Steven Gerrard isn’t happy with the standard of refereeing once again in Scotland after the football result against Kilmarnock at the weekend.
Rangers drew 1-1 with Steve Clarke’s side thanks to an equaliser from Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos who now joins up with his national side for the first time.
Gerrard was honest enough to admit that Connor Goldson probably should have been sent off late in the game for dragging down Liam Millar but felt that Clarke’s Kilmarnock side were being somewhat over the top in their tackling.
“There is a difference between a foul and dangerous tackles and I thought there were a lot of dangerous tackles out there” said Gerrard
Gerrard wants more protection from referees after a match that saw referee Greg Aitken book six players; two from Rangers and four from Kilmarnock.
The former Liverpool midfielder felt that there could have been “eight or nine” bookings before admitting that maybe Rangers had been lucky to get away with the Goldson incident – although noting that if Rangers had got lucky there then Kilmarnock had been lucky “six or seven times”.
Funnily enough, Steve Clarke didn’t agree suggesting his side were only being “competitive”.
The bigger concern for Gerrard surely has to be the fact that this is now four games without a win.
The gap to the top is now seven points although Celtic have a game in hand but, more importantly, the gap to Aberdeen in third is eight points.
It’s the first really frustrating period in Gerrard’s managerial career, especially given the nature of the cup defeat to Aberdeen last week.
The manager can plead for more time but he has been backed in the transfer market so his claims that the club needs “more game changers” in the final third, whilst valid, does point the finger at some of the signings he has made.
Rangers cannot continue to rely solely on Morelos to score the goals; the Colombian has 29 for the season now.
Gerrard has promised to do “everything I can, when I can” to improve Rangers attacking play which will no doubt include scouting every division from the English Premier League down to the Isthmian League to find someone that can make the difference.
