Steven Gerrard throws Rangers players under the bus

Steven Gerrard refuses to accept any blame as he throws his Rangers stars under the bus for their meltdown in the second half of last season.

With the news that Morelos isn’t yet back at full training and his reflections on Rangers’ Dubai winter break, is Steven Gerrard building up to the new season by throwing his squad under the bus one more time? He’d change nothing about the Dubai winter break and says the players, and those up front like Morelos, needed to do more.

In The Herald Gerrard talks about the winter break, the way the team performed afterwards and why Morelos isn’t yet back in full training with the players.

Let’s take the Dubai break first, with the SPFL announcement that there won’t be a winter break in the coming season, Gerrard needs to find a new alternative to help his squad recover and prevent another collapse.

Some might think that’s good news but Gerrard was perfectly satisfied with the Dubai break in January. He felt it had nothing to do with the way his team underperformed in the latter part of last season and pointed his finger at his forwards in particular and the players in general:

"“I don’t think Dubai had anything to do with that. The players worked hard and trained well enough. They also got a break before going to Dubai. There isn’t much looking back at that trip or around that time that I would have changed.“In the final third, we stopped firing.”"

He had more to say when talking about before January and what changed after the break. And it reflected the collapse in the form of Morelos:

"“We were terrific, really consistent, defending really well, looking hungry, a threat going forward and our main scorers in the team were scoring goals. That changed after January. That’s the reason in certain competitions we fell away.“The players have to be better after the break – it’s as simple as that. They’ve got to have the hunger and produce more consistency.”"

Gerrard went on to talk about Morelos amid even more rumours in the media today about who is bidding to buy him. It does continue to look like PR spin to prepare the way for a sale, with one outlet talking of top French clubs falling away from the pursuit as he’s out of their price range. That’s probably more to do with being realistic about his value than about exceeding transfer budgets. We’ve also seen ex players and the media questioning how fit Morelos is and what shape he is in after the break.

So Rangers fans might be concerned to see he isn’t yet back in full training. As will those clubs apparently fighting to get the chance to sign him with Gerrard revealing:

"“He’s back in the city. He’s spending some time with the medics at the moment because he has a couple of issues, nothing important but he still has to spend a bit more time with the medical lads then hopefully he will be back out there training with us.”"

Gerrard knows he may need to sell, he talks about every player having his price. The question is whether anyone will want to buy and whether selling Morelos or others is a critical part of the Ibrox financial survival plan. In the meantime we’ll have to wonder if the players there are motivated by their manager’s comments.

Of course, all of this will only leave Celtic even further ahead than they already are.