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Daily Record
Sport
Gabriel McKay

Steven Gerrard in Allan McGregor 'no surprise' declaration as Rangers boss hails set piece payoff

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard feels his side had Allan McGregor to thank for the ease of their 4-0 win over Willem II.

The Ibrox club advanced to the play-off round of the Europa League with a big win in Tilburg, setting up a clash with Galatasaray.

Despite taking a 4-0 win on the night though the Rangers boss insisted Thursday's opponents were no pushovers.

Gerrard told Rangers TV: "They're a good team, you could see all night they had a threat.

"They had dangerous players, they were looking for that combination, looking for the one vs one, they've got a lot of creativity in the final third.

"Tonight was all about trying to control that and restrict that, trying to keep their top players quiet.

"I thought we didn't do it well enough in the first half, I thought we were lucky to go in at 2-0.

"I thought it could have been 2-1, it could have been 2-2. It was a very end-to-end game in the first half so we needed to sort our organisation out for the second half and the boys carried that out brilliantly.

"Four different scorers, strong win, clean sheet: a lot of positives to take.

"And again another top, top showing from our goalkeeper.

(Getty Images)

"It's no surprise, I think if you watched Rangers for the first time tonight you might be surprised but it's the reason why I picked him.

"I knew that at times against this team we would have maybe been in one vs one situations and would need him to make big stops.

"We certainly got that decision right but Allan deserves the credit, it was a superb showing."

Filip Helander and Connor Goldson both struck on set pieces, and Gerrard praised the work of coach Tom Culshaw.

He said: "Yeah he's buzzing in there!

(Getty Images)

"We put loads of work into the set pieces and Tom gives them a lot of guidance on it.

"But they've got to go out and carry it out and we've got to get quality into the right areas - you've got to want to go and score goals from set pieces.

"It was great to see that we scored two tonight."

Calvin Bassey was given a European debut late on, and that could help the youngster kick-start his Rangers career.

Gerrard said: "Fantastic for him.

"I said to him at this level you've got to come on and play like a man, play like an adult and be really focused.

"This is a different level, mistakes are punished here.

"He came on and did OK, and it'll be fantastic for his career going forward."

Rangers took a number of shots from distance in the match, and that's something Gerrard wants to see more of from his stars.

The manager declared: "That should be a tactic in any game of football. There have been times when we haven't taken enough shots on - like Livi for example, I was disappointed with our end product and taking shots on.

(Getty Images)

"But I've never known a coach throughout my career, and certainly while I'm coaching, I'll never moan at a player for taking a shot on as long as he's within distance, as long as he backs himself.

"I'll only have a moan and a groan if people don't take shots on, so it was good to see tonight that we took them on.

"I thought our subs were positive, JJ (Jordan Jones) you can see gave us that oxygen at the end.

"He looked a real threat. Ceddy (Cedric Itten) is holding it up for us, being that link man.

"We obviously had a couple of yellow cards we had to protect so everything went well tonight.

"But what I will say is we've beaten a good team and a dangerous team - this wasn't a 4-0 game.

"But it's certainly a fantastic result."

The Ibrox club now head back to Scotland ahead of a big test against Motherwell on Sunday.

Gerrard explained: "We won't do much on the pitch. We'll do a lot of travelling, the recovery starts now.

"People who were on the outside today and people who are around the squad have to be ready because we have to make sure everyone comes through that.

"Then we'll have a game plan ready for Motherwell, but it'll be another tough test."

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