It looks like Steven Gerrard is feeling the pressure as Rangers continue to struggle following the winter break, leaving Celtic 12 points clear at the top of the table.
Football is like a roller-coaster, one second you are the top off the world and at the bottom the very next. If you don’t believe that theory, just take a look at Rangers in their quest to dethrone Celtic!
The Glasgow side were absolutely flying going into the winter break. After all, they had managed to beat Celtic at their own backyard after almost a decade of trying. And the fashion in which they had absolutely dominated the eight-time defending champions could only mean one thing – they were destined to be champions!
Unfortunately, league titles are not won in a day. You would not know that though judging from the celebrations of the Rangers faithful on the day of their 2-1 triumph. Steven Gerrard celebrated like he had just guided the team to a undefeated league title win and the club’s fans followed in kind, while the media acted as if Celtic were headed for relegation. Just a month on and all of them have been brought crashing down to Earth.
As a result, Steven Gerrard has been left searching for excuses in order to justify his team’s recent failures. Someone or the other has been thrown under the bus following each setback. And following their 2-2 draw away at St Johnstone, it was the turn of their defenders.
In an interview posted on the Rangers’ Twitter following the game, Gerrard said:
"“I’m not standing here shocked and surprised, it’s happened here too many times of late. It’s a real big frustrations for this team defensively, I need to find solutions because we are conceding too many goals.“On Wednesday one thing is for sure we are going to have to find a better defensive performance or we’ll be going out of that competition.”"
The period following the winter break has been an absolute nightmare for the Glasgow side. They just can’t stop dropping points at the moment. In their 8 league games since then, they have lose twice and drawn another two, leaving them 12 points behind Celtic. And reality seems to be setting in quickly around Ibrox that the earlier promise of a title was nothing more than a false dawn.