STEVEN GERRARD is concerned his disciplinary warnings are falling on deaf ears after Rangers collected their eighth red card of the campaign in the defeat to Aberdeen.

The Light Blues lost top spot in the Premiership and suffered their first home reverse of the campaign as Scott McKenna netted the only goal at Ibrox.

Derek McInnes’ side were reduced to ten men in the first half as Sam Cosgrove picked up two bookings for challenges on Gareth McAuley and Connor Goldson.

But the dismissal of Morelos after he flicked out at Graeme Shinnie was to prove crucial as a shot-shy Rangers dropped three huge points in the title race.

Gerrard said: “The first yellow for me is a little bit soft but it was probably a foul. The second one he deserves.

“But it's not important – we've got another red card which is hugely frustrated.

“We could have had another one. Lafferty is on a yellow card but he is giving a foul away and gives another – you're leaving the referee with an opportunity to make it nine.

“I never felt once today good about anything that we did, individually or collectively. I never felt good.

“I give the players so much praise and they have done extremely well before this game, we were in a really good place. But today is certainly a big set-back and a frustrating one.

“I’m concerned about it. There is only so much I can do. I’ve made it very clear they are not helping themselves.

“They are making their task a lot more difficult. They are putting more stress on each other, on their bodies. We miss key players for important games.

“When I came in here, the club had finished third in the league. So there’s the job and the task - it’s huge. It’s difficult with 11 men, so they are not helping themselves at the moment.

“It’s very difficult for me to back them and protect them because 24 hours after a team meeting about controlling discipline, it’s very tough for me to take right now.”

It was to prove a disappointing night all round for Gerrard as Rangers failed to capitalise on Celtic’s draw with Motherwell and fell behind new league leaders Kilmarnock.

The Gers were poor throughout a competitive Ibrox clash and never looked like coming from behind to win after McKenna gave Aberdeen a seventh minute lead.

Gerrard said: “I'm very disappointed in our performance. Very frustrated in the performance.

“Tonight was really good opportunity and difficult test for us – but one that I had confidence that I could pass. Unfortunately we've failed.

“The performance as a group wasn't good enough to beat Aberdeen, even at 11 v 10 the performance wasn't good enough.

“Individually we didn't have many at it and we never played with control, which I asked all the team to do yesterday in a meeting.

“I keep repeating myself before and after every single game about the importance of playing with control and discipline.

“We've got the majority of things wrong tonight all over the pitch.”