STEVEN GERRARD won’t look back in anger. He does, though, have a regret or two about how the first Old Firm of the season unfolded.
There are things Rangers boss could, perhaps should, have done differently, aspects he knows his players were capable of improving on.
The action may have ended with the final blow of the whistle, but the fallout - whether it is praise or, more especially, criticism - from these fixtures lingers far longer than most.
Some of Gerrard’s players had international football to take their mind off the derby defeat, while others had to keep themselves ticking over at the Hummel Training Centre.
The 39-year-old had his own time away in Portugal and has used the break to reflect and analyse ahead of Rangers’ return to action against Livingston this afternoon.
“I don’t think I’ll ever stop learning in the job,” Gerrard said. “I have conversations with managers who have been doing it for 20 years and they say they are still making mistakes now and learning.
“There will never be a day when I stop learning - it was the same when I was a player. I was still learning in the last few months before I hung my boots up so I’m sure it will be the same as a coach.
“I picked the team I thought was right for the Celtic game. If you get the amount of players we had on the day off it... to win derby matches you have to win your one v ones all over the park or at least the majority of them.
“I can’t remember too many we won. Forget tactics, forget personnel. If you lose those battles you won’t win an Old Firm game.
“But if people want to point fingers at me in terms of team selection then I’ll totally take it on the chin. Would I, in hindsight, have done anything differently? Maybe one or two things, of course, but you can’t go back and change things.
“All you can do is look forward and maybe try and learn from where you went wrong.”
Most of the criticism towards Rangers since the Old Firm defeat has been fired in Gerrard’s direction. For many, his tactics and his team were wrong and ultimately costly.
Both points are fair but the performances his players produced were far from the level required, and far from the standards they have set.
“I think it is more frustration,” Gerrard said. “I know what these players can do individually and collectively and I know some of the top performances they have already delivered. Three days before it, they were absolutely magnificent. Maybe that took a little bit out, who knows?
“But there is no getting away from that, we have to accept that, be responsible and we have taken the criticism on the chin. We own up to that and all we can do now is move forward and try and recover from that and that starts with Livingston. Three points is always the perfect tonic after a big defeat.”
After losing for the first time this term, and after falling adrift in the Premiership title race, Rangers must now show the right response at Ibrox.
Livingston beat the Light Blues 12 months ago but successive 3-0 wins were recorded later in the campaign.
A performance is expected this afternoon but the result is all that really matters for Rangers.
Gerrard said: “We need to press the reset button. We’ve taken a lot of criticism - I’ve taken a lot of criticism - and rightly so. Because our performance wasn’t at the level that is needed to win an Old Firm match.
“The players totally understand that. I could tell they totally understood it as soon as I walked in the dressing room.We’ve had a long time to reflect on that. We have to suck it up, swallow it.
“Fortunately in football, after a disappointment you always get the chance to bounce back or start the process of bouncing back. We’ve got Livingston on Saturday and I want my players revved up for that.”
Gerrard has seen the likes of Steven Davis and Joe Aribo star on the international stage in recent days and Feyenoord await on Thursday.
It is all about the Premiership and domestic aims today, though.
He said: “I think we all want to get back to winning ways and I think, from a mental point of view, everyone is ready to bounce back.
“Of course there are people at different stages, some have been away and played two internationals, some have travelled a lot and some have stayed behind and worked very hard and are very fresh and ready to go.
“But I think all of us understand the setback and where we were ten days ago. That is the reason I am really looking forward to kick-off at 3 o’clock.
“In football, you get a chance to bounce back from a disappointment and that is what we want to do.”
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