How Steven Gerrard DESTROYED Celtic! | Explained

when rangers hired steven gerrard in 2018 the glasgow club had only been back in the scottish top flight for two seasons and had just finished their latest campaign in third place behind aberdeen and 12 points of champion celtic having suffered the humiliation of liquidation and demotion to the fourth tier six years earlier fans of rangers could only watch as their old firm rivals won title after title getting ever nearer to the fable ten in a row a feat that both clubs had narrowly missed out on in decades past three years later and he has succeeded in stopping celtic at the final hurdle and in the process has made people sit up and take notice of the jurors once again with his side even progressing further in european competition than their arch enemies in recent years but how has the former liverpool captain revived the scottish giant so emphatically in such a little time let's find out when stephen gerrard took the rangers job there were concerns that the task of bringing glory back to wild rocks was too big for a manager with just over a year's worth of coaching experience but as a legend of the game and natural leader and a man who had spent years carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire city on his back he was seen as a good fit for a club which like liverpool sees anything but winning as a failure and the former reds captain quickly set about stamping his image on the historic club in his first summer he let go five of the top 11 appearance makers from the previous season with another three following in the next two years by the start of the current campaign there were only four members of the entire 2017-18 squad still at tybrox james tavernier alfredo morelos ryan jack and jamie barjonas who has made just nine appearances under gerard that same summer 14 new players were brought in of which nine were permanent signings with gerard notably bringing ryan kent with him from liverpool more experienced heads like scott arfield and alan mcgregor also made the trip to glasgow with jermaine defoe and stephen davis following in january these signings would come to form the backbone of gerard's projects at ibrox with kent mcgregor and davis as well as conor galton and borna barach who were also signed in the summer of 2018 ranking among the club's top six appearance makers this term and the man famous for producing on big european knights at anfield instantly gave rangers fans a glimpse of what he was capable of getting aside which had been given just weeks to gel through four rounds of qualifiers and into the europa league it was the first time the club had made the group stage of a european competition since 2010 and was a far cry from the previous summer when they'd gone out to luxembourg's progress needed corn in the first qualifying round after which their manager at the time pedro kaisenia was pictured arguing with fans while standing in a bush not only did this give gerard's side a psychological boost as well as instill belief in supporters during his first months in charge but it also brought much needed revenue into ibrox with the club receiving upwards of 10 million pounds as a result helping justify the spending spree which had come to a similar total that summer and softened the blur of the club's 14.3 million pound losses more than the rest of the scottish premiership combined from the previous season that december gerrard made another big statement by beating celtic in the league something the jurors hadn't done since 2012 and a year later went one better by winning the old firm derby at celtic park marking the first time the club had done that in the league in over nine years again this signaled a turning point for a side which in the weeks before gerard's appointment had been humiliated by their arch-rivals losing four nil in the cup and five-nil in the league over the course of 14 days the 2019-20 campaign also saw him guide the team to the europa league last 16 beating porto farnaud and braga on the way again scoring the club vital revenue to play with in the transfer market that season also saw the teddy bears har ross wilson as director of football a man who had helped transform the fortunes of falkirk during the 2000s and while working for southampton had been instrumental in bringing virgil van dyke pierre emel hoiberg and ralph hassan huttle to the south coast of england wilson immediately started clearing the deadwood with 11 players coming off the ibrox wage bill in the summer of 2020 as well as growing the club scouting team expanding their operations in europe and south america and making analytics a more central part of their recruitment process this has seen the club's transfer strategy become even more effective at aiding gerard's system and wilson has already signed nine players for the club including janis kimar ruth and leon balagun all of whom have made a significant contribution to the side's fortunes this season gerard's squad now boasts 14 fully fledged internationals the highest number at the club in almost a decade but improving a club's recruitment strategy only works if there is a clear on-field vision from the manager and gerrard has provided that from day one while he himself is admitted to stealing ideas from a number of coaches he worked under as a player the philosophy his side reflects most closely is that of jurgen klopp this was no doubt influenced by his time managing liverpool's under-18s and many have asserted that this is a sign of the anfield legend already having one eye on the liverpool job but aside from any personal ambitions gerard may hold his melwood tinged methods have made this ranger side one of the most entertaining and toughest to beat in all of europe like klopp's liverpool gerard's ranges line up predominantly in a 4-3-3 and are a high-pressing outfit as showcased in their 2-nil victory over celtic back in may 2019 when they allowed neil lennon's team just 9.3 passes per defensive action and were granted 16.3 passes but offensive action themselves while gerard