THE CROCK’S TICKING Gerrard pleads for more signings as Rangers lose four star men to injury
Steven Gerrard has begged the Ibrox board to bolster his squad after he lost four major players to injury.
Leon Balogun pulled up before kick- off and
Ryan Jack, Brandon Barker and Alfredo Morelos were forced off during the rout.
They al l face a race against time to be fit for
Thursday’s Europa League tie in Gibraltar and Gerrard wants new faces in.
He said: “We can only talk about the strength of our squad once the window shuts on October 6 but I’ve been really clear that we need to add.
“We need to accelerate that now. Going off what I’ve seen in the treatment room today, there’s definitely going to be two, if not three missing for a couple of weeks.
“We need to add numbers pretty quickly so that we’re OK.
“In terms of how happy and content I am with the squad’s strength, you’d best ask me the question on October 6.
“We have lists we’re pursuing and trying to be active on but in terms of how close we are, it’s a difficult question for me to answer right now.”
Balogun was withdrawn from the starting line- up against United with a thigh problem, before Barker and Jack went off with calf and hamstring strains.
Morelos picked up a nasty gash on his knee af ter a challenge from Ryan Edwards, who escaped without a card from ref Kevin Clancy.
Gerrard questioned whether Morelos would have got off so l ight ly had he made the challenge. He said: “Morelos has a gash on his knee and from the side I was worried because it looked a lot worse than that.
“He’s a lucky boy that it’s only a gash. I was impressed with United today so I don’t want to make headlines and say a kid should have got this or that.
“I don’t want to be that type of manager.
“But what I would say is that I’d be very interested to see what the decision would have been from the officials had the shoe been on the other foot and Alfredo had made that tackle.”
Gerrard’s side broke the 114year record for consecutive clean sheets while Ryan Kent was superb again and fired the opener while veteran Steven Davis was man of the match.
The Gers boss said: “Kent is playing really well and Davis is just a special footballer.
“If anyone had an excuse to be a little bit flat, it would have been him after travelling for two internationals but he goes out and gets the job done. He’s a top class individual.”