Rangers manager Steven Gerrard seethes at referee decision as Celtic win Old Firm derby
Sunday 2 September 2018 15:53, UK
Steven Gerrard was left incensed by the match officials after his Rangers side were beaten 1-0 at Celtic in the first Old Firm clash of the season on Sunday.
Olivier Ntcham's 62nd-minute strike proved the difference as Celtic stretched their unbeaten run over their Glasgow rivals to a record 12 games in all competitions.
The Ibrox club have five points after four league games - the fewest they have accrued at this stage since the 1989/90 season.
But Gerrard feels his side were on the wrong end of the game's key moment, with Ryan Jack colliding with Tom Rogic in the build-up to Ntcham's crucial strike.
Gerrard said: "It's definitely a foul. I've been around the game a very long time, and that's a foul in my book. It's actually a foul in the fourth official's book as I can hear him going down the mic, 'Foul, Foul, Foul'.
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"The referee's ignored the information and they go and score a goal. I just went in and had a calm chat. I wondered why he hasn't seen a clear swipe from Rogic on Jack. It's blatant. For me it's 100 per cent a foul.
"If we'd lost the game with a moment of class or brilliance from Celtic I'd have held my hands up, but the referee's cost us for sure."
The Rangers manager had set up his side well to contain Celtic up to that point, albeit the hosts were unfortunate not to have already broken the deadlock with both James Forrest and Mikael Lustig hitting the woodwork in the space of two first-half minutes.
Rangers showed greater attacking intent after the interval but they were caught out on the counter-attack as Celtic swept forward through a combination of Rogic, Odsonne Edouard and Forrest before Ntcham was on hand to score.
"I thought we played better in the second half," Gerrard added. "We kept the ball better and we made passes and created a few decent openings. With a little more quality we could have got a goal.
"I've asked questions of this squad since the June 15 and we've closed the gap. But there's still work to do. We still need to improve and get bodies back that are fit. We need to focus not on officials, if we can help it, but on ourselves.
"Hopefully, in the near future we'll get more training time and when Celtic next come around, we'll turn up for 90 minutes and not just the 45 today in the second half."
