Rangers boss slams fringe players as ’embarrassing’ following bounce game with Liverpool

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Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has branded his first-team fringe players as ’embarrassing’ following a bounce game with Liverpool U23s. The Light Blues boss was speaking to RangersTV, as quoted by the Daily Record.

Several senior players were apparently involved during the game with Rangers way behind at the half-time interval.

When the teams emerged for the second 45, four unnamed academy prospects were thrust into the action and they were thought to inspire a comeback.

It doesn’t look to bode well for the fringe players, however, with Gerrard desperately unimpressed.

He told RangersTV, as quoted in the Daily Record: “The first half was an embarrassment and the second half was fantastic.

“As staff, we learnt so much about the players individually. It was a very useful game. I probably learned more in that 90 minutes about the players than I have done all season because it was a game of two halves.”

Gerrard is in his maiden campaign as a manager and he reserved special praise for the academy starlets that played during the second half.

He continued: “What impressed me most was they never had any feat. It was almost like ‘yeah the opportunity is there and I’m going to grab it’. The four youngsters, all 17 or 18, took their chance and it was great to see.”

TBR Verdict

Gerrard is proving himself to be a tough taskmaster when it comes to being a manager. This isn’t the first time he has openly slammed his players when they have dropped below his extremely high standards.

Of course, that can only bode well for Rangers though. In Gerrard, they appear to have a manager who will leave no stone unturned in his attempts to plot the downfall of Celtic.

That won’t come this season but if the Gers stick by their manager and let him really buy into the project, it seems extremely likely that Gerrard can return the glory days to Ibrox.