Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has congratulated Aberdeen for beating his side 1-0 in their Scottish League Cup semi-final tie and says the Dons produced a classic smash and grab raid to take the win, while warning his players they must improve.
Hopes were high amongst the Gers faithful that Gerrard would be able to guide the side through to the final in early December, where rivals Celtic were waiting after drubbing Hearts 3-0.
But from the off Rangers struggled without Alfredo Morelos, who was suspended, while they could not call upon the cup-tied Kyle Lafferty and had to field Umar Sadiq up top.
The Gers dominated the game, but created few clear cut chances and paid the price when Aberdeen scored from a set piece through a Lewis Ferguson header in the 79th minute.
Rangers had no response and it is Aberdeen who will take on Celtic in the final.
Gerrard insists he is willing to take the flak for the loss, but congratulated Aberdeen on what he called a smash and grab raid.
He told BT Sport: "We played well but we didn’t have any quality in the last bit of our play.
"Very similar to the Spartak game on Thursday. We did everything but create clear-cut chances.
"We huffed and puffed and created half-chances, but that’s not enough in semi-finals. People need to have the courage and responsibility to step up and take them.
"We congratulate Aberdeen, they’ve smashed-and-grabbed and punished us from a set-piece and they go through.
"I’m here to take the responsibility I need to take. I pick the eleven, I brought in 14 players in the summer. Everything that’s gone on today is on me and I’ll take it."
Gerrard also issued a warning to his men to either produce or be shown the door.
"We got into some good positions and either made the wrong decision or showed a serious lack of quality.
"If these players don’t step up, it’s very simple at a big club: the manager goes and finds better quality."
