Gerrard Extols Joe Aribo’s Makeshift Role in Rangers Win

Femi Solaja with agency report

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is in awe of Joe Aribo’s inspiring performance at left-back in Wednesday’s 3-0 away defeat of Livingston.
In the absence of Borna Barisic, the No. 10 was drafted to play a defensive role against David Martindale’s men.

Even at that, he excelled as he perfectly linked up with Jack Simpson, Connor Goldson, and James Tavernier to help the Gers keep a clean slate.

As a result of that, the Liverpool legend reserved special praise for Aribo, while labelling him his ‘man-of-the-match’.

“What can I say about Joe Aribo? Gerrard was quoted by the Rangers website.

“I tell you what I’ll say about him – good players can play football, and top players can play anywhere on the football pitch and a manager can ask a player to do a role.

“Good players can do some and can’t do some, but Joe Aribo is a top player, so whatever I ask him to do, he goes out and gives it his best shot.

“He is my ‘Man of the Match’ tonight just because when you think about it, he is a number 10 and he is just so comfortable at left-back and cruised it and breezed it.

“That left-back performance is as good as we have seen in my three years that I have been here.

“So well done to him for parking his ego and doing a fantastic job for his teammates – well done.”

Gerrard also talked about the freedom his players played with against Livingston: “I think that comes with confidence and belief and time.

“We have been working ever so hard to build this team and we have tried to build it on style, of course, as our fans demand that and they want to be entertained, but we have also got to find steel as well.

“When you come away from home and the pitch is a leveler and conditions are changing, you have got to find your steel first.

“If you get your steel, that allows you to get comfortable and then you trust your good players to go and win you the game, and that is what happened today.”

After featuring for 85 minutes, he was substituted for Leon King, whereas, his compatriot Leon Balogun and South Africa’s Bongani Zungu were ruled out owing to injury issues.

The game against the Lions was the 24-year-old’s 30th Premiership game of the 2020-21 campaign with seven goals to his credit.

Aribo is expected to be in action for Rangers when they take on Aberdeen in their last game of the season on Saturday.