Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is not happy with some of his fringe first-team squad members this week after watching them in action in a bounce game against Liverpool U23s on Monday, as reported by The Daily Record.
The Liverpool Echo say the travelling side were 4-0 up on the Gers before being pegged back to 4-4 late in the second half after Gerrard had made a number of changes to the team, introducing a number of young players into the match.
Gerrard was clearly not happy with those he gave an opportunity to from the start of the behind closed doors game.
As quoted by The Record, the Gers boss initially explained why the match happened, before criticising his players:
I think it’s a few different reasons really, the first was to give people game-time who haven’t played as much. We want to try and keep them as sharp and as fit as possible for the run-in.
And the other reason was to have a look at some young talent that had been doing really well in the Reserves or the 18s and give them an opportunity to be around the first-team lads and see how they can cope playing against good players at Ibrox.
It was a very useful game. I probably learned more in that 90 minutes about the players than I have done all season because it was a game of two halves.
First half was an embarrassment and the second half was fantastic. It was a very useful exercise for different reasons but in terms of us as staff, we learnt so much about the players individually.
Obviously the positive here is that young players took their chance to impress the Ibrox manager but it doesn’t bode well for some in the squad who Gerrard feels were ‘an embarrassment’.
That’s a strong criticism and will be felt sharply by those who are struggling to get into the first-team.
Who exactly he is referring to remains to be seen, but heading into the summer transfer window it is revealing to hear he is displeased with a number of players.
Will he be getting rid of some of the misfiring summer captures of 2018?
Who would you like to see leave Rangers this summer? Share your thoughts in the comments below…