Rangers FC suffered a loss vs Kilmarnock in midweek which has forced the Gers to slide to third on the Premiership table.
Next up they take on Livingston at the Almondvale Stadium on Sunday and Steven Gerrard’s men will be hoping to get things back on track.
While many are blaming the tactics that the manager had used during the Killie game others feel that the Gers were still in holiday mode.
And now the manager has chosen to speak out about two of summer signings asking them to pull up their socks.
The players in the centre of the debate were Nikola Katic and Borna Barisic.
“Niko came in at first and performed really consistently and really well. He is a player who was brought in for now and for the future,” Gerrard said about Katic.
“He had a couple of performances and certain situations happened which affected his confidence. It was my job to protect him and maybe take him out of the firing line at times.
“We brought him in because we believe he’s got potential to improve and grow and at some point become a nailed-down regular in this team but it’s never been promised to him.
“I did think he had a dip in his form and his confidence was affected. I do feel as though he’s over that now and he is pushing.”
“I think the challenge for Borna is to be a bit more robust and to be available a bit more,” Gerrard added about Borna Barisic.
“I think it’s 12 games he’s been available for. From a manager’s point of view that’s quite frustrating as we rate him very highly and when you see him play you can see he’s a quality player.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he’s available from now until the end of the season and that we see his quality on a more consistent basis.”
Read: Steven Gerrard wants ‘this’ man to stay at the club despite signing multiple competitors for his position.
Read: Rangers man reveals what they need to do in order to beat Celtic to the title.
