Steven Gerrard gives Rangers stars ‘hairdryer treatment’ during Motherwell draw

Rangers: Steven Gerrard previews Celtic clash

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard claims he had to ‘get into’ his players at half-time during their 1-1 draw with Motherwell today.

Devante Cole, son of former Manchester United striker Andy Cole, put Motherwell ahead in the 21st minute.

Rangers faced the prospect of falling to their first defeat of the seaosn but Gerrard ripped into his players at the break.

That inspired a fightback and substitute Cedric Itten equalised with 18 minutes left on the clock.

Veteran forward Jermaine Defoe almost snatched a late winner but the Motherwell keeper kept it out from close range.

The two points dropped leaves Rangers 21 points ahead of Celtic at the top of the table, having played three games more.

And Gerrard has lifted the lid on his half-time team talk which inspired his team to comeback.

“I don’t think we’ve got any complaints in terms of the result,” Gerrard said.

“I think it took us 45 minutes to come into the game. Disappointed with our showing in the first half.

“We had to get into them a little bit at half-time, and I thought we were really good in the second half.

“Over the course of the 90 minutes we probably deserved to win it on chances, and on our second-half showing, but the reality is we can’t come to a game at half-time when we are where we are.”

Gerrard feels the point could be vital come the end of the season but he was very unhappy by his side’s start to the match.

“I think there’s two things as a manager you don’t want your team to do. You don’t want to start a game late, for sure, and you can’t leave games early, especially given what we’re playing for.

“So, we spoke to the players about leaving the game early last week. It could have been dangerous but we managed to get through it.

“Today we haven’t really been ourselves and come to the game until half-time, which is on me and on us, and it’s something that we’ll look at moving forward.

“We were dominant second-half and I expected the reaction. We were much better. We managed to get some quality in from the sides. Cedric’s come on and scored a good goal, but we can’t wait to be in that situation to get that reaction.

“That reaction’s got to come from the beginning of the game. That’s the thing that I’m disappointed with today, that we took so long getting going.

“But hopefully this will be a valuable point come the end of the season, so I’ll look at the positives as well.”

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