Where did it go so badly wrong for Carlos Pena?

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Where did it go so badly wrong for Carlos Pena?

Article by: Richard, for Ibrox Noise

When attacking midfielder and Mexican internationalist Carlos Pena joined Rangers from Chivas Guadalajara, almost everybody at Ibrox Noise was very excited that Rangers were signing a top quality forward-thinking player.

Manager Pedro Caixinha spun him as a box-to-box player who could work hard, get into the area late and bag goals while covering both ends of the pitch.

This is exactly what the Ibrox club needed to catch Celtic in the league. We required a few international players to come to Rangers and strut their stuff in the way that Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne had done in the past with Walter Smith running the show.

As we know, none of this happened with Carlos. So what went so wrong at Ibrox for the 27-year-old?

Rangers manager Graeme Murty has revealed that Carlos Pena’s disappointing spell at Rangers was not all the Mexican’s fault.  He has admitted the club have to shoulder a little part of the blame for not playing to Pena’s strengths.

He said:

“The system that suited him best was the diamond — but we don’t always have the facility to play that way. We need to make sure when we get people in we get the best out of them. As much as people will question and criticise Carlos, I think we also have to look at ourselves.”

Pena earned 19 caps for Mexico and his return to Cruz Azul will give him an opportunity to impress the new Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio and if he plays extremely well and wins his 20th cap, could it make Rangers look misguided for giving up on him too soon?

27-year-old Pena will complete his loan move to Cruz Azul under our last flop of a manager Pedro Caixinha who is at least doing the decent thing for Rangers by taking his 20K weekly salary off the Rangers wage bill.

During his disappointing six months in the SPL he still managed to score five times in 14 games. There was no denying his base quality and technical ability but equally there is no doubt that Pena struggled badly for match fitness and to get up to speed with the overly physical style of Scottish football.

At Fir Park, for example, players like Pena have absolutely no chance of playing attractive football and even Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers was moaning about the outrageous challenges in their last game against Motherwell.

Graeme Murty believes that the system that suited Carlos best was in the diamond position — but Rangers don’t always have the opportunity to play that way against certain teams in the SPL.

This made it very difficult for the Ibrox club to get the best out of Pena for most of our games as this was by far the best shape for suiting his ability as an attacking forward player.

The 27-year-old represented Mexico only four years ago and will be desperate to prove to the El Tri boss that he is worthy of a place in his 23-man squad for this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

Murty’s immediate requirements are to make sure we sign the right players to get the best out of their natural ability in all their best positions, if we are to catch up on Celtic and to finish 2nd in the league above Aberdeen, Hibernian and Hearts of Midlothian.

But we must learn lessons from episodes like Pena. Expensive mistakes are too costly for this club.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. A fair and agreeable article. Pena is not a bad player. Also the Scottish game is absolutely gash, third rated in the world. It's sometimes difficult for foreign players to adapt to the physicality and the "long punt" up the park in our game. Pena isn't the only international player to struggle at Rangers. But I genuinely thought he would have been perfect for our game as mexican football is also fast and physical, ferocious sometimes. But hey-ho, a good bit of business getting him off the wage bill for a year at least. Time to get rid of the rest of the dead wood and bring in some decent talent for the second half of the season. A couple of tall strong centre halves would be most welcome!

    • I think that we have a number of areas in need of more urgent attention than Centre back
      Like Centre forward, No 10 and backup for left wing, right wing, centre mid and left back.
      I am happy with Wilson, McRorie, Bates and Aidan Wilson, although if Alves leaves we will need another experienced CB as backup while the three young ones develop. Not saying they are perfect, but we don't have the £30 million perfect costs.

    • We'll agree to disagree Scots, Wilson and Bates are average at best, and they will leak goals, especially Wilson. We are third for a reason! And 90% of that reason is, so far, our defence is gash.
      If you want Rangers to finish 3rd, 4th or 5th, then yes, lets develop our players and become a second class team like Hibs, Hearts, Motherwell etc.
      Rangers is all about winning the league and doing well in Europe, and with our league and standard of scottish football, we don't need 30 million to get 2 decent centre halves. Keeping McCrorie and Wilson as they have the potential to become great. Sell Wilson and Bates.
      I do agree we need a No.10 badly, but don't know if Dodoo will get a run.

