GERRARD’S WINTER OF DISCONTENT
BRUTALLY honest in post-match reflections, Steven Gerrard’s concerns about the form of his Rangers side have been obvious since the end of the winter break. Eight games have been played. While two Scottish Cup wins have allowed advancement to the quarter-finals, leaking eight points in six Premiership fixtures has left their title hopes hanging by a thread. Here, Sportsmail takes a look back at Gerrard’s own words to assess the difficulties that culminated in Wednesday night’s hugely damaging defeat in Ayrshire.
RANGERS 2-0 STRANRAER January 17, Scottish Cup
‘I’m pleased about the clean sheet and the fifth win on the spin. Outside of that, I feel pretty flat. For large periods of the game, I was quite bored watching it. ‘Our fans came tonight really excited and hoping the players could put a show on and entertain them over the course of 90 minutes. Unfortunately we never delivered that.’
RANGERS 1-0 ST MIRREN January 22, Premiership
‘It gets us closer to where we want to be, six wins on the spin. So I’m positive. I’m happy. I understand some of the frustration around the fans, and the players, not scoring three or four. ‘Over the course of the season, it’s not going to be perfect in every game, we’re still trying to find top gear. We could have killed the game off, but it wasn’t to be.’
HEARTS 2-1 RANGERS January 26, Premiership
‘Before today’s game, Celtic were waiting for us to blink. Today we’ve blinked. Big time. ‘I’m not sure there will be too many blinks from now on. So we need to try to avoid that level of performance from now until the end of the season — or we might not even be in a title race. Listen, if
you want to ask questions about bottle towards me and my players, feel free. I would totally understand it right now.’
RANGERS 2-0 ROSS COUNTY January 29, Premiership
‘It’s a positive performance, a lot better than the weekend. The players have listened over the last couple of days and I think we got a reaction in a lot of areas. ‘I still think we can go through the gears and improve, get more into our rhythm. We are back on the horse. Hopefully, it’s the start of a big run.’
RANGERS 0-0 ABERDEEN February 1, Premiership
‘As a whole, there wasn’t too much wrong with the performance. We threw everything we had at it. ‘We are missing a spark in the final third. Not just today — over the four games since we have come back from the winter break. ‘There’s a few people around the squad who are capable of finding that spark. They need to come with us.’
RANGERS 2-1 HIBERNIAN February 5, Premiership
‘We got frustrated in the first half and tried complicated things. We could feel the fans’ groans and frustrations. ‘I asked the players at half-time to lift the crowd and get back to our performances from earlier in the season. We deserved to win by more.’
HAMILTON 1-4 RANGERS February 8, Scottish Cup
‘I was very disappointed in us defensively in the first half. ‘I had to address that at half-time and rattle a few cages to get them switched on and focused and in the right place defensively. ‘Once we did that, we played some nice stuff, created a lot of chances and scored some really impressive goals.’
KILMARNOCK 2-1 RANGERS February 12, Premiership
‘We never played like a team that was trying to fight to remain in a title race, a team that was trying to come away from here with three points. ‘We keep going, we keep fighting and see where we are. But on the evidence of the second half tonight, it’s very worrying. ‘I had every belief and confidence when I reflected on the first six months of the season that I had enough to put at least a stronger fight up at this stage. But, at the moment, it’s looking extremely tough. ‘The reality is the opposition (Celtic) are in the driving seat. ‘That’s down to two things — their form and us not being good enough since the winter break. But I’m responsible for that.’