STEVEN Gerrard, the Rangers manager who has been linked with Northern Ireland internationalist Gareth McAuley, last night admitted he was hopeful of signing another centre half this week after his team had drawn 3-3 with Motherwell.
Gerrard was critical of how his side, who conceded goals at two set pieces, performed at the back in the Ladbrokes Premiership match at Fir Park yesterday. His team is now four points adrift of early top flight leaders Hearts.
But he is optimistic of bolstering his squad before the transfer window closes at midnight on Friday and McAuley, the vastly-experienced 38-year-old who left West Brom after eight years in the summer, is available for free. “Hopefully we can get a centre-back in, either on loan or in a permanent deal,” he said.
However, the Liverpool and England captain, whose team take on Ufa in the second leg of the Europa League play-off in Russia on Thursday night and then Celtic in the first Glasgow derby of the season at Parkhead on Sunday, dismissed reports about Ryan Gauld of Sporting Lisbon and Nathan Dyer of Swansea City moving to Ibrox.
Meanwhile, Gerrard last night defended his decision to make a substitution just before Rangers conceded an injury-time equaliser to Motherwell.
Gerrard put on Lee Wallace, the former Ibrox captain who hasn’t played since last September, for Ovie Ejaria in the fourth minute of added-on time as the home team prepared to take a corner.
Peter Hartley, who had issued a public apology on Thursday after saying it had been “fun” listening to former Rangers defender Fabio Cardoso “weeping” after Ryan Bowman had broken his nose in the Betfred Cup semi-final last year, promptly turned a Gael Bigirimana delivery into the net.
Asked why he had made such a late change, Gerrard said: “Because they had four or five big units on there and I have a defender sitting behind me who is 6ft 3in.
“With all due respect to Ovie – and he was good today – Lee Wallace is a lot better at defending set-pieces and that was the thinking behind it. If I’ve got it wrong I’ll take the blame no problem.”
Gerrard, who was delighted that his new signing Kyle Lafferty scored two goals on his first start since joining from Hearts last Wednesday, has urged his players to put the Motherwell result behind them quickly.
“We can't feel sorry for ourselves,” he said. “We have only got ourselves to blame. We shot ourselves in the foot in terms of defending set-plays. You can't get teams gifts like that, otherwise it becomes very difficult.
“So, we have to bounce back we've got two really big games coming up and it's my job to make sure that we don't have a hangover from dropping two points today.”
Elsewhere, Gerrard, whose slip a Premier League game at Anfield back in 2014 allowed Chelsea to score and contributed to a defeat that proved costly to Liverpool in their ultimately ill-fated attempt to win their first English title in 24 years, absolved Connor Goldson of any blame for the opening goal against Motherwell.
The Rangers centre half fell on the slippery playing surface at Fir Park in the third minute and let Danny Johnson score. “The first goal was an unlucky one obviously,” he said. “I've been there myself so I feel for Connor on that one.”
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