Steven Gerrard has explained why he did not use substitutes during yesterday’s Rangers draw away to Aberdeen.
Despite the match not exactly going to plan at Pittodrie, the Gers boss refused to change things up in the second half of the Scottish Cup quarter-final, with the team failing to find a winner that would have seen us progress to a Hampden date.
Gerrard though has defended the decision, believing changes could have upset the flow of Rangers’ game.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “If Aberdeen had stayed in the lead longer I would have looked to Jermain Defoe or Kyle Lafferty but we scored and got into a good rhythm so I didn’t want to change it. Sometimes a substitution can affect the rhythm.”
They are interesting comments considering most fans were left baffled by the decision not take off players like Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Jack, with both not only well below their best yesterday but also have capable replacements sitting on the bench.
Should Jermain Defoe have been given the nod as we searched for a cup winner? Did Gerrard simply settle for a draw knowing we could take care of business in a replay?
For me, it was rather frustrating to see no changes being made knowing we have potential match winners ready to come in and do a job.
Hopefully if the replay is similarly tight we see the manager be pro-active in his approach.