Steven Gerrard must do these three things to get Rangers back into title contention
Steven Gerrard faces a tough task if he ultimately ends up returning to Rangers for a second stint.
Gerrard is the leading contender for the Rangers job, after Russell Martin was sacked last week after a miserable start to his career in Govan.
Gerrard’s absence from Liverpool legends’ clash with Chelsea seemed to confirm that he is close to being reappointed, nearly four years after he left Ibrox.
Gerrard has been warned that Rangers are in no position to fight for the title, but Ibrox News thinks there are three things that he must do to at least try.
Steven Gerrard must build his Rangers team around Nico Raskin
Gerrard will love working with Nico Raskin, if he returns to Govan, with the midfielder ready to prove a point after Martin’s treatment of him.
His public fallout with the ex-Southampton man led to him being dropped before ultimately being reintigrated in recent weeks, after they patched up their differences.
The Belgian international is one of the Gers’ best players, and the 45-year-old must resist any interest in Raskin and build his team around him.
The former Standard Liege star is averaging 1.38 shots, 2.38 penalty box entries and 1.62 key passes per match, according to Sofascore, showing that he likes to contribute in attack.
In terms of defense, he averages two tackles and wins 5.46 duels per game, which makes him an all-round midfielder, capable of being a real asset for the new manager.
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Rangers’ strikers need to fire under Gerrard
The Gers lost two key goal scorers in Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane in the summer, which definitely did not help Martin.
They brought in Youssef Chermiti and Bojan Miovski while Danilo remained from the previous season, and so far, they have struggled to replicate that impact.
James Tavernier, a right-back, is the Bears’ leading scorer in the Scottish Premiership with three strikes to his name, while Miovski is the only striker to score in the competition, and has two goals overall for the club.
The Macedonian has the most goals out of the trio of strikers, but is only averaging 1.1 shots per match, compared to 2.52 for Danilo and Chermiti’s 1.78, as shown by the Sofascore graphic below.
Danilo and Chermiti are yet to score in the league, with the Brazilian having one goal in all competitions, and Gerrard needs to get at least one of them firing to push his side up the table, if he is handed the reins.
Make the defence less leaky
The Gers have conceded seven goals so far this season, which averages out at a goal per game.
They have only scored six, so keeping the opposition out will be key for Gerrard if his side are to improve their league form.
The defence is vulnerable to crosses and counter-attacks, so the Liverpudlian needs to make the unit more solid than it is right now.
If they continue to defend how they did under Martin, he will have no chance of climbing up the table and catching Celtic and Hearts.
Gerrard’s previous Gers side were compact, conceding just 139 goals in his 192 matches in charge, at a rate of 0.72 per match, as the Sofascore graphic above highlights, so he will hope to have a similar impact, the second time around.
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