STEVEN GERRARD reckons the increased competition for places at Ibrox will ensure there will no complacency within his Rangers ranks this term.

The Light Blues boss has added ten players to his squad so far this summer and could hand Lassana Coulibaly and Ryan Kent their debuts against NK Osijek tonight.

Gerrard refused to be drawn on a move for Manchester City kid Kean Bryan but remains in the market for further reinforcements at both ends of the park.

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The Gers travelled to Croatia on Wednesday without Scott Arfield and Umar Sadiq as Gerrard prepares for the first leg of the second qualifying round clash at the Stadion Gradski vrt.

And the 38-year-old is pleased with the options he has at his disposal after a productive few weeks of transfer activity.

Gerrard said: “The arrival of new signings early on raised the level and I also think adding a couple of late – Lassana, Sadiq, Ryan Kent, [Ovie] Ejaria being fit and available, players are realising now that there’s a fight on for the first 11 shirt and real competition for places.

“That can only be healthy for Rangers. Without being disrespectful, I think players have found it too easy to get into this team.

“From the outside looking in, I think that people have cruised into this team and got comfortable and complacent.

“You can’t just expect to be a started for such a big football club. My aim, coming in, was to make it difficult and to challenge people.

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“I need to make them realise that they have to give me everything they’ve got first and foremost to get a shirt and even more so to keep a hold of it on a regular basis. That’s the way it’s got to be.

“I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to work out that the demand and expectation from our crowd is enormous.

“If I’m a player in a Rangers shirt I’d put that on myself. I’d say to myself every day coming to work that if I wanted to be in the 11 I’ll have to work extremely hard to get there and even harder to stay there.

“That’s how we’ll get players finding consistency in themselves and hopefully the team too.”

Gerrard has spent most of his transfer funds strengthening his defence this summer as Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic have moved from Brighton and Slaven Belupo respectively.

Keeper Allan McGregor also returned to Ibrox, while Jon Flanagan followed Gerrard and his backroom team north of the border from Liverpool.

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The Gers kept clean sheets in both legs of their first round win over FK Shkupi and will now attempt to shut-out Osijek on their home soil this evening.

Gerrard said: “I said early on that the first thing we had to sort out was the centre of the defence and I also think Jon Flanagan coming into the team has helped steady the ship as well.

“We have been mightly impressed with the new signings, how they have gelled and the relationships that they formed and it is still only early.

“We will have our moments as we go on but I am very happy with the shape and our organisation, especially as we are still getting used to each other.”