Gerrard hit by a reality check
He craves a creative spark but fringe players are not the answer Amid the tinkering, he has yet to identify his strongest line-up
AS the quintessential 21st century footballer, it was widely assumed that Steven Gerrard’s first steps in management would reflect the sanitised environment to which he had grown so accustomed.
Fearful of offending the delicate sensitivities of players whose annual wages would dwarf the GDP of a small country, the public utterances of the modern-day dugout dwellers are largely bland and banal.
For those tasked with extracting eye-catching quotes from the game’s personalities, dental pliers as opposed to a notebook would often be a better choice as a tool of the trade.
Gerrard, thankfully, is not one to gild the lily or speak in riddles. From the outset of his tenure at Rangers, there’s been an almost old-school quality to him. If he thinks his players haven’t done their jobs right, he will make no attempt to disguise his dismay at that. And if they don’t like it? Tough.
Rarely has this willingness to publicly flay his players been more evident than in the aftermath of a hugely frustrating draw at Dens Park on Sunday.
Describing their decisionmaking against ten-man Dundee as ‘stupid’, Gerrard (right) claimed none of his charges were playing with ‘character and personality’ at the moment, while insisting that none of the fringe players who had been pressing for a starting place need waste their time knocking his door again.
‘People knock on your door, people shake their head when they’re not in the team, people are disappointed,’ he said afterwards. ‘That’s fine, that’s football. But when you are given your chance, back it up, go and perform, give me a problem or a headache.
‘I think it’s pretty easy, pretty straightforward for me now. I know the players I can trust — and it’s a reality check that we’re not good enough to make five or six changes. ‘It was not good enough. We didn’t look like a Rangers team, individually we didn’t look like Rangers players. We kept on making stupid decisions, we never really carried out the game plan that we worked on for the last couple of games. ‘It should make my job easier going forward because there should be less knocks at the door. If players are honest with themselves and watch that performance back, I don’t think they’ve got a leg to stand on. ‘But I welcome the knocks because I’ve got all the evidence and the ammunition to maybe show them why they’re not in the team in the future.’ Not for the first time, it was strong stuff. Exactly the kind of phraseology more experienced operators than the former Liverpool skipper tend to body-swerve, in fact. But you’d be hard pressed to take issue with its accuracy. Because what Rangers did after the 19th-minute dismissal of Nathan Ralph was the very definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. With a reshaped Dundee side happy to surrender the flanks, Rangers seemed to convince themselves that the only way to turn their possession into a goal was with a cross ball. First Eros Grezda and Daniel Candeias tried and failed. Then Ryan Kent was redeployed out wide with the same end result. Glenn Middleton’s introduction at the break was just more of the same. On the rare occasion anyone in light blue got to the line and got their foot around the ball, Jack Hamilton, the Dundee goalkeeper, Andy Boyle or Genseric Kusunga, the home side’s imperious central defenders, mopped everything up with consummate ease.
For all the quality of the delivery to 6ft 4in Kyle Lafferty was abysmal, there was at least a reason why Rangers evidently felt this was their best chance of winning the game.
Even allowing for the absence through suspension of Scott Arfield, a lack of creativity in midfield is now a major issue for the Ibrox boss.
Forced to play with their backs to the wall, as they have often had to do in Europe, Gerrard’s side has the pace to go long and direct.
BuT when faced with a forest of bodies that’s sitting deep, they badly lack guile. That was evident as ten-man Aberdeen retreated to defend their lead at Ibrox last Wednesday and again as Dundee battened down the hatches.
Identifying the problem is one thing. Doing something about it is another matter, of course.
Aside from goalscorers, traditional No10s tend to be the most expensive players to recruit. January is a notoriously difficult window for buying clubs in any event and Rangers’ bargaining position won’t be helped by the fact their pressing need is well known to the market.
Liverpool’s Dominic Solanke is a name that refuses to go away, although the England under-21 player’s reputation is that of a main striker as opposed to a creator. The same applies to Gillingham striker Tom Eaves, who Rangers were again linked with yesterday.
But if Gerrard’s paymasters are serious about taking the title from Celtic this season, the purse strings will simply have to be loosened to land the spark in the final third that’s presently so conspicuous by its absence.
Welcoming offers for Alfredo Morelos in order to fund the acquisition of such a creative influence is a non-starter.
The Colombian’s disciplinary issues have been well documented of late. He’s seen red three times this season (one of which was rescinded) and yellow ten times outwith those matches.
But his ability to hold the ball up and ruffle defenders’ feathers, not to mention the 17 goals he’s already scored, distinguishes him as his side’s most important player. For all his sporadic moments of quality, Lafferty, frankly, is a pale imitation of his former self, while umar Sadiq is simply not up to the task.
The Northern Irish international tried his best against Jim McIntyre’s side and was forced to feed on scraps. But he, together with Joe Worrall, Kent, Andy Halliday, Jordan Rossiter and Grezda, namely those who were brought into the side, left the manager deeply unimpressed and would be ill-advised to waste their time knocking his door any time soon.
In so caustically rebuking his fringe players, Gerrard’s views on the true quality of his squad were laid bare. If his first 11 are fit and available, they are capable of getting the better of most teams in the country, perhaps even pushing Celtic all the way. Scratch beneath the surface, though, and they are vulnerable.
Identifying what he believes to be his strongest hand ahead of Thursday’s game in Austria against Rapid Vienna, the first of six the Ibrox men face in 17 days, would be a starting point for the Ibrox manager.
Sunday’s game was Rangers’
32nd of the season. To date, Gerrard has named the same starting line-up just once, making an average of 3.4 changes per game.
Amid the blizzard of fixtures that qualification for the Europa League group stage has brought, to some extent, that’s perfectly understandable.
But playing four separate central-defensive partnerships over the past seven games isn’t good for business. So resolute in the home draw with Villarreal, the combined displays of Worrall and Connor Goldson against the Dark Blues suggested the magic formula has yet to be found.
Not only were both men at fault as Kenny Miller, 39 years young on December 23, outpaced and out-fought them as Dundee hit the front, their unwillingness to step forward and take responsibility by becoming an extra man in the final third was apparent.
Such shortcomings may have escaped the notice of a travelling support more dismayed at five dropped points since their side surged to the top of the Premiership table at Tynecastle just seven days previously.
But Gerrard is certainly acutely aware of such minor details. And he doesn’t mind who knows it.