Kenny Dalglish warns Steven Gerrard about ripping up his Rangers plans

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The Scottish football legend believes Rangers should not deviate from their current course in the wake of last week’s Ibrox defeat.

Kenny Dalglish thinks Rangers face an uphill battle to challenge Celtic for the league title this season, The Sunday Post report.

Defeat to the Hoops last week at Ibrox has left Steven Gerrard and his team three points behind Neil Lennon’s side at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.

After a promising start to the season, it’s clear there’s a lot of work for Gerrard to do if he’s to inspire the side to silverware in his second year at the club.

Dalglish recognises that the Hoops are clear favourites for the Scottish Premiership, but believes the Ibrox boss can’t deviate from his current course in reaction to one defeat.

As quoted by The Sunday Post, the Liverpool legend said: “Managers know they need to have thick skin but, more importantly, believe in what they are doing and not be swayed or distracted.

“One defeat should not mean that the plan gets ripped up.

“I’m sure that was the way Neil and his staff handled it last month, and they recovered well. Steven will look to do the same and get back to winning ways at home to Livingston.

“To mount a serious challenge, they need to go on a strong run to keep up with Celtic. But they face one helluva challenge to get ahead of the Parkhead club.”

What is Gerrard getting wrong?

Rangers went from tasting European success to bitter derby defeat in just the space of a few days. It was a tall order for their players to have the energy to compete on both fronts but it’s something that Celtic managed.

Gerrard’s big failing in the derby was not trusting his best players to deliver on the day and trying too hard to counteract what Celtic were planning to do.

He tinkered when he didn’t need to.

Far from being the aggressive, attacking outfit they’ve been for large portions of the summer, they looked toothless.

The Rangers manager needs to have the faith in his strongest eleven and their style of playing, regardless of opposition. In that sense, it proves Dalglish’s comments to be true.

It’s now on Gerrard to re-focus his side and get them back to what they do best. The next few weeks are massive in determining which course their season will take.