OPINION
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was completely right to defend Jermain Defoe’s display against St Johnstone on Saturday but he directed the blame completely the wrong way.
The Gers boss seemed rather angry, which is understandable as his side let him down by only drawing 0-0 with St Johnstone, but wasn’t foaming at the mouth with Defoe.
Gerrard shared that the veteran forward’s ineffective display was a result of the player not getting the service, meaning the manager was directing the blame at Defoe’s teammates.
“I felt for Jermain (Defoe). Balls were coming in to him in the air, his chest, they are bobbling in,” the Gers boss said, as quoted by Sky Sports.
“There was no service. I never saw a slide pass, a decent cross, a decent combination. Anything I’d seen in previous days.
“The cop out would be to say there was no Morelos, no Arfield, no Jack, but I believe we picked a team with the quality to beat St Johnstone if we played at an acceptable level. But it wasn’t acceptable.”
Instead of pointing the blame away from him, Gerrard should have been looking at his self regarding the reason why Defoe struggled on Saturday.
While the player didn’t get much service from his teammates, at the end of the day the former Tottenham forward is not suited to playing upfront by on his own.
Gerrard may have been struggling for attacking options but his decision to have Defoe lead the line by himself was never really going to pay off.
The 36-year-old isn’t built to be a target man nor is his strength holding the ball up so others have time to join him in attack, and then there’s the fact that the veteran doesn’t have the pace anymore for the ball to be successfully played over the top of defences for him to run onto.
Defoe thrives playing upfront with a strike partner, as that’s where most of his success in his career has come, and for that reason Gerrard surely must be blaming the 36-year-old’s teammate on this occasion.
As it’s unclear why he was expecting the Gers forward to be able to add a new string to his bow and really Gerrard needs to hold his hands up over the fact he used Defoe wrong on Saturday.