STEVEN GERRARD praised the ‘maturity and class’ of his Rangers team as they reclaimed top spot in the Scottish Premiership with victory over Hibernian this afternoon.
Trailing to an early Kevin Nisbet opener, Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos hit back in the second half to keep all three points on the Southside of Glasgow.
Speaking to RangersTV, Gerrard said: "We are really pleased with the result first and foremost. Obviously the game became complicated when we conceded.
"I thought it was against the run of play as we started the game really well on the front foot - you see we flipped our formation today to be more aggressive on the front foot, and the message to the team today was, 'we are not waiting today, we are going.'
"It was a top of the table clash, so we wanted it to look like that. We didn't panic - we played with maturity and class and the subs helped us a lot, but I think all-in-all, it was a really strong performance from the boys today."
John Lundstram claimed the ‘man of the match’ prize, and Gerrard continued: "He was outstanding again, and myself and the staff don't want to take credit for that, but the reason John looks so fresh and strong and powerful today is we offloaded him in midweek.
"So the players have to trust us in-terms of our decisions and the supporters do as well when we are making changes - we want to find that settled team but we realise there are a lot of games over the course of the season and we want to keep people fresh and healthy.
"Too many people are missing at the minute at key times with injuries, suspensions or Covid, so we just need to find the right balance.
"But, the decisions we made today, in the end, because of the quality around the final third, were made to be the right decisions."
The manager again highlighted the strength of his squad – with Steven Davis introduced to see the game out and captain James Tavernier an unused sub.
He added: "That is what we have built over the years - we have tried to find two good players in each position but we can't stand still - we need to keep improving, both the team and the squad.
"Nathan came in today and I thought there was loads that he can look at in his game and learn from, but he has delivered as he has put a wonderful cross in and we have scored a fantastic goal from it.
"Borna as well - he could have got tighter for the first goal and stopped the cross, but he delivers in the final third for us.
"So there is all intention to do the right things from the players, we are getting closer to where we want to get to and the emotion from me at the end is myself, the team, the squad and the staff and the fans, we are going to need each other throughout the season and we need to lift each other.
"We are in a good place, we are in control, we are where we want to be but there is still loads to do."
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