Steven Gerrard urges Alfredo Morelos not to 'overthink' quest for his 100th Rangers goal ahead of 'must win' Europa League clash with Brondby

Having lost just five of his first 32 European games as Rangers manager, Steven Gerrard has now seen his team suffer five defeats in their last seven outings on the continental stage.

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos has experienced a frustrating season so far with just five goals in his 15 appearances for the Scottish champions. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

If the Scottish champions are to regain the kind of momentum which has underpinned their impressive Europa League exploits since Gerrard took charge in 2018, he accepts getting the better of Brondby over the course of their next two Group A fixtures is simply non-negotiable.

Defeats at home to top seeds Lyon and away to Sparta Prague on the first two matchdays mean Thursday night’s clash with the Danish champions at Ibrox and the return fixture in Copenhagen two weeks later are now critical to Rangers’ hopes of reaching the knockout phase of the tournament for a fourth successive season.

“I don’t mind if you put it that way,” said Gerrard. “We want to try and win every game here at Rangers, no matter where we are sitting in the table.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard believes his team have to take at least four points from their two games against Brondby in Group A of the Europa League. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

“But having lost the first two games, I think it’s very important that we win this head to head over the next two games. We have to take a minimum of four points and ideally we take six.

“So we need a performance and a result that’s going to try and kickstart our Europa League campaign.

“I don’t think our two performances so far have been miles away. But it’s a results business and to get out of the group, you need results.

“We are well aware of that and if that adds a little bit more pressure going into tomorrow’s game and if people on the outside want to make it a must win game, then we are okay with that.”

Striker Mikael Uhre (left) was Denmark's Player of the Year last season and could provide the biggest threat to Rangers for Brondby at Ibrox on Thursday night. (Photo by Thomas Sjoerup/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Both domestically and in Europe, Rangers have been hindered so far this season by an inability to fully capitalise on their dominance of possession in matches with a substandard ratio of goals scored from the opportunities they are creating.

That issue has been personified by Alfredo Morelos who has scored five goals in his 15 appearances since the start of the campaign, a strike rate clearly not in keeping with the capabilities of a player who has scored 99 times in 197 games for the Ibrox club since joining them in 2017.

Gerrard is urging the Colombian international to let nature take its course and not allow the pending career milestone of a century of goals for Rangers to place extra pressure on him.

“If I have got any advice for him it would be for him to focus on keeping getting in the right places and right areas and he will absolutely smash 100 goals in no time,” said Gerrard.

“He shouldn’t really overthink it, all he should think is ‘what can I do and what can I offer the team to be the best version of myself in terms of us getting the results?’

“We are a team that do create a lot of chances so it is only a matter of time before that record comes and he is going to go on and score many more goals. So he shouldn’t overthink it.

“Five goals in 15 games is not enough for me. Not just from him, I think we need to score more goals - all our strikers.

“We are at Rangers here and with the chances that we are creating, I would expect the guy who has played the majority of the minutes as a number nine to have more than five in 15. They are stats that we need to improve on moving forward.

“We have to keep providing the service and the chances for Alfredo to get more goals. But if you look at previous number nines and also Alfredo’s record in other seasons, it has been better than five in 15.

“I am sure Alfredo himself, and certainly myself and the coaching staff and our attacking unit in terms of our number nines, we want to get more goals.

“All my strikers are available for selection. I think we should be scoring more goals. We should be rewarding ourselves for a lot of our good play.

“We are getting into the right areas, we are creating chances in games. I would be a lot more frustrated and disappointed if we weren’t creating these chances and weren’t getting in the right areas. I do believe someone along the line will be on the receiving end of some goals from us.”

Brondby, who took a point from a goalless draw at home to Sparta Prague before losing 3-0 at Lyon, are currently sixth in the Danish Superliga and already 13 points off the pace being set by Midtjylland in the title race.

But they carry a threat in the shape of striker Mikael Uhre, top scorer with seven goals so far this season, and Gerrard is wary of his partnership up front with Swedish forward Simon Hedlund.

“I know a lot about them because I have watched a lot of their games in the last week to ten days,” he said.

“I am aware they didn’t start the season domestically really strong but they seem in the last three or four weeks to be getting a lot stronger and turning their form around.

“They are a really honest team who play with a back five. They carry a threat up front, they have a little and large combination and really good movement. We need to control the front two players because they carry a big threat.

“At this level, you have always got to respect your opponents and the individuals within that. But for me the focus is on us and trying to be the best version of Rangers. If we do, we should get a positive result.”

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