam after an ineffectual hour, it’s likely he will consider a change to his wide forward berth.

‘At times, I’ve thought I knew my best XI,’ mused Gerrard. ‘But things change in football, sometimes people grasp an opportunity. Players surprise you and then others don’t take their chance by not doing themselves justice. So there’s a bit of that going on in one or two situations within the team.

‘What I would say is a lot of players are very consistent at the moment, which means I’m finding it hard to get certain people in. So work that out.

‘You’ve always got places to lose at a club of this size. The players have to grab a shirt. If you’re complacent at Rangers, there will always be someone ready to step in.

‘I’m not going to just forget someone off the back of a bad performance, a mistake or a little barren spell.

‘Everyone is human. I have to remember what people have given me over the course of 18 months.

‘But the XI is certainly not set for between now and the end of the season. So everyone should have hope and belief that they’ll get an opportunity.

‘No one can knock on my door and say I haven’t given them a chance. Maybe one or two could say they need more game time. I get that.

‘But it’s not just given to you — have to earn it every day at Rangers. That’s the way it is.

‘I don’t want to make wholesale changes but it’s impossible to play the same XI all through the card, especially over the course of 60 games, which we are hoping to play.’

Knocked out at the semi-final stage of last season’s League Cup by Aberdeen, the run to next week’s final is not the only piece of measurable improvement by Rangers.

The point gained in the Netherlands in midweek has left Rangers top of the Europa League’s Group G with just one game to play. Draw with Young

Boys in the final fixture at Ibrox and qualification for the last 32 of the competition will be secure.

Ask Gerrard to pinpoint exactly what has made Rangers better this season and he refuses to name names.

Yes, the evolution of Alfredo Morelos into a focused and reliable centre-forward has been key, while the consistency of midfielder Ryan Jack in domestic and European games has gone up a level this term.

Gerrard could also laud his own recruitment work in deepening a squad that couldn’t quite keep pace with Celtic beyond last season’s winter break.

But it’s the fine details, conceived and brought into being through repetition at the training ground that Gerrard believes his team has truly evolved.

Physically, Gerrard sees a stronger, more durable set of players in front of him and a near empty treatment room backs up his opinion.

‘The players we have available now are more robust. That’s a positive,’ he noted.

‘I’ve got more confidence in making changes, even though I want to be subtle about it.

‘I don’t want to be making five or six changes from game to game because it can affect your rhythm but the squad is certainly stronger than last year, there’s more options.

‘That’s down to conditioning. The gym work we’re doing and players looking after themselves, doing the right things in terms of rest, diet.

‘There’s a lot of factors that you need to be professional about to make sure your recovery is good, so that you can go again.

‘The players have realised that to avoid silly, little injuries they have to do everything they can.

‘The environment, from what I’m told, is much more professional than it was.’

Going into today’s game against Hearts the squad has a near clean bill of health, with Jermain Defoe in contention after missing Feyenoord with a groin strain and winger Jordan Jones also back on the fringes after a long-term absence with a self-inflicted injury.

Which brings us neatly to another key improvement.

Mentally, Gerrard has stressed the need for better discipline and his players have largely responded, with Jones’ lunge at Celtic’s Moritz Bauer in the dying minutes of a 2-0 Old Firm defeat a rare transgression.

‘Discipline is just as important, it is so key,’ he added. ‘We were certainly stung by suspensions on too many occasions last year.

‘The level of players we were getting suspended was obviously going to have an effect on our results and it did.’