STEVEN GERRARD insists Rangers will need to be ‘ready to adapt’ as they prepare for tomorrow evening’s UEFA Europa League clash against Royal Antwerp.
With a 4-3 advantage heading into the second-leg at Ibrox, Gerrard says Rangers will approach the match as a fresh game and look to build on this season’s strong home form.
Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, he said: “The scoreline sits how it is in terms of the advantage we have but we certainly won't be going in with that mentality - we see this as a fresh game.
“We want to improve on our performance from a defensive point of view and be a lot tighter and alot more difficult to play against.
“We still want to carry a threat and we want to try and score as many goals as we can. We are at home, we are not going to sit and wait, we are going to treat this game in isolation.
“We’ll be really aggressive and bold in how we play because this is our home and we want to show everyone how difficult it is to play against this team when they come to Ibrox.
“The players will have our game plan and we will see how Antwerp set-up but the players are going to have to be clever and aware of Antwerp’s game plan. If they come and press us and get after us, we will try and utilise the space behind them and we will try and play through that press and do whatever we can.
“If they come with a little bit more of a cagey approach, we have to adapt on the job and be ready for whatever is thrown at us. “We have been fantastic at home and we want to be on the front-foot from the off and really go and put in a performance to make our supporters proud.
“If we do that I am confident we can finish the job but we certainly have got respect for this opposition because they showed last week that they have got dangerous players so we have to be at our best.”
From last Thursday’s squad, Gers will be without the injured James Tavernier, Kemar Roofe and Ryan Jack.
Gerrard continued: “With James and Kamar we have had a report back on the scans and I think to be sensible we are looking around that three week mark for both situations.
“Obviously they are two different injuries but the medical team will rehab both players and I have got confidence they'll have them back when it's safe for them to return.
“In terms of Ryan Jack, we have had more positive news on the scan so there's not much muscle damage in there, there's no tear but there's been a small bleed that we are going to have to protect so he will be a couple of weeks as well but it is definitely on the positive side rather than the negative.”
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