Gerrard:G Well, what are you gonna do about it?
Steven Gerrard is facing the biggest week of his fledgling managerial career.
The Rangers boss is fighting on three fronts over the next seven days.
That’s never easy for any club, but the 38- year- old has a simple solution to the first task awaiting his men.
Rangers travel to Hamilton Accies today as they look to record their first away victory of the season.
Gerrard admits he doesn’t know why they haven’t yet collected three points on the road.
The last defeat away from Ibrox – at Livingston – is one that clearly rankles with the former England captain.
And he’s determined that his players will be reminded of that when they settle down to pull on the light blue kit.
He said: “I’ll just put a sign up saying, ‘Livingston 1 Rangers 0 – What are you gonna do about it?’.
“If you turn up and play the same way, the same will happen. It’ll be an easy team talk.
“The players have two options. Go and empty it, do the basics and fight for the shirt and the fans.
“Or put in a Livingston performance, and let everyone talk about your away form for a bit longer.
“I don’t know why we’ve had this record. “Away form wasn’t a problem against Aberdeen in the first game. It wasn’t a problem at Motherwell, it hasn’t been a problem throughout Europe and it wasn’t a problem at Kilmarnock on an artificial surface.
“That’s why I don’t know – they’ve shown that they’re capable. I expect it to be put right today.”
After this afternoon’s game with Accies, Rangers face Spartak Moscow at home in the Europa League on Thursday and the Betfred Cup semi-final against Aberdeen next Sunday.
Gerrard may be asking his players what they’re going to do about the Premiership away form, but he also has a few questions to answer himself.
A big one involves how he will prepare for playing Aberdeen at Hampden without the suspended Alfredo Morelos and the ineligible Kyle Lafferty.
With Umar Sadiq having been unable to get near the Rangers’ first team, they appear to have no natural striker available to line up against the Dons.
It’s a real headscratcher, but Gerrard claims to have a strategy to get round the problem. He said: “I have a plan in my mind.
“I’m not sure whether that will come out in the next couple of fixtures; we’ll have to wait and see.
“It’s something I had on my mind since I knew it was going to be happening.”
Gerrard maintains there won’t a lot of tinkering with his team to cope with three games in a week.
He went on: “There won’t be major squad rotation because every game is just as important as the other.
“People will probably think Moscow and the semi- final are the two most important of the next three, but they’re not.
“For me, Hamilton is very important.
“If I say to someone, ‘Just sit out this Moscow game to prepare for the semi,’ can you imagine the look I’d get?
“That’s a good thing. I want players who want to play every game.
“The players have performed terrifically well in the majority of the games to get us where we are today, but they’ve achieved nothing yet.
“What they have done is reward themselves with some really good fixtures to look forward to. As a player, I’d be really relishing them.
“Playing big games isn’t as stressful as when you’re watching it on TV in the house.
“Watching players walking out in Europe or semi-finals and you’re sitting in the house with a cup of tea? I’d much rather be walking out in front of the audience and performing on these stages.”
Gerrard’s team currently features three loan players – Ryan Kent, Joe Worral and Ovie Ejaria – who are 21 or younger.
The Rangers manager watched the Under-21 international between Scotland and England at Easter Road last Tuesday night.
Will he try to persuade more young stars from England to have a spell at Ibrox?
He said: “Possibly, I’m not going to lie to you. “I went to the game because it’s a juicy fixture.
“Two of my players were playing for Scotland as well obviously, Ross Mccrorie and Glenn Middleton, who I wanted to watch closely.
“But I wanted to have a look at what was about.
“A lot of players on show are at clubs but maybe not satisfied with the amount of games they’re playing
“‘I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t there to see the talent.”