‘That won’t be the case’ – Gerrard drops big Rangers fitness update ahead of Livingston
Steven Gerrard has warned that he won’t rush Kemar Roofe into the Rangers starting XI after his heroics in the Europa League.
Roofe made his return from injury and secured three points for the Gers in injury time of their Europa League tie with Standard Liege by lobbing the Liege keeper from his own half.
This has lead to calls for the former Leeds man to start the Gers’ next league game against Livingston, but Gerrard has warned that he won’t rush back Roofe, who isn’t ‘at 100 per cent yet’.
Speaking to the Scottish Sun, Gerrard said, “We need to get Kemar up to speed. I don’t think we have had him at 100 per cent yet. Everyone is expecting me to plunge him into every game now because of the goal, but that won’t be the case.
“We will treat him with care and get him up to speed at the right time. When he is ready, he will come back in.”
The calls for Roofe to start at the weekend have been strengthened after the poor recent performances of Alfredo Morelos.
The Colombian has struggled in the last couple of matches against Liege and Celtic. In the Old Firm, he failed to break his derby duck against a poor Hoops side and against the Belgians his finishing and decision-making let him down.
An excuse could be made for Morelos against the Hoops, as he had been on international duty and perhaps had not had enough time to be ready for the game, but there are no such excuses for his poor showing in Europe.
Some Gers fans took to social media to criticise Morelos before Roofe even came on against Liege. The 24-year-old has plenty of striking competition this season with both Roofe and Cedric Itten arriving at Ibrox this summer. Adding Jermain Defoe to that list shows that Gerrard has plenty of options going forward and Morelos will have to improve quickly if he is to keep his place in the side.
In other Rangers news, Steven Gerrard was delighted with rarely-seen Rangers ace against Standard.