RAPID BOSS PITCHES A FIT
RAPID VIENNA boss Dietmar Kuhbauer has told Rangers to prepare for playing on an abysmal pitch on Thursday as he blasted his players and the surface ahead of the showdown with the Scots.
The Austrians face Steven Gerrard’s men this week in a do-or-die Europa League clash.
But despite Rangers’ recent slump they would have been encouraged by just how bad Rapid were last night as they laboured to a home goalless draw with Sturm Graz.
They managed just one shot on target and failed to win a single corner at home as they showed how extremely limited they are in an attacking sense.
But they were hardly helped by an atrocious pitch at the Allianz Stadium.
An entire goalmouth has been relaid and the ball bobbled about leading to misplaced passes, crosses being shanked out of play and shots miscued.
The result saw Rapid stay in eighth place in the Austrian Bundesliga – 25 points behind Celtic’s Europa League rivals Red Bull Salzburg after just 17 league games.
Kuhbauer knows they will have to improve against the Ibrox side and said: “At this level of football we should not be discussing the state of the pitch but we are.
“Magic football is not possible on it so mistakes happen that make the players look foolish.
“There’s no pitch wizard in place who is going to be able to change it in time for the game against Rangers so we will just have to get on with it.
“But yes, the pitch is a major disadvantage.
“I’m still disappointed with the performance. We need to be much better against Rangers. We created very little. I see it as two points lost.
It’s hard to believe Rapid top the group on last night’s evidence where they were fortunate to escape with a point after Sturm Graz hit the post.
Mert Mulder had their only shot on target cleared off the line. It would have been a travesty had they won with midfield duo Christoph Knasmullner and Manuel Martic awful.
Rapid also suffered an injury blow with defender Mario Sonnleitner limping off and he’s a doubt for Thursday’s clash. BY ALAN MARSHALL STEVEN GERRARD has lost count of the players who have rapped at his door and asked for a chance to star in his team.
As of yesterday many of those players can look forward to replacing sore knuckles with splinters on their backside – as they will be benched for the foreseeable future.
Gerrard pulled no punches after the draw against 10-man Dundee at Dens Park that denied them the chance to go level on points with Premiership leaders Celtic.
On the back of a 1-0 loss to Aberdeen and as a result of suspensions to key men, Gerrard made six changes to his starting line-up.
In came Joe Worrall, Kyle Lafferty, Andy Halliday, Eros Grezda, Ryan Kent and Jordan Rossiter.
But the level of performance he received from fringe players left him baffled – and confirmed in his mind that straying too far from his preferred line-up is something he cannot afford to do if this is how he’s rewarded.
Gerrard said: “It won’t happen again. People knock on the door. People shake their head when they’re not in the team.
“People are disappointed but that’s fine, that’s football. But when you are given a chance, go and back it up, go and perform. Give me a problem and a headache.
“It should make my job a lot easier moving forward because there will be less knocks at the door because if players are honest with themselves and watch that performance back, I don’t think they have a leg to stand on.
“But I welcome the knocks because I have all the evidence and ammunition to show them why they are not in the team.”
Hapless defending let in 38-year-old Kenny Miller to net his fourth goal in six games from Dundee.
And despite Halliday’s fine free-kick goal when Dundee were reduced to 10 men following a red card for Nathan Ralph, Rangers failed or were incapable of kicking on.
Having lost at home to Aberdeen and failed to win at Dens Park for the third game in a row, Gerrard now faces a massive task to lift his players for a Euro challenge.
They head to Austria later this week to take on Rapid Vienna in a mustwin Europa league clash. The