Ben Guest
Steven Gerrard has called on his Rangers side to show more consistency after they beat Kilmarnock 5-0 in the Scottish Cup.
Rangers opened the scoring through Alfredo Morelos in the seventh minute, and were given a boost in the 25th minute when Kilmarnock goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann was sent off midway through the first half following an off-the-ball incident.
Rangers took full advantage of the extra man, scoring a second on the stroke of half-time, before scoring three more in the second half with Morelos finishing the evening with four goals to his name.
Speaking afterwards, Steven Gerrard said he was glad that he got the reaction that he expected following the weekend’s 0-0 draw with St Johnstone.
“I was pretty confident we were going to get a reaction as the players were very disappointed and frustrated with their weekend showing,” Gerrard told RangersTV.
“The fans were too – and rightly so. It was up to us to come out tonight with a different mentality and a different attitude, and I thought we started the game very strongly.
“We took the lead, played some really good stuff and then Kilmarnock going down to 10-men helped us even more and we went on from strength to strength.”
A few weeks ago, Rangers looked like they could push Celtic for the Scottish Premiership title, but the weekend’s draw saw them fall eight points behind their Old Firm rivals, and Gerrard has called upon his team to be more consistent.
“I think the message to the players is that they have to find consistency. We can’t be taking four or five steps forward and then suffering a setback and then everyone is down and players are talking to each other, and then we get this big, massive reaction,” Gerrard added.
“For me, you have to go into every game with the same mentality, the same reaction, the same attitude and the same fight and desire.
“That is when you go on runs of wins that last more than three, four or five and you can go on and achieve things and be successful together.
“The players know. It feels different in the dressing room tonight and it is for one reason – they approached the game completely differently.”