Steven Gerrard was not happy with his side's midweek performance in the Scottish Cup and wants a stronger showing in front of the Ibrox faithful
Rangers play host to St Mirren on Saturday at Ibrox, having fallen six points behind Celtic in the race for the Scottish Premiership title.
The Gers were in Scottish Cup action in midweek and edged their way past Cowdenbeath 3-1 in a comfortable-but-uninspiring fashion. Goals from Andy Halliday, Lassana Coulibaly and Kyle Lafferty gave them the win at Central Park.
A tougher test lies ahead at the weekend, although they will expect to pick up three points against a St Mirren side currently propping up the standings.
Squads & Team News
Steven Gerrard fielded a heavily rotated squad against Cowdenbeath in midweek but will revert to his strongest XI for this clash. He did, however, use the diamond midfield at Central Park that he deployed unsuccessfully against Kilmarnock, suggesting that it is not entirely out of his thinking.
The four injury problems that face Rangers – Connor Goldson, Jamie Murphy, Graham Dorrans and Eros Grezda – are ones they are well used to.
Possible Rangers starting XI: McGregor; Tavernier, Worrall, Katic, Barisic; Davis, Arfield, Jack; Candeais, Morelos, Kent
St Mirren are faced with a string of injury problems ahead of their trip to Ibrox, with Gary MacKenzie, Danny Mullen and Kyle Magennis the most pressing of these. Second-choice goalkeeper Danny Rogers is also out along with midfielders Lee Hodson and Cameron MacPherson.
New signings Mateo Muzek, Duckens Nazon and Laurentiu Corbu await international clearance.
Possible St Mirren starting XI: Hladky; P.McGinn, Baird, Popescu, Erhahon; Dreyer, S.McGinn, Lyons, Tansey, McAllister; Jackson
Betting & Match Odds
Rangers can be backed to win this game at a price of 1/7 with Bet365. St Mirren are a 16/1 shot, while a draw is 13/2.
Match Preview
It has been a satisfactory week for Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, who saw his side progress in the Scottish Cup against League Two outfit Cowdenbeath before conducting what he believes was a successful Deadline Day.
American winger Matt Polster joined up with the Ibrox club, while Dundee’s Glen Kamara, who had already signed a pre-contract agreement, has arrived five months early.
Some of the shine, however, was taken off by the manner of the performance at Cowdenbeath, about which Gerrard made no bones over his unhappiness.
“I was disappointed with a couple of players, but I won't name any names,” he said, having named what was largely a fringe squad for the occasion.
“I made a lot of changes and it was an opportunity to impress, to make a name for yourself and show you want to be involved going forward. Some people took the chance, some people didn't.
“We got very sloppy, but you've got to take into consideration that we were 3-0 up by then and it's not the biggest game for us.”
His words serve as a warning shot to his players ahead of a meeting against a St Mirren side who lie bottom of the Premiership standings and who were beaten 3-1 last weekend by managerless Hibs.
Indeed, the Paisley club have now lost six of their last seven games and were recently thumped 4-0 at Celtic.
In a bid to push themselves up the table, they made Deadline Day moves to sign Haiti striker Duckens Nazon from Sint-Truiden while Laurentiu Corbu has arrived on loan from Dinamo Bucharest.
Nazon, in particular, is a player the Buddies have targeted for some time.
“We've done a huge amount of work on it. It's been very much one of patience and we have said all along that we would rather wait to try and get the right players in than sign for the sake of signing,” manager Oran Kearney said.
“There's a hunger from him to get over and get playing. He is a Haiti international but has lived and played in England for a few years and that was important for us.”
It will be a baptism of fire for the new Saints at Ibrox, where the home crowd will demand three points to keep their title challenge alive.