Rangers' draw vs Aberdeen could be 'blessing in disguise', says Kris Boyd
Thursday 5 December 2019 11:34, UK
Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd believes Rangers' disappointing midweek draw against Aberdeen could be a "blessing in disguise" ahead of their League Cup final against Celtic on Sunday.
Steven Gerrard's side fell two points behind their bitter rivals in the Premiership title race after they let a two-goal lead slip at Pittodrie on Wednesday, while Scott Brown's dramatic added-time strike gave Celtic a 2-1 win over Hamilton at Parkhead.
While Boyd accepts Rangers cannot be happy with the Premiership stalemate, he thinks the result could serve as somewhat of a wake-up call ahead of Sunday's final after many predicted a home win in the first Old Firm clash of the season at Ibrox which saw Celtic emerge as 2-0 winners.
"If we go back to the first Old Firm this season Rangers were playing so well and some people thought Rangers could go in and steamroller Celtic and it went the other way," Boyd said on Sky Sports after the Aberdeen match.
"Maybe this result at Pittodrie tells us that Rangers need to be performing at a level consistently, they need their big players to stand up. Steven Davis, Ryan Jack, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent - you need them to be performing because if you drop below that then you are going to get punished.
"It might just be a good result here - not in terms of the league - but for Sunday looking forward to that, Steven Gerrard can deliver the message of 'if we are not on it then we are going to get punished again'.
"It might be a blessing in disguise here. They will still be raging that they dropped the points in the league but for the cup Gerrard can use this. He can refer back to this and you would think that Rangers would learn from their second-half performance."
