Steven Gerrard: Rangers must take criticism after defeat by Livingston
- Published
Alfredo Morelos had one of Rangers' few chances but was thwarted by Liam Kelly
Rangers "have to take the criticism" that comes their way after losing to Livingston, says boss Steven Gerrard.
Sunday's defeat was just the second of Gerrard's tenure, but leaves the Ibrox club searching for a first away win in the Premiership since February.
League leaders Hearts will travel to Ibrox next Sunday boasting an eight-point lead over Rangers.
"We could still be playing for a couple of days, I don't think we'd have scored," Gerrard told Sky Sports.
"We've had praise and we've had a lot of credit. Now we have to take the criticism and when we're not good enough, and I need to tell the players when they're not good enough.
"Credit to Livingston, they deserved it. We didn't create enough and the one thing you don't want to do now as a player is play your way out of the team."
The solitary goal came from a free-kick and Gerrard told RangersTV the side should have had a "wake-up call" after losing goals from set pieces during August's draw with Motherwell.
And, with Rangers hosting managerless Rapid Vienna in the Europa League before next Sunday's meeting with Hearts, the manager warned that his side "need two big wins now".
Rangers 'totally lacked creativity' - analysis
Former Scotland defender Willie Miller on BBC Sportsound
Rangers were always looking weak defensively. Anything played into the box, I didn't think their defence dealt with it well enough and they totally lacked creativity.
They had enough of the ball in the first half but it was kind of a slow pace. They upped the tempo in the second half and were better for 20 minutes but they hardly created a chance.
As the game wore one, it just got desperate. It was just throwing the ball up the park. They're normally good with their distribution from wide areas Rangers, but not today.
Both Rangers and Celtic are in the Premiership's bottom three on away form alone this season