Gerrard Pleased With The Result

STEVEN GERRARD joined RangersTV’s live coverage following the win over Kilmarnock – and he expressed his delight at the second half performance.

The Light Blues gaffer was alongside Emma Dodds, Neil McCann and Walter Smith, and he began by discussing what made the difference after the break to allow Gers to claim all three points.

He explained: "I think in the second half we played with more purpose and more intent. We were a bit frustrated at half-time - it seems as if the last three 45 minutes we have been taking that extra touch and it has been a little bit slow and predictable.

"I had a little, small pop at them at half time and asked them for it to be a bit quicker and more purposeful, and we managed to find the answers.

"It could have been a few more in the end so I am pleased with the result."

Kemar Roofe grabbed the opening goal of the game – his first in the colours of Rangers and he also claimed the Man of the Match prize for his performance.

Gerrard continued: "Kemar has been getting sharper each day - he came in and he was probably a couple of weeks off where the first-team were at and he has worked ever-so hard to get himself up to speed.

"But you pick your team and your squad on what you see on a daily basis, and every single person who was in the squad today deserved to be there."

Neil McCann asked the manager about his shape in the first-half, with Cedric Itten playing wide and the boss explained: "The idea wasn't for him to be a wide 10 - we wanted him to play as a right nine.

"We knew the left-back was really small and we knew we were going to get into certain areas and get it wide to Borna, and we thought if we can keep loading the box with crosses, maybe we can get in at the back post.

McCann also asked about Roofe’s overall showing, with the manager replying: "He is very clever, and I think that is the reason why he is so unpredictable to play against as he can run in-behind, but he is actually comfortable coming to link the game as well.

"That is the exciting thing moving forward. If he comes short, Cedric can run in-behind and vice-versa.

"They are both comfortable with their back to play and they are both good in the air. He hit the post with a fantastic header and we have two of the best crossers in the league.

"The second half, we did tweak it slightly - we put Brandon more to the right and we said to Itten, be a bit more of a nine with more purpose, and I just thought, all-round, we went out in the second half with more intent and I think we got our reward for that."

Rangers made it five clean sheets out of five to start the Scottish Premiership season, equalling a club record for a beginning to a campaign set in 1929.

Gerrard said: "You have got to give the players credit where it is due.

"A lot of clean sheets are happening and I am very pleased about that. Jon hasn't really had much to do in the whole game, he has had to come for a couple of crosses and we have had a couple of edgy moments from set-pieces.

"The good thing is, and I mentioned it through the week, if we are piling full-backs forward and we are playing with three number 10s or three number nines, it is important we have balance behind the ball.

"That is helping us to keep clean sheets because we are not open to counter-attacks or we are not making any mistakes that are leading to goals which a big improvement from where we were before."

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