Steven Gerrard: 'Rangers better when going for jugular'

Published on: 20 September 2018

Steven Gerrard's side remain unbeaten in Europe this season

Steven Gerrard urged his Rangers side to realise how good they are "when they go for the jugular" after their 2-2 Europa League draw in Villarreal.

Second-half goals by Scott Arfield and Kyle Lafferty earned the Premiership side a point, after they trailed at the break to Carlos Bacca's first-minute opener for the La Liga side.

Gerrard said he is "proud" of his side.

"We have unbelievable quality. I asked them to just show a little more belief and confidence," he told Rangers TV.

"But the second-half performance was very strong and we are a good team when we show it, when we believe, and we can create chances against anyone.

"It is a fantastic result and the message is watch the second half and start believing you are a very good team."

Lafferty equaliser earns point in VillarrealPodcast: 'Some good, a lot bad, but great result'Rangers' draw with Villarreal as it happened

Villarreal made nine changes from the side who beat Leganes in the Spanish top flight last weekend, but Gerrard said the performance was "certainly right up there" with any since he took over this summer.

The draw maintained Rangers unbeaten record in nine European games this season, with Rapid Vienna coming to Ibrox in two weeks having beaten Spartak Moscow 2-0 in Austria.

"We told them we are capable of hurting Villarreal and the other teams in the group," Gerrard said.

"I'm not going to say we deserved to win the game but to come here and put a point on the board, I'd have certainly taken it. This, on paper, is probably the toughest test for us in the group."

'Some good, a lot bad, but great result' - analysis

Former Scotland defender Willie Miller on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound

In terms of Rangers' performance, there was some good, and a lot of bad. Their weakness was the full-backs and yet the full-backs were actually their strengths because they both made a goal.

They showed some really positive play, but they leave themselves exposed and the game could have been out of their reach before these two stepped in to get them back into the game.

It's a fabulous result, particularly having not played that well, but I'm sure Steven Gerrard will be looking at the defensive side and knowing that game could have been out of their reach.

Source: bbc.com

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