DUJON Sterling has expressed confidence that he will continue to feature regularly for Rangers thanks to his versatility and stressed that every player in the Ibrox squad will be called on in the remaining games of the season.
The 24-year-old, who has played at left back and in central midfield this season, replaced Scott Wright on the right wing against St Johnstone in Perth last Sunday and helped his side to win 3-0 and move to the top of the cinch Premiership table.
The former Chelsea player, whose preferred position before he moved to Scotland last summer was right back, is content to perform any role that manager Philippe Clement asks him to and he is sure that all of his team mates are exactly the same.
Rangers, who were yesterday drawn to face Benfica in the last 16 of the Europa League next month, have a punishing run of fixtures coming up at home and abroad, but Sterling is confident they can cope with all of them and enjoy success.
READ MORE: Rangers to embrace Monaco masterplan against on-form Hearts striker
“That's what you have a squad for,” he said. “You have to be able to trust everyone in the squad. To be fair to us, we actually have a good squad.
“You can see by the results it's not really impacting us having three games a week and we've been doing it since the start of the season really so nothing changes now.
“It's just taking it game by game and just trying to rest, recover, repeat and keep on what we've been doing so far.
“I'm just happy to be on the pitch. Whatever the gaffer needs from me for the team, that's what I'm willing to do. For me, it's just normal.
“Circumstances helped me get into the team and since then I just made it my number one objective not to come out the team and to just keep my shirt.”
READ MORE: Rangers blast Benfica Europa League kick-off time call
Sterling added: “The first time I came on in midfield was the first time I ever done it so it was just learning as I go. Since then, I just put it in my mind.
“With the gaffer speaking to me, I've learned these four or five positions because each game it could change where I play. Each day I've been working on what to do in this position and taking notes and keep learning.
“It's fine. I've got a lot of time to study and learn plus I've got players in training who I can also watch as well. For example, when I was playing in midfield I just watched Lunny (John Lundstram) who's a prime example in our team.
“I am just adapting to my style. I bring something different to what the rest of the midfielders bring. Throughout the team, we have a good balance so everything's been fine.
“I just think it's the way I've been coached and brought up. At Chelsea, you don't play in one position, you get taught to play in every single position. Every game you could play in a different position so it's just about learning that.
“I was at Chelsea since I was six until last summer so that's 18 years of developing and learning.”
READ MORE: Rangers blast Benfica Europa League kick-off time call
Meanwhile, Sterling has stressed that he will not change his 100 per cent approach to tackling despite his frustration at being sent off at the end of the Premiership match against Aberdeen at Ibrox earlier this month.
"I thought the red card was harsh," he said. "But it's not in my control, it's up to the ref and the SPFL. But now that I'm back I'm just trying to make a positive impact like I did at the weekend so hopefully, again tomorrow it continues.
"Watching it back, I can see why they think it's dangerous, but you can see I clearly slipped and I've only touched his toe and I haven't touched his ankle. But we move on, it's been done and there's nothing we can do. I've taken the two-game ban and now I'm just looking forward to the rest of the season.
"But it won't really affect how I tackle in the future. I'll still go in and try and win the ball 100 percent. If I catch him, I catch him and if I don't, I don't. It's just trying to balance it out and hopefully, next time not slipping."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel