Steven Gerrard said that he takes "full responsibility" for Rangers' defeat to Aberdeen in last night's Scottish Cup quarter-final tie at Pittodrie.
The Gers saw their cup run come to an abrupt end after goals from Niall McGinn and Connor McLennan secured a convincing 2-0 win for Aberdeen, who now progress through to the semi-finals of the competition next month, where they'll fight Neil Lennon's Celtic for a place in the final at Hampden.
Rangers - who now also trail rivals Celtic by eight points in the SPL table - are facing another trophy-less season following last night's defeat, with manager Steven Gerrard admitting that the blame lies with him. The former England international said after the game:
“From start to finish, we were miles off tonight in every department. It is very difficult to sit here and find any positivity.
"I've put this squad together and I've picked the team and tactics, so I'll take full responsibility for it. I've sat here on a lot of occasions and took a bit of praise and accept that, so I'll sit here and take responsibility for it.
“Those players go out there to represent the players and myself first and foremost but anyone connected with Rangers can’t be going away with any positives tonight.
“It’s a big problem and challenge for me now. If a result and performance puts the spotlight on me, that’s fine. I’ll take it on the chin, I’m man enough to accept that.
"We started the game extremely poorly, and we never got much better from there."
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 13, 2019
Here's the story of Rangers' Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat at home to Aberdeen
👉 https://t.co/xa6QvHNLVv pic.twitter.com/w2ZBBSrCN1
“It’s my job now to try and move on from this which will be tough because it was such a big game and we knew what was at stake.
“Credit to Aberdeen, they deserve to be going to Hampden. We can’t expect to be going anywhere near that place after a performance like that.
“It’s my job now to lift the players, keep us together until the end of the season and then see where we are. Then we’ll see what the summer brings.”
Rangers will now look to put Tuesday's disappointment behind them when they host fourth-placed Kilmarnock in this weekend's Scottish Premier League showdown at Ibrox.
Despite bowing out of the Scottish Cup, Rangers have been impressive in the league, losing just one of their previous 14 games.
A 1-1 draw with Hibernian last Friday has seen them fall eight behind leaders Celtic however, with the Hoops now looking all but certain to clinch their eighth successive league title in May.