lost out on that season's title by nine points there were already signs that his methods were working with his side scoring 82 goals in the league more than any other club and conceding just 27 times 23 fewer than in the previous campaign like the reds the teddy bears also gone a significant creative output from their fullbacks this season james tavernier and borna barach are two of three players in the squad to average over two key passes a game with the pair notching up a combined 14 league assist so far their delivery from set pieces has also been crucial this season and last 22 percent of the side's goals have come from deadball situations the midfield also acts as a defensive aid to the fullbacks when they bomb forward prepared for opposition counter-attacks if possession is lost stephen davis is the most active leading the squad for tackles and interceptions with 3.8 per 90 not a huge number without context but impressive in a team which retains 63 possession more than any side in europe's top five leagues not to mention the fact he's now 36 and as you'd expect in such a system the attacking players also defend from the front joba rebo marries 2.2 dribbles in 2.3 shots per 90 with 3.3 tackles and interceptions winning 76 of his challenges janis who is averaging a goal or an assist every 113 minutes is also winning possession nearly two times a match keymar ruth meanwhile can perform a role similar to that of roberto firmino dropping to provide space for wingers and kent to break into the box although he's also pretty useful in the area too with 2.6 of his 2.9 shots per 90 coming from within 18 yards ruth's versatility means he's also been able to fill in as a right inside forward the position from which he has scored most of his goals meaning the excellent alfredo morelos has also had a lot of time in the center forward position this has made the rangers attack more fluid and able to break through a variety of defensive setups as a result after 41 games in the premiership in europa league this term gerard's side had dropped points in just six of them remained unbeaten sustained an astounding 84 win rate averaged 2.4 goals a game in the league and conceded just 0.3 goals a game on average for context man city centurion scored 2.8 goals a match while the chelsea side which conceded a record 15 goals in 2004-5 did so at a rate of 0.4 a game what's more if they stay unbeaten in the league they will become only the second scottish side to do so since the 1800s but that's not to say gerard's reign at ibrox has been a simple upward trajectory the manager recently told sky sports it's not until you're in the seat that you feel the heat and even for a man so used to dealing with high pressure from his playing days managing such a big club was always going to present a steep learning curve one of his first big challenges was alfredo morelos who was sent off five times in the manager's first season but after being publicly criticized by gerhard in 2019 the colombian hasn't been shown red since and has also spoken of the beautiful relationship he enjoys with the coach who has managed to get the very best out of a player seen by many as unmanageable gerard has also talked about how he's had to control his own emotions as a manager in a way he didn't have to as a player at liverpool he wore his heart on his sleeve and was loved for it and he showcased similar passion during his first 18 months at rangers but he also drew criticism for this in his new role following their win at celtic park in december 2019 gerard was accused of celebrating the victory as if he'd won a trophy despite his side having lost to celtic in the league cup final just weeks earlier and still being two points behind their rivals this criticism was then partly justified by what happened next rangers lost two of their next six games dropping more points than they had in their previous 20 ending the curtailed campaign 13 points off celtic and dumped out of the scottish cup by hearts in the quarter-finals while neil lennon reacted to the old firm defeat by giving his side a tactical makeover gerrard had few answers to his size dramatic drop off in form but following a lengthy break in the busy summer the rangers boss ironed out the deficiencies in his side with a deeper squad he's been able to switch things up more easily in games which aren't going his way and having kept hold of convicted players like kenton morelos his side has been able to evolve seamlessly alongside him following ranger's comfortable two-nil victory at celtic park in october 2020 gerrard was markedly more relaxed leading his side off the field as if it were any other routine win it was a sign of a manager with his eyes firmly on the ultimate prize and one who fully understood how much work there was left to do now he has his reward so that was our take on how steven gerrard transformed rangers and ended celtic's dominance but what did you make of it and do you have any suggestions for videos like this we can do in the future let us know in the comments below if you enjoyed this please leave us a like and give us a share and as always don't forget to subscribe to euro football daily if you haven't done so already thanks for watching and we'll see you next time

Channel: Euro Football Daily

Views: 301,213

Rating: 4.900754 out of 5

Keywords: football, soccer, premier league, EPL, serie a, bundesliga, ligue 1, eredivisie, la liga, Football Daily, Euro Football Daily, European Football, Football Highlights, Steven Gerrard, Sky Sports, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Glasgow, Old Firm, Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, James Tavernier, Alfredo Morelos, Jermain Defoe, Steven Davis, Neil Lennon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Mo Salah, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Ianis Hagi

Id: 4BHK8EmJOdU

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/RuleBritanniaNS]

Pretty succinct. It should not be ignored what the Gaffer has achieved 🏆

[u/StuNels]

Just ignore the way he pronounces Tavernier