Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has challenged the fringe players at the club to up their game if they want to have a future at the club, left disappointed by a number of players during Wednesday night’s win over Cowdenbeath.
The Gers may be through to the next round to face Kilmarnock, but fans were left underwhelmed by the performance in Fife considering it was against Scottish League Two opposition.
The Ibrox boss was similarly unimpressed by one or two of the players he gave a first-team chance.
Some people took the chance tonight, some people didn’t.
I won’t name any names but that’s what tonight was about. I made a lot of changes and it was an opportunity to impress, to make a name for yourself and show you want to be involved going forward.
There was some positive performances and I was disappointed with a couple of players tonight. But we’ve come through healthy and those are the two main things.
With Gerrard singling out Kyle Lafferty for praise, it only really leaves obvious candidates in Wednesday night’s starting eleven that might be in bad books.
You would have to look at Jon Flanagan, Gareth McAuley and Lassana Coulibaly as three players in particular who may be struggling to justify getting first-team football in the weeks and months ahead, except for as emergency cover.
The trio were given an opportunity to impress but failed to take that chance and you’d imagine the manager will stick to his tried and trusted when league points are on the line.
Will it be a while before we see any of that trio?