Rangers boss Steven Gerrard recently gave an honest verdict on his Ibrox squad.
Pundit Chris Sutton has told BT Sport that he thinks Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has taken a ‘huge risk’ criticising his players in recent days.
The Gers got back to winning ways this afternoon, beating Livingston 1-0 at Ibrox as Scott Arfield’s goal was enough to claim victory in their rescheduled clash.
Rangers remain 10 points adrift of Celtic in the race for the Scottish Premiership title, meaning their hopes are dwindling after Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock.
Gerrard’s men were 1-0 up at Rugby Park as Arfield opened the scoring, but fell to late goals from Stephen O’Donnell and Eamonn Brophy in a shocking collapse.
Rangers committed a similar capitulation at Hearts in January, squandering a 1-0 away lead to lose 2-1, and it’s these defeats that could prove costly.
Gerrard wasn’t happy after the defeat to Killie, and whilst he admitted that the blame lies with him, he did also criticise his squad by claiming he needs ‘proper people’ that are ‘prepared to win’.
That may be interpreted as a rallying cry rather than a widescale slamming of his squad, but Sutton thinks that Gerrard has taken a big risk.
Sutton believes that Gerrard threw his players under the bus by questioning their mentality, and noted that he and former teammates felt better under other managers who protected their players in public.
“I played under managers like Kenny Dalglish and Martin O’Neill,” said Sutton. “They would say one thing in the dressing room and another thing outside to the media. I think that the players liked that. They felt that they had the manager’s back.”
“I think he threw the players under the bus questioning their mentality. Now, it’s a huge risk. Will it pay off or not? We’ll see in the remaining games,” he added.
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