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Steven Gerrard will see overhyped Brendan Rodgers off the premises


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Rangers boss Steven Gerrard will see overhyped Brendan Rodgers off the premises – James Black

Our Ibrox blogger believes Celtic boss won’t be able to handle the pressure as he faces his first real test.

Finally, competitive football is back.

After three weeks of manufactured outrage over referees, half-baked conspiracies and Celtic fans insisting Rangers can't afford to sign Jermain Defoe before the club promptly confirmed the signing of Jermain Defoe, the winter break is at an end.

Steven Gerrard takes his side to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock tonight as they look to push on and launch a sustained title challenge.

While I'm sure many will want to argue otherwise, there's very little pressure on Rangers to go on and lift the title and end Celtic's recent dominance.

The merest mention of 55 has the majority of non-Rangers fans scoffing at the suggestion and insisting we'd be lucky to finish within 15 points of Celtic.

If you listen to some Celtic fans they'll even tell you Rangers might be lucky to finish third this season.

There's even some who will tell you that they will win 10 in a row - unless the SFA intervene of course.

The reality is, all the pressure is on Celtic.

Seven titles on the spin. Seven out of the last seven domestic trophies currently reside across the city. A squad of world-beaters managed by the greatest manager to have ever managed Reading.

How can Rangers possibly stand a chance with a rookie manager in charge?

Well, for a start, Rodgers simply doesn't live up to the hype.

His time in Scotland has largely seen him up against a Rangers side with one hand tied behind their back and an Aberdeen side happy to finish second by 30 points.

For the first time, he's facing a proper challenge and the pressure is starting to show.

Tactically, he's nothing special.

If teams press them high then they don't know how to react. Too many teams sit off, give them the ball and let them carve them open at will.

When teams like Hearts have got in their faces and chased every ball and really pushed Celtic deep in their own half, they get the better of them.

The business done by both sides in the transfer window has also shown the difference between the two.

Gerrard has brought in two guys who have plenty of experience of the highest level and will push standards on at Ibrox.

Rodgers has brought in a bunch of kids - talented kids - but kids who have never experienced a battle for a league flag.

Timothy Weah and Oli Burke will probably go on and have good careers somewhere but they aren't the sort of players who you're going to turn to in a bid to win the league.

Steven Davis has been there and experienced both sides of it. He's done the last-day celebrations and felt the heartache of losing the title at the bitter end.

Add that to guys like Allan McGregor and Kyle Lafferty who were there beside Davis or Gareth McAuley and Scotty Arfield who have fought for titles and battled relegation.

There's a level of experience at Rangers that simply hasn't been there for far too long.

Some of the longest-serving Celtic players have been over the course too and will be vital for Rodgers but he hasn't given them the reinforcement needed.

The imminent signing of Matt Polster will be a bit of a wildcard for most but I've seen a lot of him over the past four years. I've followed the Fire since 2013 and have travelled over to watch them in Chicago.

He's someone Gerrard knows from his time in MLS and the American will likely only be a fringe player when he first arrives.

Given time, he's got all the attributes to be a really important player but having barely played in over a year will need time to get back up to speed.

Obviously, the Old Firm win in December will be a huge psychological boost and Rangers need to capitalise on that and pick up a solid run of results to kick off 2019.

The remaining two Old Firm games will be absolutely vital to the determining who ends the season as champions and with Gerrard's side having the monkey off their back now, they will go to Celtic Park in March with renewed confidence they can beat them on their own patch.

Gerrard's far from perfect and he'll be the first to admit so.

There have been times where his substitutions have seemed either weirdly-timed or just not really making much sense and his tendency to tinker with the central defenders has arguably cost some cheap goals.

As long as they don't implode and have a strong end to the season, there won't be a massive amount of complaints if Celtic do win the title.

But if Gerrard can lead Rangers to 55 then his old Liverpool boss is finished in Glasgow.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-boss-steven-gerrard-see-13895668

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Reading the 4lads blog I realized that we have been handed a rather tough start to the year, with 5 difficult away ties in 6 games. Our main opponents have 4 home games in 6, with three games against St. Johnston (two at home in league and cup). While we potentially have to win as many games anyway, those at Killie, Livingston and Aberdeen always prove difficult and could become a potential "points grave" again. And - obviously - this will "even itself out over the season", as people will come on to say, but you still wonder how the fixture machines can't come up with a normal Home - Away - Home -Away etc. modus throughout most parts of the season?

 

Thus, there's a long way to go yet, but you would hope that the arrival of Davis and Defoe - plus returns for Arfield and Kent -  will help us putting some of these difficult opponents to the sword.

Edited by der Berliner
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