Gerrard tells players to show no mercy in goal hunt
● Rangers manager wants to win by the biggest possible margin in every game
RANGERS 5 HEARTS 0
Steven Gerrard has called on his Rangers players to remain relentless after the Ibrox club moved to within a goal of Celtic at the top of the Premiership.
Rangers padded their goal tally with a three-goal burst in the final 26 minutes of a 5-0 home romp against hapless Hearts yesterday.
Gerrard would not be drawn on whether goal difference could end up being decisive in this season’s title race but essentially urged his squad to treat it as though it will.
He said; “Look, we want to win by the biggest margin we can. Probably in the players’ eyes, I am a bit of a moaner like that.
“I think some of them maybe want to come off the gas and relax at three or four but not for me. I just want to continue doing the right things.
“We are not at a level yet where we can pick or choose when we go on the gas,” added the 39-year-old.
“It has to be consistent. Forget the scoreboard and just play with the correct intensity to try to score as many as possible.
“[But] I can’t complain [about not drawing level on goals with Celtic] with a 5-0 win at home on the back of a European night that we had to really push and give a lot in [to draw 2-2 away to Feynoord three days’ earlier].
“I’d have some cheek to go in and complain about the number of goals.”
The League Cup final against Celtic on Sunday now looms large for Rangers but the fact that Wednesday will bring a trip to Aberdeen means Gerrard will put the Hampden showpiece to the back of his mind in the coming days.
“You’ve got to go to Pittodrie at some stage in the season,” the Ibrox manager said.
“You don’t pick and choose the fixtures. They’ve come into a bit form of late and we need
to forget about the cup final until the final whistle at Aberdeen.”
Hearts interim boss Austin Macphee cut a forlorn figure after the abject showing from his side. And he was forced to admit the protracted pursuit of a new manager was becoming an issue for a team spared bottom spot in the Premiership only by goal difference.
German Daniel Stendel is believed to be the leading candidate to succeed Craig Levein, sacked 32 days ago.
“The uncertainty of the situation for everyone is something that needs managed very carefully,” said Macphee, who claimed he will seek to block yesterday’s debacle from the minds of the players as he prepares them for the visit of Livingston on Wednesday.
“I think the longer it goes the more it can at times become an excuse, and it can also become a reality where maybe at times people aren’t as focused on their performance alone as they should be. I think that so far the players and staff have been fantastic.
“As an assistant manager, one of your main roles is to have strong relationships with your players. The head coach is always a little more distant.
“I’ve got nothing but praise for the professionalism of the players in this period. What I would say is that [owner] Mrs Budge will make the right decision for the long-term future.
“We all know the importance of Hearts picking up points in the very busy Christmas period so we move up the league.
“Right now all I do is manage this on a day-to-day basis and try to be as honest with everyone as I can, and to try and get the team on the pitch that can pick up three points on Wednesday.”
What was most damning about Hearts at Ibrox yesterday was that it was so utterly predictable they would play the patsy role against a Rangers team rarely required to get up a gallop to run over the top of them.
The contest, mundane and meandering until a comic al late collapse from the Gorgie side, was so often what follows from a bang-in-form top of the table team facing the nuisance fixture of a home game against an opponent struggling at the bottom because they have so little going for them.
There was no edge, no real nastiness and none of the colour or controversy that this fixture has often been adorned in. Rangers, on the back of their draining and productive efforts in claiming a precious 2-2 draw away to Feyenoord in the Europa League on Thursday, racked up another victory to make it 11 unbeaten – with nine of these wins.
In embellishing their success with a late goal flurry, they firmly kept pace with Celtic at the Premiership summit, with both locked on 37 points. Steven Gerrard’s satisfaction will be bolstered by achieving their aim with training ground tempo for the early stages.
The start of a blazing run of games, there was nothing to get hot and bothered about here, as will be entirely different in Sunday’s League Cup final against Celtic that has loomed over the Ibrox club for weeks.
Little wonder. It will be a moment of truth as they look to become major trophy winners after an eight-year drought against bitter rivals who are looking for a tenth straight domestic honour. And before that, there are sure to be some fiery moments in their trip to Aberdeen on Wednesday.
Gerrard derived everything he wanted from yesterday’s game. Alfredo Morelos continued his remarkable scoring form and Ryan Kent netted for the second week in succession to give further indication he is capable of adding the necessary goals to his chicanery. The hefty scoreline ensured Celtic only have a one-goal advantage at the top of the table while Gerrard was also able to rest key man Ryan Jack on the bench.
The visitors, meanwhile, got everything they deserved. Which was the biggest, fattest nothing. The Tynecastle men are as rudderless on the pitch as off it, and by Jiminy, the footballing low to which owner Ann Budge and her board have brought Hearts is now crater-like.
It feels an act of vindictiveness to have Austin Macphee limp along as interim head coach with a month somehow proving too little time to make any definitive decision on who should be tasked with mopping up the mess that Craig Levein has created.
That mess was laid bare by the awfulness of an Ibrox performance that makes two wins from 15 league games seem a decent return from such a motley-looking crew. Macphee aligned five of them in defence yesterday. He could have put 55 across the back and they would not have prospered, so beaten down they appear.
The 11th-minute opener did, though, demand pristine and familiar deftness from Gerrard’s men... yet another teasing, arcing ball in from Borna Barisic begetting another imperious header from Morelos for goal No 25 of a dazzling campaign.
Hearts were sliced open with ease for a second goal eight minutes before the interval, that allowed Kent to tap in from the middle of goal after being fed by Joe Aribo from the right.
The roof fell in on Hearts courtesy of a goal that summed the Tynecastle men up in 64 minutes. James Tavernier curled in a cross from the right that led to the luckless Christophe Berra stretching to block and instead diverting into his own net.
Rangers then smelled blood as they stepped up their bid to cut into a goal advantage established by Celtic in their early 4-1 win away to Ross County. If there was a Hearts defence, it didn’t act like one ten minutes from time as Rangers substitute Greg Stewart was able to pounce and poke the ball in when keeper Joel Pereira pushed a Sheyi Ojo effort towards him. A landmark moment, the strike was the 10,000th league goal for the Ibrox club.
The fifth goal of the afternoon came during a late flourish that could have produced a couple more.
On-loan Manchester United keeper Pereira didn’t cover himself in glory after a Jermain Defoe effort was blocked in the 85th minute. Stewart was somehow able to head in, with the ball crossing the line before the veteran striker helped it on its way. Meanwhile, the help that Hearts need to arrest their decline appears divine.
RANGERS: Mcgregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Kamara (Stewart 74), Davis, Aribo, Arfield, Morelos (Defoe 67), Kent (Ojo 67). Subs not used:
Jack, Foderingham, Flanagan, Katic.
HEARTS: Joel Pereira, Brandon, Halkett, Berra, Hickey, White (Mulraney 77), Bozanic, Whelan, Walker (Damour 70), Naismith, Ikpeazu (Meshino 70). Subs not used:
Zlamal, Clare, Maclean, Irving.