Former Premiership defender Alex Bruce expects Rangers manager Steven Gerrard to offload several players from his squad in the summer and seek to bring in reinforcements who he feels are up to the task.
The 35-year-old, who featured in the Scottish top flight for Kilmarnock, noted how the ‘Gers boss publicly questioned his team’s ability to handle the pressure of a title race following their recent defeat at Rugby Park and feels that the ex-Liverpool captain doesn’t trust some of the players in his squad.
Speaking about Gerrard to Football Insider, Bruce said: “It’s a pretty damning thing to say, isn’t it, on your team if they can’t handle the pressure. They’re obviously not the right players for him if that is the case, if that’s how he feels and that’s what he has said. If they can’t handle the pressure then Stevie will bring in players and put players in the team that are going to be able to handle the pressure.”
Bruce makes some valid points in his assessment of Gerrard’s attitude towards the Rangers players. He seemed to have a swipe at starting centre-backs Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson in saying after Sunday’s draw at St Johnstone that he needs the injured Filip Helander “back fit sharpish“, while he also condemned his team following the defeat to Hearts a month ago, saying that he “didn’t recognise us” at Tynecastle that day.
The manager’s frequent public reprimanding of his players could indicate that he feels some of them aren’t up to the standard that he demands, as Bruce has suggested. It is also worth noting that, speaking ahead of the January transfer window, Gerrard seemed more focused on trimming players from his squad rather than reinforcing it (as per The Scottish Sun), which again could highlight that he might not be overly satisfied with the pool of players at his disposal.
The more that the manager admonishes his players in public, the stronger Bruce’s claim about him being unhappy with the squad that he has will seem, so the ex-Kilmarnock man could be quite right in predicting a significant overhaul at Ibrox in the summer.
Rangers fans, what did you make of Bruce’s prediction about the summer transfer window? Do you expect Gerrard to offload some players after the season ends? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
