Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GERRARD RUES LACK OF GERS CUTTING EDGE
STEVEN Gerrard watched Rangers move into the next round of the Europa League but warned his shot-shy strikers to sharpen up fast.
It was a relatively comfortably night for the Light Blues in the heat of Skopje’s national arena, although keeper Allan Mcgregor saved their blushes near the end with a save that preserved their clean sheet. Rangers dominated possession but passed up several gilt-edged chances to win the game, with Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos sinner-in-chief.
They will now go on to play FC Osijek or Petroclub of
Moldova, who meet tomorrow in Croatia with the tie evenly balanced at
1-1 from the first leg.
Gerrard said: “The thing that is smacking me in the face right now is our quality in the final third. We need to improve sharpish. We created some chances but we are not looking sharp enough in front of goal, although I’m confident that will come.
“However, it was a very professional performance. I was happy with the shape, I was happy with a lot of things about our game out of possession and I thought we managed the game well. “Apart from one chance at the death, which was an excellent opportunity for them, I thought we were pretty solid and clean in terms of out of possession. In possession, in the first 30 minutes we were nowhere near good enough at retaining the ball. We kept giving it back, winning it back, giving it back.
“You can’t do that away in Europe, you have got to hide the ball for long periods in a game and enjoy being on the ball.”
Meanwhile, Gerrard has handed Rangers a fitness boost by declaring Scott Arfield (inset) will be available for the first leg of the second qualifying tie. He said: “Scott has only a small knee injury and he was back running today.”