Steven Gerrard has claimed that his Rangers side will learn from their Old Firm derby defeat to Celtic and will come back stronger.
The Hoops ran out 1-0 winners at Parkhead, with Olivier Ntcham netting the game’s only goal in the second half.
However, Gerrard feels the loss will behoove his team in the long run.
“Okay, today, the result didn’t go our way, but it is our first defeat together so it is a setback. But we have to learn and grow and bottle this pain and frustration and try and use it in our favour after the [international] break,” he told Rangers’ official website.
“So it has come at a good time, but the disappointing thing is we have to swallow this defeat which hurts. We will improve and next time this fixture comes around we will be better.”
OPINION
Whether Rangers will be better come the next Old Firm derby remains to be seen, we’ll only know come full time of that game, but Gerrard’s words here are encouraging. He recognises that the defeat is a setback, but he realises that the pain of it can be used to motivate and help the team in the future. He’s also right that the upcoming international break means that the loss has come at a good time. Many of the players will be able to go away with their countries’ and hopefully get this derby defeat out of their system. When they come back Gerrard will drill them on the areas where they can improve from this game, so you’d be shocked if they don’t put in a better performance come the game against Celtic at Ibrox. They were undoubtedly second best in this encounter, so there’s lots to work on, but Gers supporters will be hopeful that this loss will fuel the players to do better the next time they come up against the Hoops.