Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has told his players to “wake up” after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Alashkert in the Europa League playoff at Ibrox sees the Gers 90 minutes away from making the group stage for a fourth year in succession.
Alfredo Morelos’ 25th European goal for Rangers was the difference between the two sides but it was a poor performance from the Light Blues as they made heavy work of the Armenians.
Gerrard’s side make the long trip across Europe next week and the unhappy Ibrox boss challenged his squad to prove they deserve their place in the revamped competition this season.
“I’ve got confidence and belief we can get going and restart and show we can get back to the form we need – but we need to wake up now,” Gerrard said.
“We’re in competitions and we’re at a club where you can’t afford to be where we are right now.
“We need to find our level and we need to wake up right now.
“The players listened to what I had to say at half time and we got a reaction and we went on to win the game.
“But we should have made this game so much more comfortable than we have.”
Rangers will be confident they can see it through the second leg and book their place in the group stages – despite last night’s poor performance.
A 1-0 lead will give Rangers a huge advantage in Armenia but they simply can’t afford to carry as many passengers in the return.
The likes of Ryan Kent, James Tavernier and John Lundstram were nowhere near good enough last night and they’ve not got much time to turn their form around.
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