Gers star vows: We’ll behave boss
Defender says Stevie G can trust players
RANGERS star Gareth McAuley last night told boss Steven Gerrard he can trust his players to stay out of trouble.
The defender urged team-mate Alfredo Morelos – sent off against Aberdeen on Wednesday night – to screw the nut for the good of the team. But he insisted Gerrard, who was
GARETH McAULEY has refused to point an accusing finger at Rangers bad boy Alfredo Morelos.
But the Northern Irishman has warned the Colombian and the rest of the Ibrox sinners they are letting their team-mates down when they lose control.
McAuley was just a few yards away on Wednesday night when Morelos lost the plot again.
Already on a booking, the striker’s mindless decision to thrust a hand into the face of Aberdeen midfielder Graeme Shinnie led to an eighth Gers red card of the campaign.
Morelos’ act of madness lessened his team’s chances of hauling Aberdeen back from their 1-0 lead and the subsequent defeat saw Rangers lose their cherished place at the top of the Premiership.
The Ibrox top scorer is now suspended for the next two matches against Dundee and Hamilton Accies.
And in a triple whammy, Morelos’ actions left colleagues again in the lurch and covering more ground.
Rangers have now played over 300 minutes this term without a full compliment of players on the pitch.
Boss Steven Gerrard has warned the squad of the damage that could do to their title aspirations in the long term with fatigue and injury-risk heightened.
McAuley, who had his 39th birthday spoiled by the Dons, was at pains not to single out Morelos as he pointed out the hot-headed hitman has also been crucial in the winning of games throughout his Ibrox career.
But the centre-half has urged the squad to listen to their manager’s pleas about discipline and stop letting their team-mates down.
McAuley said: “People play on the edge, you have to play on the edge to be a winner.
“But you also have a responsibility to your team-mates to have some self control.
“If you’re in a situation when you are on a yellow card, you need to make sure you stay on the pitch for your team-mates.
“We are not pointing fingers or anything like that. Morelos plays on the edge and has won us games before but it made it tougher against Aberdeen when he went off.
“We now lose him for a couple of games and that is the biggest disappointment.”
The loss of Morelos, who has netted 17 times this season, for a short spell added to the painful blow of the Dons loss.
Having fought through the early weeks of the campaign to get to top spot in the table with a win over Hearts last Sunday, Rangers let the position slip just four days later.
Gerrard felt there was nothing he could take from an abject show and McAuley insisted it had nothing to do with additional pressures and expectation having gone into the game as league leaders.
The former West Brom stopper said: “We were sitting in the dressing room looking at ourselves after the game.
“Our standards dropped individually and as a team. That’s why we lost the game.
“It was the first time in a long time the club had been top of the league.
“We didn’t talk about that before the game. The focus was only on winning. We knew what Aberdeen were going to do and they did it very well.
“They won a lot of free-kicks in the first half, put a lot of balls into the box and scored off one of them. We were disappointed we didn’t defend that better. That’s why we’re looking at our own performance as our downfall.”
Rangers’ defeat also proved that business has to be taken care of on a match-bymatch basis.
Having taken top spot in the table, Light Blues fans were already excitedly looking forward to the showdown against Celtic at the end of the month and the chance to really prove their title credentials.
However, the loss to the Reds and Celtic’s shipping of two points at Motherwell at the same time showed supporters that no opponent can be taken lightly through a gruelling run of fixtures before the winter break.
McAuley backed up that theory as he said: “From what I’ve seen so far, it’s a really competitive league. It’s a tough league, it’s tight. We know we have work to do.
“We’ll get back on the training pitch and hopefully put it right against Dundee on Sunday.”
Despite the disappointment of midweek, McAuley has instantly turned his thoughts to regaining top spot quickly.
With new league leaders Kilmarnock facing a daunting trip to tackle champions Celtic tomorrow, the door may well be opened for the Light Blues to jump straight back to the summit at Dens Park the following day. McAuley said: “Second is nowhere at this club. So we need to make sure we win on Sunday and go forward. Everyone here has the desire to challenge.”
Morelos has won us games but his red made it tough against Dons GARETH McAULEY