Rangers boss Steven Gerrard is still struggling to come to terms with defeat at Livingston, but he believes it will ultimately make him and his team better.

Gerrard had only lost to Celtic in 17 games as a manager, but his side found Livingston tough to break down on Sunday as they fell to a 1-0 loss.

Gerrard told Rangers TV: “I think we have learnt a lot about some individual players and about us as a team.

“When you are flying and things are good, individuals and the team get a lot of credit and praise. Sometimes a lot of small things get hidden amongst that, but I think after a defeat, away from home, a sore one, then you analyse it a little bit more and analyse individuals a little bit more.

“Some things smack you in the face and are made that little bit more obvious. There is a saying in football, ‘You learn more through defeat’ – and I can definitely understand that.”

The former Liverpool captain, whose side host Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday, added: “This defeat will improve me because I made a few mistakes within that game on Sunday as well.

“The first thing I do is I always analyse myself and my staff: What did we do? Did we do anything wrong? Could we have done anything different or better?

“You hope that your players go and do that themselves individually, because if you are a proper player then the first thing you do is self-reflect and analyse yourself.

“If you have made mistakes within it, then you try and not go back there and you try and improve. You hope that happens naturally amongst your players.

“It is my job and my responsibility to show the players where I think we can improve as a group and maybe speak to individuals as well and that is already in motion.”

Gerrard stressed that his team must learn to make sure they take something from games when they are not on top form.

And he added: “I don’t think, with all due respect, a team like Livingston should cut us up on second phase set-piece and that is the thing that I am struggling to get out of the system.”