Gerrard knows what is needed at Livingston
Steven Gerrard is under no illusions about the challenge facing his side today. Rangers are still looking for their first away league victory under the former Liverpool player, and that won’t be easy on Livingston’s plastic pitch. It’s a strange statistic that shows both halves of the Old Firm without a win on the road in the Premiership this season. Gerrard accepts that while he’ll often get plaudits for draws in Europe – like the one in Villarreal 10 days ago – that rarely happens in domestic football. He said: “It’s a different format in Europe because a draw, more often than not, can be a very positive result for you – especially, if you’ve done your job well enough at home. “League fixtures are completely different, especially when you are Rangers. There’s more pressure and expectation to go and take maximum points. “We are well aware that going to Livingston, anything other than three points will be seen as a negative result for us. “It’s a tough game. They are flying high, so we’ll go there with a lot of respect. “But there’s no getting away from it. As a Rangers manager, you have to go there to try and take maximum points.” The 38-year-old knows the home side often see the visit of Rangers or Celtic as their biggest challenge of the season. He went on: “Teams do, and try and nullify you. This is what teams are trying to do against the likes of ourselves and Celtic. “They do anything they can, within their powers, to try and take points away from us. We have to accept that. That’s how it is. “Things also happen within games that sometimes you can’t control. “For example, a red card away at Aberdeen, or at Motherwell, all of a sudden none of your defenders realise you have to head a ball in the last kick of the game. “They are the reasons you don’t take maximum points in those two fixtures. “Teams have different styles and way of going about it. “Livingston will be slightly different to Motherwell and Aberdeen, but we have to go there and make sure we try to perform and do everything we can to take maximum points.” Everyone knows what to expect from Livingston. They make no secret of being direct and combative. Gerrard continued: “They don’t have any individual stand-out performers. “I don’t mean that disrespectfully. They all buy into the team ethic of working hard and trying to get onto second balls. “We are aware they go direct at times into the front two. They play a 3-5-2 formation and try to win second balls and then decide to play when they get closer to your box. “They also get every single thing they possibly can out of set pieces. “They use long throws and they have variation within the set plays, which is very inventive. “They’ve got a lot of strengths. They are obviously a lot more used to the surface than us, although we have handled ourselves very well on artificial surfaces this season.” This will be Gerrard’s first look at Livingston’s plastic pitch. He’s not a fan of them and admits it could influence his team selection. He said: “The only decisions to make is to protect people if they need protecting in terms of knees and stuff. “I’ll pick a team I think is capable of going there and getting a win. But I’ll respect people’s bodies when I’m making decisions. “I played on plastic pitches in the MLS. “Look, I know the financial situation in Scotland and England is different. “We have to respect that some teams benefit from having them. But ask any player or manager to pick a pitch, and it would be grass.”