‘I needed more’: Gerrard admits three Rangers players were challenged at half-time today

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Rangers managed a 1-0 win at Ross County this afternoon.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has told The Scottish Sun that he had to challenge Ryan Kent, Ianis Hagi and Alfredo Morelos at half time today.

The Gers travelled to Dingwall to take on Ross County, and desperately needed a win after a torrid week for Gerrard and his players.

Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Hearts followed by a 1-0 home defeat to Hamilton left Gerrard under huge pressure, with silverware this season looking very unlikely.

Still, a win was needed today ahead of the Europa League clash with Bayer Leverkusen this week, but it was pretty unconvincing once again from Rangers.

They toiled away looking for goal, before Ryan Kent’s deflected shot found its way into the corner to give Rangers a narrow 1-0 victory.

Gerrard will want much better moving forward, and he has admitted that he challenged three players at half time after struggling in the first half.

Gerrard claims that he ‘needed more’ from striker Morelos as well as wingers Kent and Hagi, believing that they just weren’t at their best in the first period.

The Rangers boss praised Kent for really standing up to that challenge by scoring the winner, but he may not be too pleased with Hagi and Morelos after they continued to struggle in the second period.

“I needed more from the front three at half-time so I challenged them at half-time,” said Gerrard. “Ryan got the winner and that’s good for him and I’m pleased that he took the challenge on, because some players feel sorry for themselves and others stand up to the challenge, and he did. He’s had some stick, but haven’t we all?”

“There are two ways to react when you get criticism, shrink and go into your shell and hibernate and hide from it or you put your shoulders back and you take it on the chin and you look at the constructive criticism. There are always elements of it that are right and you push on and stand up for your team-mates. Ryan’s done that today and I’m pleased for him. I don’t think we were fantastic from start to finish, but we came up here to do a job after a difficult week,” he added.