Steven Gerrard has made a dramatic announcement to Rangers fans

Steven Gerrard has strongly implied he is going back heavily into the transfer market following a horrendous display at Hampden.

The Rangers boss was disgusted with his side’s showing, accusing them of lacking bottle, and told them if they don’t improve they’re being replaced, but given the topsy-turvy nature of this season so far it’s not unreasonable to assume he will go into the January window anyway.

Speculation is rife that Ryan Kent will be made permanent next month, and given Ovie Ejaria’s growing importance and Lassana Coulibaly’s improved showing yesterday they too might be personnel Gerrard looks to secure long term, but he is clearly in need of further enhancements with a Rangers team which is going in the right direction, but isn’t there yet.

He said:

“What I’ll assure everyone is that won’t be our last semi-final. If it means I have to go and buy better quality players for when we get to this stage, that’s what will happen. If the players that we’ve got now don’t improve and start showing the quality we need in the final third, my job is to go and find the players who will. Otherwise, we are never going to win anything. The players need to bottle this. Instead of going into a dressing room and being quiet with your head in your hands, self-reflect, take responsibility for your part in it and let’s move forward together.”

It seems that while we’re all mostly happy with the work done in the summer, it isn’t enough – it’s a Rangers team that doesn’t yet have the bottle to deliver consistently on the showpiece occasions.

We were deeply impressed by the displays in Russia and Osijek, but they are fairly isolated – and Europe is a different animal to domestic.

Gerrard is not happy with what his men are producing on the big domestic stage, and it’s easy to see why. And he clearly wants better in January.