STEVEN GERRARD effectively wrote off Rangers’ title chances after a listless 0-0 draw with St Johnstone at Ibrox yesterday.
The Rangers manager was quietly seething with his team’s performance as they missed the chance to close the gap on league leaders Celtic, who could now go eight points clears with victory today over Kilmarnock.
Rangers lacked urgency and invention against a spirited St Johnstone team who were unlucky not to plunder all three points as the Perth team rattled the bar and forced Wes Foderingham into a vital save.
Gerrard said: “We lacked leadership and I’m struggling to find any positives. Right now forget titles and forget closing gaps. The reality is if you perform like that in front of 50,000 then there’s your evidence.
“I’ve been seduced in as the players looked like they were looking forward to playing at Ibrox. If you have a group of lads and they give you that across the board, when you have chance to close the gap to three points, that’s not what’s required at Rangers. You’re miles away from it.
“At the beginning of the season we had direction, urgency and people performing like Rangers players. They were pressing and hunting. It was great to see and we gave them praise for it.
“There was none of that. There were normal players I can trust but I just felt we weren’t going to achieve it.”
Blunted by the absence of Alfredo Morelos, Gerrard was disappointed by the contribution from others as Rangers toiled to break down St Johnstone’s well-drilled, sturdy resistance.
Asked if players need to stand up and be counted, Gerrard added: “Big time. I felt for Jermain [Defoe]. I never saw a slide pass, a decent cross, a decent combination or anything I’d seen in previous days.
“The cop out would be to say there was no this and that in terms of players but I believe we picked a team and have a squad with quality to beat St Johnstone if we play at an acceptable level. We need to look at ourselves and admit it wasn’t good enough.”
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