KEEP YOUR COOL

Gerrard calls on stars to cope at ‘feisty’ Pittodrie

STEVEN GERRARD will tonight urge his players to remain calm within a redhot Pittodrie atmosphere and pass one of the biggest tests of their vastly improved disciplinary record.

The 39-year-old expects Rangers to fully embrace the physical challenge presented by Aberdeen this evening, believing the intensity of the fixture means there is no chance of minds wandering to Sunday’s Betfred Cup final against Celtic.

Gerrard, though, will also remind his team of the need to stay on the right side of the line given the spate of cards that marked the fixture last season.

Alfredo Morelos was sent off in each of the Ibrox outfit’s previous two Premiership visits to the north east, with opposing centre-back Scott McKenna telling Sportsmail today that the Dons went out of their way to provoke the Colombian striker.

A much-changed Morelos has exemplified the transformation in Rangers’ crime count — leaving Jordan Jones’ red card against Celtic as the solitary dismissal suffered by Gerrard’s side this term after hitting double figures in the previous campaign. Asked if he expected a feisty encounter

at Pittodrie, the Ibrox boss said: ‘Feisty’s fine. It’s fine for both sets of players. It does have a derby feel to it and there is a rivalry. ‘We are fine with feisty and physicality and competing. That’s allowed. My players just have to channel it in the right way and make sure we keep 11 men on the pitch. ‘That’s the message in any game of football. The players have certainly improved so far but there is a lot of football to be played. ‘So that will be the message again — compete, be physical and be aggressive, but do it in the right way.’ Gerrard has banned talk of the final until after full-time tonight and feels there is a positive in having such a testing fixture ahead of that huge Hampden encounter. ‘It’ll certainly help the players in terms of the week,’ he said. ‘It’s good to have a focus and a tough challenge in front of us in Aberdeen. ‘My experience of finals is that sometimes you can wait too long and have too much time on your hands. So, yeah, it is what it is. The fixture list is what it is. ‘We have known all along that if we were to reach the final it would fall after this fixture. ‘So the important thing for the players is to really live in the now. ‘All you control is your performance in Aberdeen.’