text: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has admitted that his side never showed up until the second half of yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Motherwell – but conceded that Cedric Itten‘s performance is making it hard for him to “ignore” the Swiss striker much longer.
  Itten scored his fourth goal in three games against the Steelmen but Gerrard wasn’t happy with his side’s first-half showing as they went in 1-0 down at the break.
  Gerrard wasn’t happy with his side’s performance against Motherwell(Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
  The front three of Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Ianis Hagi were singled out for criticism by the Ibrox boss, as he laid the blame for failing to win firmly with his squad.
  After Itten salvaged a point, Gerrard confessed that he felt the game was “crying out” for a player like Itten at the break, as he explained his decision to wait ten minutes and make a change.
  “If you look at possession, chances created and our second-half performance, we maybe should have shaded it,” Gerrard said. “But we have ourselves to blame for the outcome because we never came to this game until half-time.
  “Our normally reliable players, the front three and coming in from the sides, the quality wasn’t good enough.
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  “I had to get into the players at half-time. I was going to make a change at half-time but I thought I’d give people a little bit more time.
  “But then things weren’t changing as quickly as I would have liked, so the game was crying out for a Cedric-type player. He came on and did really well.
  “If he keeps providing like that I can’t ignore him for too long. I’m really pleased with his cameo today. He looked strong, lively and was a threat.
  Itten saves the Gers’ unbeaten record(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
  “He’s really honest and he’s never passive. In the first half too many of our players were passive so that’s what I was disappointed about.”
  Read our match report as Rangers came back from a goal down to move 21 points ahead of Celtic at the top of the Premiership
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  Tags: Cedic Itten, Motherwell, Rangers, steven gerrard	
  James Black	Managing Editor	
  James has been with Not The Old Firm since the beginning and took over as Managing Editor in 2021. As well as NTOF, James has written for HITC, Rangers News, The Daily Record, SB Nation, Shoot! Magazine and Youth Football Scotland. He can be found on Twitter @jamesblack1986 and, away from Scottish football, has a keen interest in MLS (Chicago Fire) and Formula 1.