    • Jimbo,

      I take your point and I am not saying that Wilson and Bates will be the Scotland defence for the next decade!! But part of the reason for the poor defence has not been their fault. Wilson played very few games under Pedro so not really responsible. Since Pedro left he has had games, but not with a settled partner, which most defences benefit from. Bates has been MOTM in two of his games this season, not sure how many he has played, but again, not many. I think the poor defence has been a combination of repeated changes in personnel meaning no time to gel, 2 Portuguese who although decent are not up to speed on Scotland, and a collective weakness across the back and midfield rather than just CBs. I feel that McCrorie in DM has been a great help as both FBs are attack minded, but think his future is back at CD.

      So, how much do you think for 2 European standard CBs who can win us the league? Like any team, we need 4 CBs. If we agree McCrorie is ready, Aidan Wilson at 18 isn't, so we need 3 more.

      I just feel that we can improve other areas faster with the limited money we have, then in 12 or 24 months, or as soon as it becomes obvious I am wrong which may well be the case, we replace the weakest link with as strong a link as we can afford and/or find. But if Morelos is sold or injured, where are the goals going to come from? I thinkmthe problem up front is critical, as they don't seem to rate Hardie

  2. I read a article in the Summer from a Mexican sports writer and the general feeling was one of surprise that Pena and Herrera were moving to Europe after seasons that were far from their best. 2 guys that peaked young and are nowhere near the national squad.

  3. RICHARD pena and the rest of the duds are gone or going lets not dwell on the past and look forward to murtys game plan cant be any worse than the previous lot

  4. Some of the goals he scored had quality about them. Even if he had half of Holts energy he would’ve been a star turn. It’s simply not worked out for us it was a gamble that’s not come off..

    I’ve heard 6 month loan with half his wages only. 12 month loan and all his wages paid. Bottom line nobody knows what’s going on even the obsessed don’t know ( betting for admin ).

    That’s why Allen was brought in so this doesn’t happen full stop. In Murty we trust 🔴⚪️🔵

  5. Here he's not gone yet far from it!!
    Pedro's first game booed off the park.
    Then talking his normal pish after the game!?
    Well Carlos went back to taco land fitter and thinner than he came (Wouldn't be hard) so let's hope he shines like the North Star and Pedro lasts 6 months or he's a boomerang.

    What a clusterfuk the board made of that whole episode and a waste of time & money also, there own money also the eeejits!!
    Big difference running a club than a business.
    Hope the learning curve is over and this is the start of great things!!
    Need a few more and the 2nd half of the season could & should be a vast improvement

  6. Q.how long before we stop these bitter c***s in the spl acting spitefuly against us before we retaliate by boycotting their grounds. hearts been the latest example.im not a walker fan, it's the principal and sums involved.

    • It wasn't the amount Rangers offered but the structure of the payment that was the issue for Hearts, something like £100,000 up front with payments over the next 3 or 4 years dependant on certain performance targets being met.

  7. Maybe he didn't want to play because he's a devout Catholic and couldn't cross himself,he also had to listen to fuck the pope sung at every game,i think thats why he wiped his nose with his Rangers shorts!

  8. It all went upside down for Pena when he saw the size of the pay packet he was on he then sat on his ass and started eating his why through family sized frozen Mexican Pizza and had to wash it down with Ironbrew and not a Margarita it went on day and night he was a great player so they said but after weeks of eating and drinking he could not fit his fat ass in his shorts.

  9. Mexicans dont travel well. Remember Celtic did the same thing with a guy called Juarez(4mil) who was supposed to be mexico's best upcoming talent.

  10. The burrito boy was pish from the start. Let’s not forget who brought him to Rangers. That arsehole Pedro! Enough said!

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