STEVEN GERRARD reckons a 'tailored programme' will help get the best out of striker Jermain Defoe this term.
The 38-year-old returned to the starting line-up against Livingston on Sunday and produced a sublime finish to help Rangers on their way to victory at Ibrox.
Boss Gerrard added Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten to his ranks this summer and was able to retain the services of Alfredo Morelos.
Defoe won't feature in the Europa League this season but Gerrard is sure he will still have a significant part to play in the coming months.
He said: "I think it’s fantastic to have those options. I think it’s the first time I’ve had this luxury of this volume of strikers available.
"I’m hoping we stay in competitions for a long time to have a big volume of games and keep them all happy.
"This is the challenge of the job. The job I get paid to do is to pick players when I see they are in good form, working hard and showing on a daily basis on the training pitch that they are ready to start games.
"Jermain has had quite a few injuries of late and he is a player we have to manage. He understands that.
"It was a good performance at the weekend with a world-class goal. He is finally in the place this season we have wanted him in for a long time.
"But it doesn’t make sense to ask Jermain to go Thursday-Sunday-Thursday-Sunday at his age and with the injuries he’s had of late.
"We have made a decision to give him a tailored programme, a bit different from the rest, so he can put in performances like the weekend."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here