Steven Gerrard said he could not “bear” his players for being “soft and weak” after Rangers lost the pre-season to Tranmere.
Scottish Premiership champions Ligue 2 side lost 1-0 to Mickey Mellon as Kieron Morris’ first-half strike proved decisive in a friendly at Prenton Park on Saturday.
Despite the absence of several players involved in international football over the summer, as well as injured players such as Ryan Jacks and Nikola Katic, Gerrard was able to field 22 first-team players.
“The goal we achieved was embarrassing compared to last year’s level,” Gerrard said.
“People jump out of the tackle path, guys are soft and weak, and I can’t stand it.
“As we move forward we will get stronger and better and have a better level of performance.
“Losing the game is quite disappointing. The overall result is not important at the moment, but that’s where we need to improve, definitely the last third. “
Rangers opened their pre-season account on 5 July with a 1–0 victory over Scottish Ligue 1 champion Patrick Thistle, but Gerrard was unhappy with his side’s approach when he returned to Merseyside.
Scott Wright, Iannis Hagi, Kemar Roof, Jermaine Defoe, Ryan Kent, Cedric Itten, Lewis Mayo and Joe Aribo all had chances in a game in which the summer signing of John Lundström made his debut.
“Definitely not happy with the result,” he said. ranger tv.
“I think there were big chunks of control and you could clearly see our style. But in the 90 minutes of the final third, it was nowhere near enough for Rangers standard.
“I have to keep in mind that this is our second game and we come into the game tired, but we have the level of players here, I hope we get some goals every now and then at half time. “
“Very disappointed with the result, quite disappointed with my last third of the game but really out of pocket and very happy with the way some people are handling our business.
“But from today eight other positive results were to be taken and they are not here with us. Then everything will be fine. “
Rangers continued their pre-season against Arsenal at Ibrox on 17 July, with further friendly matches against Blackpool, Brighton and Real Madrid before starting the league title defense against Livingston on 31 July.
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