No slacking or you’ll miss out on Celts Cup tie
Steven Gerrard has warned all his men not to assume they’ll be picked for next weekend’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic.
The Rangers boss is looking for players to turn it on in today’s home Premiership game against Hibs to earn their selection.
He said: “The players are well aware of what’s at stake this week, but one thing they have been fantastic at this season is remaining focused, treating each game as it comes and staying in the now.
“I don’t expect that to change.
“I think players have to play for their place in the Cup game.
“The last thing they want to do is put in a poor or complacent individual performance.
“If you do that, your place in the team could be in jeopardy when I come to pick a side for the Celtic tie.
“This game in front of us against Hibs is very important.
“We still have a lot of targets that, individually and collectively, we want to achieve in the league from now until May 15.”
The message from the Ibrox boss is that he is looking towards further success, and he expects his players to see it the same way.
There’s no time to relax under Gerrard. He went on: “We’re well aware of where we’re at as a team. But it’s not about resting on your laurels. It’s about the next game and the next challenge.
“We want to maintain the level of consistency we’ve had since the beginning of the season.
“We’ve only lost a couple of games, and we want to think about the future, not the past.
“We’re really looking forward to lifting the trophy come the end of the season, but there are still challenges from a league point of view that we want to continue.
“There’s staying unbeaten, clean sheet records, and players individually are competing for Player of the Year.
“There are goal targets for individual players, and still a lot of things that we want to play for and finish the league campaign as strongly as we can.
“We’ve got a tough game against Celtic next weekend that we’re looking forward to from a Cup point of view, which is now obviously a priority.
“But from a Rangers point of view, it’s my job to keep the level, and keep trying to improve and stay as strong as we can for as long as we can.”