Alex Rae indentifies the areas Steven Gerrard must strenghten this summer

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Former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae reckons Rangers manager Steven Gerrard needs to focus on improving his team’s defence and attack for 2019/2020.

The Light Blues’ season is pretty much over now, with Celtic 10 points clear in the title race.

Rangers exited the Scottish Cup in disappointing fashion with a 2-0 defeat to Aberdeen, and their Europa League run came to an end back in December.

It was a season that began with great promise, but it has petered out into nothing tangible – although there has been a clear improvement under Gerrard.

The Liverpool legend will be under pressure next season to deliver a trophy, and he will need solid squad depth to make that a possibility.

In the eyes of Rae, who represented Rangers between 2004-06, Gerrard must address both ends of his current team.

He said (quoted by The Daily Record): “Rangers need another quality centre-half. If you look at the last three games the goals they have lost have been extremely poor.

“And they need more quality in the offensive area because when they come up against teams who defend deep they find it very hard to break them down.”

TBR’s view

It’s hard to argue with Rae’s assessment.

Rangers started off the season brilliantly at the back but have failed to keep a single clean sheet in March so far.

Veteran Gareth McAuley will likely leave at the end of the season, and Joe Worrall is only currently on loan.

In attack, Rangers will do exceptionally well to keep Alfredo Morelos beyond the summer following his prolific season at Ibrox.

Next season, if Morelos is no longer around, then Jermain Defoe and Kyle Lafferty will need someone else in there challenging them.

Perhaps incoming Kilmarnock star Jordan Jones will be the man to provide the improvement in attack Rae believes the team needs. Or Ryan Kent can be signed permamently and become the main man.